Twin Cities' 5 must-see art shows this weekend

OPENING THIS WEEKEND

Spearwave

Hours: Sat., Feb. 17 from 6-10:30 p.m.; and Sun., Feb 18 from 12-3 p.m.

Where: 2528 E 22^nd St., Mpls

This Saturday from 6-10:30 p.m., Yeah Maybe hosts a monthly exhibition and community gathering space called Spearwave. For this month's installation, a collaboration with Soomaal House of Art, artists Aduunya, Khadija Charif, Khadija Muse, Osob Mohamed, Mohamud Mumin and Hamza Noor will present their work.

CLOSING SOON-ISH

Mapplethorpe: Minimalism

Hours: Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe may be best remembered for his starkly lit and often erotic photographs of men. Lesser known are his early 1970s Polaroids and photos of plants, and interior spaces. These works, hand-selected from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York by Leslie Hammons, line the walls of the newly renamed Weinstein Hammons Gallery. Look closely at the Polaroids and you'll see that even though the subject matter is different, the angles are similar. A telephone pole (pictured) and a nude male sculpture are both viewed from below, making the subjects appear more important. Exhibition ends March 3.

CLOSING SOON-ISH

"For the Gods" by Priscilla Briggs & "Remnants" by Betsy Ruth Byers

Where: Rosalux Gallery (1400 Van Buren St NE, #195, Mpls)

Hours: Sat. & Sun. 12-4 p.m.

ONGOING

Joe Sinness: Portraits

Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun.

Where: Soo Visual Arts Center, 2909 Bryant Av. S., Mpls. soovac.org

Following his dazzling exhibition "The Flowers," which debuted last summer at the Minneapolis Institute of Art's Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program and explored unpacking shame around queer male sexuality, Joe Sinness returns with portraits of ... wait for it ... softball players. Delicately drawn with colored pencils, these works depict the players of the Twin Cities Goodtime Softball League, a gay league founded in 1979 after a group of queers challenged the Minneapolis police to a softball game and totally kicked their butts. By capturing these LGBTQAI folks in their element, perhaps with a baseball field or a chain-link fence or just something nature-y in the background, Sinness depicts another aspect of queer life, and points to the ways that team sports can help people feel a part of a non-biological version of family. Case in point: One of the teams is Unicorns. LOL.Exhibition ends Feb. 27.

Judy Chicago's Birth Project: Born Again

Where: Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, Visual Arts Building (2400 Randolph Ave., Mail F-12, St. Paul)

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sat, Sun 12 p.m. noon – 6 p.m.