Gary Spinosa: Through Forests of Symbols -- It's easy for today's art audiences to forget that for centuries, paintings and sculptures were purely functional, designed to enhance or evoke a spiritual experience. Gary Spinosa's mixed-media sculptures hark back to the days when art didn't just look pretty or express the individual's feelings, but served as a reminder of a higher power. Fashioned from clay, wood, fabric, and bits of bric-a-brac (can lids, bells, shotgun shell casings, etc.), and ranging in size from towering to diminutive, his works look like artifacts spirited away from some ancient Babylonian temple. A midcareer retrospective of sorts, this show includes pieces dated from 1973 to 2007, allowing viewers to follow the subtle differences in the organic forms and richly textured surfaces that developed over the decades. Spinosa's most intriguing pieces lie on small velvet pillows in a glass case near the gallery entrance; the "Assorted Stones" are palm-size porcelain sculptures reminiscent of both the handheld technological gadgets of today and the magical amulets of centuries gone by. Their small scale, opulent surfaces, and delicate details encourage close inspection. Through October 26, The Sculpture Center, 1834 East 123rd Street, 216-431-6300, www.sculpturecenter.org. -- Bembnister
Pentimenti -- Art can divide, but it can unify too. So it's easy to see why one-time Clevelanders Misha and Amy Kligman, the artists featured in this intelligently conceived exhibit, are married. While stylistically they're as individual as two painters can be, their work seems nonetheless bonded by theme. Amy powerfully distills painful memories with "Comforts of Home," a simple picture of a boy tied to a house. The artist's trademark naive, two-dimensional style contrasts with the complexity of the statement. Misha captures the sense of being two people simultaneously in "The Split," a self-portrait of Rembrandt-like subtlety showing a faceless figure in the shadows next to his heavenly, contented, well-lit counterpart. But the bond shines brightest through Misha's "Landscape With Cages" and Amy's "The Secret." In the former, a dramatically foggy vista in white acrylic and graphite, several empty, open birdcages float in an arctic sea. In the latter, a little girl and boy whisper messages in a forest while the boy's secret lies at his feet: a dead bird, fallen from the cage he's holding. Fascinatingly, the paintings use the same symbol to evoke presumably traumatic events, but the specific meanings behind them are unique and personal. Only a married couple could have produced a pair so different yet so deeply linked. Until October 12 at Wooltex Gallery, 1900 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, 216-241-4069, www.thewooltexgallery.com. -- Zachary Lewis