San Francisco Art
My San Francisco days were filled with art by stellar favorites including Nan Goldin, Maia Flore and the Bechers. As is often the case, I stumbled into new territory and encountered unknown work. I was in town to celebrate The Haight-Ashbury Experience and the Pursuit of Happiness: The Photography of Herb Greene, masterfully printed by Digital Silver Imaging and curated with care by the team at the Haight Street Art Center. Entering the dark blue walls of mostly black and white images dropped viewers into the maelstrom of the street, social, political and music scene of the Summer of Love. Greene’s images are as iconic as his rock & roll royalty subjects. The magic of this compilation is how steadfast and democratic his curious and observant eye gives equal measure—regardless of the fame he frames.
Discovering the Minnesota Street Project in Dogpatch was a sheer delight. Themes & Projects hosts a solo exhibition in their sun-streamed gallery of new work by Maia Flore, Scenes from the Sun, 2023. I love the Agnes Varda quote, referenced by Curator Josefin Lundahl, “if we opened people up, we’d find landscapes.”
Walking through Deep Dive, Nan Goldin’s hauntingly beautiful fifth solo exhibition at Fraenkel Gallery, is the perfect counterpoint to watching her stunning documentary, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. This exhibition features dreamy sensual images from her accompanying slideshow, Memory Lost. We are indebted to Goldin’s fierceness and generosity—she saved her own life along with countless more.
I was equally riveted by the brand-new art space, The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, and the works in its inaugural exhibition, Resting Our Eyes. ICA SF states its mission as “prioritizing individuals over institutions, and modeling equity and expansion in the artistic canon.” Tahirah Rasheed and Autumn Breon curated work by 20 multigenerational Black artists, across mediums, celebrating Black womxn as “fully realized and free.”
SF MoMA delivered the Bechers in all their mid-tone glory. It was fun to dissect the grids and groupings and hear the observations of my fellow viewers. Sightlines: Photographs From the Collection is filled with more favorites including Meghann Riepenhoff, Graciela Iturbide, Carrie Mae Weems and Zora J. Murff. I walked away with a new favorite—the image Sound of One Hand Angel, 1974 by Bruce Connor and Edmund Shea, a duo unbeknownst to me before. If you look closely I made a self-portrait within their heartwarming work.