Bob Phillips (2013 Copyright)
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If ever there were an artist that embodied “a riot of color,” it would be the perpetually paint-splotched, whimsically spectacled Leoma Lovegrove. You may know the Florida favorite impressionist-expressionist painter from her funky gallery and garden on the little Lee County island of Matlacha, or from the commissioned celebrity portraits and Bealls department stores designer line that helped her hit it big. But today she has compiled her first retrospective exhibit, Palettes—Past, Present & Pursuits, to be displayed at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. (Of note: Palettes’ opening night will take place during the downtown Fort Myers Art Walk Jan. 6, featuring entertainment by the sought-after DJ Ceron.) Whether they decide they like Lovegrove’s heavy inclination toward joyful subjects like beach umbrellas and flamingos, or the loud volume at which her pieces speak, viewers certainly won’t leave the exhibit feeling sad. sbdac.com