Hello, and welcome to your secondhand tour of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's current exhibit, "Selected Histories: 20th-Century Art from the SFMoMA Collection." I'm Darren, and I'll be your internet tour guide. So please, step up to the box office and purchase your $18 full price admission ticket! ($11 for students, free for kids and active U.S. military, half price Thursday evenings. Yes, I paid full price. Yes, I only went because I had a class assignment to do so. Yes, I legitimately enjoyed it.) Shall we proceed? Yes? Then, ladies and gentlemen... TO ART!
As I mentioned, I took a trek to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on account of a very point-heavy assignment I had to do for my Art History class. After taking the class for the better part of a semester now, I was actually quite interested in attending the museum in the first place. The class has been more of an art appreciation class than a class about the history of art, and I've developed a genuine... well, appreciation for... art. I roamed the galleries of the exhibit designated by my assignment, taking pictures of the ones that spoke to my personal tastes. That way, you get to check out all of my favorite artworks without the hours of foot-numbing walking! Also, none of the overpriced admission! All in all, I'd say it's a pretty sweet deal.
The first gallery in the exhibit is the "Interiors and Still Lifes" gallery. In all honesty, not my favorite sort of painting. I find them to be mostly bland wall decorations, though often fairly solid exhibitions of an artist's ability to paint. My favorite of these however, is this:
This is a painting titled "Natura Morta (Still Life)" by the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. I picked this painting in particular simply because I find the analogous color harmony quite warm and inviting. The very slight shadowing present among the objects create an ever-so-slight surreality while also feeling very tangible and familiar. Not an overpoweringly stunning work, but a very pleasant one.
The next gallery is the "Structures" gallery, which had quite a few more paintings that I actually quite liked.
This is one of those paintings that's the kind of painting that pisses a lot of people off. Squares? With more squares? In different colors? BULLSHIT, many will call. I, on the other hand, love this painting, and I don't even like orange or yellow. Though it's hard to see in the photo, the solidity of the color composition in the squares is fairly impressive in its own right. Aside from that, however, the title just makes me smile. It's a painting by non-representational painter Joseph Albers, and it is titled "Homage to the Square: Confident." Those are some confident god-damn squares, indeed.
This painting, titled "Bridge" and painted by Joseph Stella, is an excellent display of symmetrical balance. I also quite like the black-and-blue color harmony here. "Bridge" also has a lovely use of line and focal point, directing the eye along the long, swooping cables that make up the structure of the bridge. Very industrial, very cool. I dig it.
Finally from the "Structures" gallery, I present another non-representational painting by American minimalist Ellsworth Kelly, titled "La Combe III." While simple in color (just a few dashes and lines of blue against a solid white background), I find this work to be a wonderful example of line. Kelly does a fantastic job directing the eye from the lower right then up and around in a defiantly curving swirl of straight lines and angles. Probably one of my personal favorites from the exhibit, though I know many will likely disagree.
Adjacent to this gallery is a small room not included in the exhibit, but a tiny exhibit on its own: a gallery devoted to the artist Paul Klee.
This painting, titled "Barockbildnis (Herr zu Perucke)" or "Baroque Portrait (Lord Wig)," I found quite amusing. It is a satirical work painted in 1920, depicting a foppish lord that is something like 50% ridiculous frizzy wig. A small painting, but it has a good time poking fun at the aristocracy of old.
This second work by Klee also made me chuckle quietly to myself (likely the only appropriate way to chuckle in an art gallery). It is titled "Und Schamt Sich Nicht" or "And Not Ashamed." Oh bless it's.... heart? Is it a cow? A flabby hippo? Who really knows but Klee. Either way, a charming little work, indeed.
Moving on, the next gallery of the exhibit is the "Latin American Modernism" gallery.
Only one painting really stuck out to me in this room, and that was "The Window," by Rufino Tamayo. A quiet reflection on the violence corrupting the Mexican cityscape around 1932, when the painting was done. The placard next to the work noted that the Mexican public at the time did not care much for paintings addressing such grand, worldly themes, so Tamayo left for New York shortly after the completion of "The Window."
Following that is the "Abstract Art in the United States" gallery.
This painting, "Whose Blues" by Leo Valledor, has such a dark and interesting analogous color harmony that evokes the genre of music its title suggests. It's central circle of dark, intriguing smudges really jumps out, helped generously by the small splashes of white here and there, providing a very round sense of rhythm. I quite like the overall aesthetic.
This very large painting by Mark Rothko, titled "No. 14, 1960," does some pretty wonderful things with color that pop far more in person than they do in this image, though you can still see them to a certain extent. The use of value in the orange creates an interesting effect of luminosity, which contrasts beautifully with the intense solidity of the dark blue below. The natural contrast of the two complementary colors intensifies each quite powerfully, especially in person (on account of the painting's imposing height).
After that in the exhibit is the "Anderson Collection of Pop Art" gallery.
This series of paintings, called "Rouen Cathedral Set V," painted by Roy Lichtenstein, are reproductions of a painting by Monet. These however, are made up entirely of painted dots. It's an impressive series of works, especially when viewed up close, as you can see in the second picture here. I especially like the third, as I love the combination of red and black, but it is the series as a whole that truly impresses.
The next gallery is the "Art and Illusion" gallery, devoted to art that tricks the eye.
What you see here is a drawing by Vija Celmins called "Untitled (Oceans)." Yes, you read that correctly: a drawing. It is a little hard to see in this photo, due to the unfortunate glare on the frame in that part of the gallery, but the graphite work is pretty astounding. Pure shading, it is very easily mistakable for a classy black and white photo.
After that, the gallery called "The Absent Performer," showcasing works of art that sport marks of the artist's work (such as fingerprints, smudges, etc.).
This pair of sculptures by Janine Antoni, titled "Lick and Lather," are self-portraits. On the left, chocolate. On the right, soap. You can imagine the delightful smell the area has, not to mention the impressive sculpting present. I've tried carving soap before; that shit is not at all easy. Despite that, these are both remarkable sculptures.
That pretty much covers my favorite pieces in the exhibition, though there are many other stellar works on display. If you're intrigued by these examples, you can find many more at SFMoMA, and I would definitely recommend a visit. Unfotunately, the admission a bit overpriced. If you can make it on one of the value days, it's a great culture source in the city of San Francisco.
I leave you with this picture of my sister and I checking out this bitchin' mirror clock.
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