The QUAID collective has been a shot in the arm for the Tampa art scene (though one that only a few people have felt the euphoric effects of so far). Their Sketch Gang project has offered a home for loose, improvisational visual creativity in Seminole Heights, and their monthly shows (under the aegis of the Tempus Projects' new space on Florida Ave.) have been consistently adventurous and challenging. Most QUAIDians are under 30, and their work and ethos put an art-world serious frame around work that's as often scatalogical and ridiculous.For those interested in getting an inside glimpse of these youngster's process and goals, QUAID offers a monthly showcase of mutual admiration, with one member interviewing another. This month's "Between two QUAIDS" has Ericka Richardson, who specializes in abstract but striking color pieces, interviewing Ville Mehtonen, whose current show focuses on mostly small, meticulously detailed pieces that unnervingly dance around the line between the hyperreal and the ghostly phantasmatic.
The meeting of two artists with very different approaches to a similar sensibility should be interesting. But don't expect the kind of deadpan hilarity seen in the series' namesake, Zach Galifianakis'"Between Two Ferns" video interview series. These are artists, not comics, and past interviews have tended towards serious intellectualism and some personal reflections, albeit with a consistently irreverent edge.
Friday May 9, 7 p.m., Tempus Projects/QUAID gallery, 4636 N. FLorida Ave, Tampa.