2010 was a busy year for the alternative art spaces in Cincinnati. Clay Street Press, Country Club, ArtWorks and Aisle all held daring exhibitions of Tony Luensman. Yamini Nayer made an impact with his work. Thunder-Sky and Museum Gallery/Gallery Museum both splashed the city with new, experimental work.  

Two concurrent solo exhibitions grace Aisle Gallery through Jan. 7. In 'Chris Vorhees: Drawings,' the artist has translated imagery into fields of letters, numbers and symbols, calling to mind the streaming animations of data that decorated the 'Matrix' films. The adjacent 'Aaron Cowan: Paintings' exhibit is driven by a heavy concept of tracking the artist's use of his own time and translating these records into a system of colors to make abstract paintings.  

Francisco Goya produced his famous series of etchings, 1799's 'Los Caprichos,' at a time when narrow-minded religious extremists and other authoritarians were striving to control politics on the one hand while on the other the rise of the Enlightenment represented society's attempt to shift to reasonable thinking. Sound familiar? Populated as the etchings are by monstrous metaphors for social injustice and the dangers of unchecked superstition, there is a clear timeliness to the Taft Museum presenting 'Los Caprichos.'  

Museum Gallery/Gallery Museum (1218 Sycamore St., Over-the-Rhine) started off 2010 with a show that looked at the masculine identity. Artists responded to gender theory, pop cultural "norms" and personal issues in all kinds of media. Closing out its year, MG/GM presents 'Girls Doing Guys,' an exhibition comprised of 22 women who will present their versions of the ideal man.  

Francisco Goya produced his famous series of etchings, 1799's 'Los Caprichos,' at a time when narrow-minded religious extremists and other authoritarians were striving to control politics on the one hand while on the other the rise of the Enlightenment represented society's attempt to shift to reasonable thinking. Sound familiar?  

Bill Ross' paintings are often populated by anthropomorphized animals, day-dreamy colorful patterns and signifiers of a long Midwestern memory, such as water towers and expansive fields. But as often as anything else recurs, so do pink iced desserts. These confectionary depictions lend themselves to their current context in 'Sweet Tooth (Revisited)' at the BonBonerie in O'Bryonville.  

'Inspired by the Art of Caring: A Look at Life through Photography' is the current exhibition at Phyllis Weston Gallery, guest curated by Cynthia Goodman. The entire first floor of the gallery is given over to an impressive roster of internationally famed photographers, including Tina Barney, Lee Friedlander, William Wegman and many others. These photographs record images of human existence playing out against large-scale, elemental events like hurricanes, forest fires and our own inevitable mortality. Through Dec. 11.  

For those viewers willing to go along for the ride, the two intermixed exhibitions now at Thunder-Sky Inc. are post-psychedelic trips into alternative ways of processing thought. The innovative Northside gallery has shows featuring artists interested in outsider or folk art, Bruce Burris and Aaron Oliver Wood.  

Every year as we approach the season of holiday shopping, more and more Cincinnatians are rethinking corporate consumerism and focusing instead on buying local and handmade to support artists and artisans and also enrich the lives of gift recipients receiving original artwork and other lovingly produced objects. But 1305 Gallery in Over-the-Rhine has been encouraging this alternative to Black Friday for years now, with the stalwart "Yuletide" marketplace that Lily Mulberry sets up in her gallery.  

For those viewers willing to go along for the ride, the two intermixed exhibitions now at Thunder-Sky Inc. are post-psychedelic trips into alternative ways of processing thought. The innovative Northside gallery has shows featuring artists interested in outsider or folk art. On the one side is Bruce Burris' 'Welcome to the Lonely Mountain Community Center,' and on the other is Aaron Oliver Wood's 'Rainy Day.' Through Dec. 31.