Local spotlight: Red Eye 2012 at ArtServe

People who follow South Florida's art scene may be faced with a difficult decision on Saturday: Attend the Second Saturday Art Walk in Wynwood or go to the annual Red Eye show at Fort Lauderdale's ArtServe?

Lori Pratico's "Pryde" will be on exhibit at Red Eye 2012.

This is the sort of dilemma Byron Swart envisioned when he created Red Eye in 2006. "We were so tired of hearing people say they had to go down to Miami to experience anything cutting-edge or out of the ordinary," he says. "There was a definite need to start bringing something edgier to ArtServe."
His quest for edginess led him to a number of graffiti and tattoo artists in Fort Lauderdale. "We thought it was time for them to have the gallery," Swart recalls. "So we opened Red Eye."

The event's attendance has increased from 600 people for the inaugural event to about 1,500 for last year's show. "In 2008, we added a fashion component, and then we added spoken word," says Swart, ArtServe's former programs manager who now produces Red Eye at the art space through his own company, B Marketing and Events. "It's just grown and grown."

Read the rest of Arterpillar's story in the Sun-Sentinel's July 13 Showtime section.

Some images of works from the Red Eye can be found above. Expand by clicking lower right hand corner and then click on show info (at top) for titles  ... or just view the Flickr set.