If Alexis Duque, the Colombian artist whose paintings are splashed all over the walls of the Praxis Gallery's Upper East Side location, hadn't been the focus of the show, he would no doubt have stolen it.  

But on Saturday evening, as part of CityDusk's and About.com's second collaboration for nights out in the City, there was no question that Duque's busy, daedalic, bird's-eye views of slums and working-class quarters of metropolitan cities were the centerpiece and - the canvases mostly black and white (some with soft tinges of off-whites or slight color) and slapped against the gallery's white walls - it was a bit like sampling an exotic, full-bodied flavor in isolation for an evening.

The Praxis Gallery (25 E 73, 4^th floor, between Park and Madison, praxis-art.com) was the first stop on an evening called "Sizzling South America."  Guests drank Chilean and Argentine wine while chatting with the affable Duque and the charming gallery representatives, Jodi Dinapoli and Trinidad Fombella, who spoke about Duque's work and fielded questions from the crowd. 

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