Sea Creatures & Blood Vessels: Kyle Ethan Fischer

Sea Creatures, Blood Vessels, mixed media by Kyle Ethan Fischer

In Sea Creatures & Blood Vessels, Kyle Ethan Fischer's solo show at Boxheart Gallery, the artist explores the question: "Could the allelopathic condition of auto-inhibition be a biological condition that takes place between systems in the body as they do with aquatic organisms?"

Fischer displays a new series of watercolors, predominantly blood-red, as well as several new sculptures that harken back to his earlier work incorporating handmade lace and crochet among other elements, forming sinewy body parts such as a fragile ribcage with a conch shell where the heart would be. The work draws attention to both the complexity and the fragility of the human body, created during a time of recovery. The show remains on display until March 31.

3 Miles: Dan Gaser

Silver Gelatin Photograph by Dan Gaser

3 Miles, a new series of silver gelatin photographs by Pittsburgh artist Dan Gaser, opened on Friday at Trinity Gallery in Lawrenceville. The series explores the same three miles of Rehoboth Beach, capturing remarkable, ethereal images by photographing the same subtle landscape subjects under different light, from different angles, at different times of day, and with a continually changing tide. Gaser's work encourages us to look at the familiar in new ways, as each day always offers a new view. The series will be on display until April 14.

Caravan: Melissa Kuntz

In Caravan, artist Melissa Kuntz presents a series of vacation motor homes, masterfully painted in oil. Since 2004, Kuntz has been painting and exhibiting representational works based on photographs she has taken of locations of leisure and artifice, including South Beach, Las Vegas, Coney Island, Cozumel, the New Jersey shore, Conneaut Lake, and Niagara Falls, to name a few. Her images have captured a particular aesthetic in the signage and architecture of these well-known vacation spots. Drawn to the tawdry, gaudy, cheapness associated with the decadent lifestyles that allow for vacation time, Kuntz’s new paintings presented in Caravan are an extension of this aesthetic.

Caravan is on now through April 15 at 709 Penn Gallery, presented by the Education Department of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.