Last spring and summer saw an uncomfortable number of Orlando galleries close their doors. But the opening of a new downtown venture with a familiar name may signify that the tide is again turning.
Tony Eitharong, whose previous gallery on Mills Avenue presented its last exhibition in 1993, has secured a space across from the Barnett Bank Center for his new Eitharong Gallery. Its debut exhibit features still lifes by Antonio Caparello (an assistant to pop-art pioneer James Rosenquist), and a collection of large-scale contemporary paintings by Theo Wujick (a professor of art at the University of South Florida). Both artists will attend the gallery's opening reception, to be held 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 17.
Eitharong says he has spent the last four years exhibiting his own artwork in Virginia, Iowa, Texas and Chicago. But it's the promising future of the Orlando art scene that has turned his attentions homeward. "I thought maybe it was time for visual art to take a higher profile," Eitharong says. "So I'm happy to be back."
"Antonio Caparello" and "Theo Wujick," opening Friday, with reception 5 pm-9 pm; through Nov. 23, 1997; Eitharong Gallery, 363 N. Orange Ave.; 10 am-6 pm Monday-Saturday, evenings by appointment; free.
