Contemporary feminism is the framework for an art show at Public Functionary in Minneapolis

When the Public Functionary gallery was launched four years ago, what set it apart was its daunting Obama-era mission: Marry the aesthetic with the civic, and make the gallery a site of community engagement, cultural pluralism and grown-up dialogue. In other words, enjoy the art — but you're gonna have to eat your vegetables, too. This weekend PF puts its money where its multi-culti mouth is with this solo exhibition by D.C.-based Haitian-American artist Charles Philippe Jean-Pierre. The work is bright and airy: mixed-media pieces feathered together with a watercolorist's lightness of touch. But the context is discursive: heavy tangles of race, gender, privilege and power. Friday's opening serves as a preamble for a mini-summit on contemporary feminism the following afternoon with the artist, curator Jovan Speller, anthropologist Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara and poet Malanda Jean-Claude discussing social and political patriarchy. Intersectionalists, take note. (Opening reception 7 p.m.-midnight Fri. Artist talk 1 p.m. Sat. Public Functionary, 1400 12th Av. NE., publicfunctionary.org)

GREGORY J. SCOTT