Get Thee to a Museum

Instead of enjoying the beautiful sunshine, I spent my weekend indoors at the major city museums: the de Young and the MOMA.

I went to the de Young especially for the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibit. He is a minimalist black and white photographer. I usually have a knack for identifying art events that I end up loving. This exhibit was passable–with the exception of his photographs of drive-in movie theaters. The photograph of the Union City drive-in (I have fond memories of the theater from driving past it frequently on trips) particularly hits home. Otherwise, I hate to admit, I was unimpressed with the exhibit. I guess I realized I like a lot of color and splash in art.

I almost skipped it, but decided to head up to the second floor of the de Young for the Nan Kempner American Chic exhibit. ORGASMIC!!! I walked into the darkened exhibit with a crowd of several people and even the men gasped! Bravo, bravo, this exhibit is so well done. I think it far surpasses the Vivienne Westwood exhibit that came through a few months ago to such wide acclaim. The current American Chic exhibit is a quick, fascinating stroll through haute couture, straight out of the Parisian runways. I highly recommend it.

I’m a member of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco which includes the de Young as well as the Legion of Honor. While I love the forward-thinking, unbelievable art of Burning Man–it’s a wonder that my interests tend towards the classical…Impressionist paintings, the ballet. Indeed, I’ve never been a big fan of the MOMA.

But we were at the MOMA this weekend. I wanted to check out the Olafur Eliasson exhibit. He is known for his multisensory installations. They certainly have that wow factor. Matisse is also at the museum, but I was too tired or too uninterested to be captivated. I breezed right through the exhibit, unfortunately.

Wasn’t I just talking about loving classical art? I am one big anomaly.

Spend some time with art:
Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibit at the de Young ends September 23rd.
Nan Kempner American Chic exhibit at the de Young ends November 11th.
Olafur Eliasson exhibit at the MOMA ends February 24th.
Matisse exhibit at the MOMA is cited as ‘ongoing’ on the web site.