Since we moved to the Bay Area, we really enjoyed our last visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). If we do this regularly, perhaps we should become a member of the museum.
SFMOMA
The 7-floor museum is located in the downtown area. It was expanded in 2016 by Snøhetta whose design seamlessly integrated with the museum’s existing Mario Botta–designed building which debuted in 1995.
“The expansion’s façade was inspired by the waters and fog of the San Francisco Bay, and throughout the day, the movement of light and shadow naturally animates its rippled surface.” This description provided by the museum is a bit too poetic but the building is pretty nonetheless.
Museum-friendly music by Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm.
We are sharing some snapshots of the works on display on that day in a series of two posts. In Part 1 here, we chose three artists from an ongoing exhibition “German Art After 1960’s”.
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter born 1932 in Dresden, Germany. He produced photorealistic paintings based on photographs as models, among other abstract works.
He said “… I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and perfect. I blur things to make all the parts a closer fit.”
<< Reader (1994, Lesende)
Candles series: Two Candles (1982, Zwei Kerzen) >>
Townscape Madrid (1968, Stadtbild Madrid)
Apart from making photorealistic paintings, Gehard Richter also created many Abstract Pictures (Abstraktes Bild) in the 90’s.
The museum noted “… he applies a coat of paint and then scrapes passages away to create a complex interplay of dappled colors and textures. Sometimes he blends and smears layers of pigment that are still wet, producing luscious patterns of color.”
I (Chris) like the series and purchased a reproduced print of one, from Albertina in Vienna.
Richter said “I don’t have a specific picture in my mind’s eye. I want to end up with a picture that I haven’t planned. The method of arbitrary choice, chance, inspiration and destruction may produce a specific type of picture, but it never produces a predetermined picture.”
Among Richter’s works, this series of paintings fetched the most in the art market. One was apparently purchased in an auction for 30 million pounds in London in 2015.
Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer born 1945, grew up in postwar West Germany. In 1970s, he began to develop his best-known works: massive paintings of broken landscapes that address history, humanity, collective memory and loss in the context of Germany’s past. He uses a diverse range of materials to create the works.
Die Meistersinger (The Mastersingers), 1982
In a gallery biography, it has been said that “Kiefer leads the viewer into new worlds formed of labyrinthine association and symbolism. Characteristic of his pursuit is a sense of desolation, ruination and the resiliency and ambiguity of signs, allowing images, objects and symbols to intertangle and invigorate new meaning.”
Das Museum (The Museum), 1984-1992
Kiefer’s work becomes more sculptural in recent years.
Melancholia, 1990-1991
We have seen Kiefer’s works in various museums in Europe before. While we can feel the weightiness of the issues that drive the works, but because we do not fully recognize the symbolism and historical context, our appreciation of this artist’s works remains somewhat shallow. Maybe, we will be in a better position after viewing Wim Wenders’s documemtary film in 3D of his work, released in 2023.
Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson – Icelandic artist well known for combining art, science and natural phenomena to create installations that provide the viewer with extraordinary, magical sensory experiences. Go to his web site to view videos of his art.
Eliasson’s ongoing installation on Floor 5, One-way colour tunnel was created for the museum’s atrium bridge on the occasion of the 2007–8 exhibition Take your time: Olafur Eliasson.
A lot of visitors were walking back and forth through this dazzling arched walkway of prismatic colors, created by glass triangles and acrylic panel. Over the years, we encountered his works in various museums worldwide. They were always fun and surprising.
In 2008, we saw his large-scale public work The New York City Waterfalls installed along the city’s waterfront and the Brooklyn Bridges across the East River.
To come, Part 2 of this post will include works by American artists, Alexander Calder, Richard Mayhew and Ellsworth Kelly.
Do you know where to spent half a day in San Francisco while on vacation ? This museum ought to be your first choice especially if you are into modern art.