Well-Buttressed: “Collapsing Inward” @ Kevin Bruk Gallery

Puerto Rican artist Christian Curiel has a talent of making lurid spectacles out of the most banal things. Take for instance previously exhibited works like "Albino With Fowl" or "Frost Bite". Both feature unremarkable characters cast in roles whose absurdity turns them into farcical figures. His latest efforts carry a more supernatural bent. "Collapsing Inward," is a show of works by Curiel -- which also include sculptures and drawings -- built on a solid foundation of bright colors and the artist's signature absurdity, and grounded in an exploration of childhood memory. Although the press release draws a comparison between his work and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "magical realism," that sort of description is simply sloppy and reductive -- shedding light on neither's style. So, turn a blind eye to the poor press copy and use the good one to gawk at Curiel's work, on display through November 11 at Miami's Kevin Bruk Gallery.