Art Imitates Art

Sometimes life imitates art and sometimes art imitates art — is it coincidence or is it on a subconscious level?  The other day I visited the SFMOMA and one my favorite works of art was the first thing I saw when I looked up — Wall Drawing 895: Loopy Doopya piece designed by Sol LeWitt whose work I first was properly introduced to in the big retrospective back in 2000.  Why wouldn’t I love it? It reminded me of some of the wavy rubber stamps I have recently been hand carving. 

Museum Weekend

It was an art museum filled weekend.  Saturday was an occasion to visit the Berkeley Art Museum and check out the new exhibit Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia.  The show is full of ephemera, prints, including some of the work of Corita Kent, macramé and photography form the era including a series Clay Geerdes photography of the Cockettes.  But the exhibit is not limited to what might be the expected memorabilia — the show also explores the world of high tech hippies – yes, high tech hippies, who were exploring and utilizing what was the latest technological innovations in their work.  Examples include the Community Memory Project – a very early “social media” device developed by Berkeley’s Village of Arts and Ideas Commune.  The exhibit runs through May 21^st and the website lists a number of related events, panel discussions, etc.  And finally Teri Friedman’s new installation (above right) is a perfect complement to the current exhibit.

Sunday was the annual Member for a Day event in the Bay Area offering reciprocal access to other museums.  The SFMOMA’s costly membership and entrance fee ($25) might seem like chump change to my young, techie neighbors, but for an artist like myself, I’ll take an opportunity to visit for free.  The expanded museum is overwhelming when crowded, and those outdoor “escape” terraces are much appreciated.  The highlight of the visit was Tomás Saraceno’s installation Stillness in Motion — Cloud Cities (see below).  It is clearly a crowd pleaser and slightly dangerous for us tall folk.  There was another, very inspirational discovery at the SFMOMA – but more about that soon….

Looking Forward at the SFMOMA

The long wait is over and the new, expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is back.  And, in keeping with the word of 2016, the museum is HUGE!  With the addition added to the existing building, the museum is about three times as big as it was before – making it one of the largest art museums in the country.  Yesterday I was able to get a preview visit before the grand opening on May 14^th.

First, let’s talk architecture – last week the Guardian ran a hit piece that was hilarious and whiny in that way only the English can complain.  As amusing as it was, I suspect the reviewer might have only looked at the architectural renderings.  The new building is great – sure one could go through and nitpick with any new building, but overall it is really good.  The museum is spacious, natural light is allowed in and there are additional and welcome terraces where visitors can get some fresh air when they need to take a break.  Fortunately, the Tuesday afternoon preview was not crowded, but even on busy days, the space seems well prepared for crowds to flow through.

It’s the spaciousness that is the key.  A major shortcoming with the old museum was its lack of what I call “vista walls.”  Large, modern pieces need those rooms and galleries where visitors have a nice long approach to the big work.  The new museum has no shortage of clean, open rooms.  And, with plenty of space, many artists are given their own gallery.  There are few modern art museums that can dedicate so many rooms to individual artists. 

The SFMOMA retains its “top-down” plan where the logical approach is to ride the elevator to the top floor (7) and work one’s way down via the stairs.   The museum is so large now, that it has reached the size of “too big to see in one visit.”  Again, the terraces to pause for a rest are welcome along with the extra café areas.  I never see the need for multiple museum gift shops, but I do enjoy having a break and a coffee in the middle of a museum trip.

As you work your down the stairs you find a remodeled third floor focusing on photography.  It’s always been a strong point of the SFMOMA’s collection and the third floor could be a museum in itself.  The second floor becomes familiar as the galleries retain the feel of the older building and include the original collection.  And for all the new, the second speaks mostly to my personal taste — I like the second floor best of all.

As the museum has grown with the addition of the Fisher Collection and plenty of other newly acquired works, what is missing in the massive institution becomes painfully obvious.  There is that persistent, disappointing under-representation of California artists.   Sadly, the SFMOMA remains reluctant to showcase what all Californians should be proud of – our art.   This is why I steer out-of-town visitors towards the Oakland Museum or on to the Crocker in Sacramento and the di Rosa Preserve up in Napa.  While the collection of German modern art is excellent at the SFMOMA, if you have come all the way from Hamburg or Berlin, is that the art you want to see in California?

And of course, unsurprisingly, works by women and artists of color still can be a challenge to find.  One could make a sad scavenger hunt seeking out diversity.  This is a job for the Guerilla Girls! 

The new SFMOMA is a forward-looking building and a great start, but it now needs to grow into the 21^st Century and represent a broader cross-section of modern art and artists.

The SFMOMA comes to the Oakland Museum

I made a visit to the Oakland Museum today.  I was aware they were having a special exhibit where they had borrowed work from the SFMOMA while that museum is closed and under reconstruction and expansion.  I assumed it was work I had seen before and was not expecting anything special – oh how silly of me.  Once again, the Oakland Museum has done an amazing job.  They have integrated their own work and included rarely seen work from both museums’ collection.  Some of the work has never been exhibited before. 

The exhibit, titled Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California is the big don’t miss museum show in the Bay Area right now.  There are four components to the show.  It begins with the 1930’s including WPA art, murals and political work influenced by the San Francisco General Strike of 1934.  The SFMOMA’s Frida Kahlo portrait of her and Diego Rivera looks better than ever and is finally show in context.  After the first section, you pass into the postwar years.  You cross over from Telegraph Hill to North Beach and are immersed in the world of the California School of Fine Arts, Rothko, Diebenkorn, Cunningham et al.  Next it’s up to UC Davis circa 1970 when that little agriculture state university became the epicenter of contemporary art in the Western U.S.  The final component of the show takes viewers to the 1990’s and includes an emphasis on political activism.  There is a series of videos of different demonstrations and political actions back then.  The videos got me all excited when I realized I was at many of those demos.  I have to go and watch them again and look for myself on the walls of the museums.  I already spotted a few people I know.

The show runs through April 12, 2015 and I’ll be back to look a few more times before then.

One Last Look

Today was Member for a Day where Bay Area Museum members get reciprocal admission at pretty much all the other local art museums.  A day they really need to do more than once a year.  We took advantage of the opportunity to visit the SFMOMA one last time before it closes for three years of construction and expansion. 

I finally got to see Bob Arneson’s legendary and controversial bust of Mayor George Moscone.  We also got to “operate” the radio in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s installation Frequency and Volume.  The kid who felt the need to dance along made it even better.  Art doesn’t need to be taken so seriously.  The next time I probably see the lobby, it will be quite different after the renovations.  Currently it is filled with Wenda Gu’s installation.

As always at the SFMOMA, sometimes the museum visitors are more of a show than the art itself.  For example, these folks (seen below) taking in the Logan Collection.  The outfit to match Tracey Emin’s Pysco Slut was a particular favorite. 

If you want one last look at the current (and rather new “old”) SFMOMA, you have until June 2^nd.  Then it closes for three years.  

A Zoo Habitat for the Art Museum

A few years ago the SFMOMA built a garage behind the museum. Instead of putting more cars on the roof, they did something terribly smart. They built a rooftop garden, installed sculpture and added an enclosed café space. It’s a great space and good place to rest and recaffeinate in the middle of a museum visit. One accesses the rooftop via a glass walled passageway from the fifth floor. Or, if visitors are meandering through the fifth floor galleries, they end up in a glass walled room a few steps elevated above the rooftop garden. This is where I found myself on Saturday.

As I gazed through the glass into the garden I had the feeling that I was in one of those modern zoos — the kind where you look through the glass at various habitats. It reminded me of the type of habitat display where monkeys or lions enjoy a fairly undisturbed recreation of their natural homes while we all peer in. This room at the SFMOMA that looks into the rooftop garden feels just like one of those spaces.

Would the SFMOMA be so daring as to let me curate this big window with the sort of signage that marks this as a habitat? The signage could explain the typical and varied species of museum visitors. For example, the exhibit would include the art student, the visiting mom from Kentucky, the Eurotourist, the all-in-black art aficionado, etc. I saw them all on Saturday.

Visitors to the rooftop garden might not even realize they are part of the art — especially if they bypassed this room on their way in. My intent would not be to mock visitors, but rather explore how the public interacting with and viewing art becomes part of the experience. There may be an occasional museum visitor put off by being put in a “zoo” but is this idea any more invasive than art installations that capture visitors with video cameras?

Conceptual art can be as simple as installing fictitious signage to an architectural feature.