The exhibition The More Things Change samples SFMOMA’s collection to present a range of works made since 2000, offering a selective survey of the art of the last 10 years and a thematic and psychological portrait of the decade. The exhibition is also an unusual collaboration among all five curatorial departments at the museum, and over the... More

Media and genres collide and merge in the work of Russian artist Anna Parkina, and her works on paper — on view now — reflect on the changes in Moscow since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, assistant curator John Zarobell on working with Anna on her current New Work exhibition.

On February 25 SFMOMA opened New Work: Anna Parkina, an exh... More

Designed in collaboration with renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the exhibition How Wine Became Modern explores the visual culture of wine. It includes historical artifacts, architectural models, design objects, artworks and installations, including a “smell wall,” to probe many aspects of wine culture. Today, welcome Erin H... More

The exhibition The More Things Change samples SFMOMA’s collection to present a range of works made since 2000, offering a selective survey of the art of the last 10 years and a thematic and psychological portrait of the decade. The exhibition is also an unusual collaboration among all five curatorial departments at the museum, and over the course of the year, Open Space will present texts from each of the 10 curators.

In the news recently, many of us learned a surprising thing: there is a 13th zodiac sign, known as Ophiuchus, or the ... More

Last fall, Open Space began hosting a series of real-time discussions at the museum, and this spring we’re going to do another round, in slightly different fashion, about which I’m very excited.

Starting Thursday, March 24, Open Space and the online journal Art Practical are co-hosting a three-part series of conversations, entitled “Shop Talk,” focused on survival strategies artists develop and adopt to gain recognition and financial viability. We’ll use Stephanie Syjuco’s collaborative project Shadowshop, currently on view as p... More

Through the weekend SFMOMA’s doing a series of screenings, at the Castro Theater—thematically keyed to our Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870 exhibition—and TONIGHT living legend of cinematography Haskell Wexler will be in the house to introduce a brand new 35mm print of his film MEDIUM COOL, which he directed in ... More

The exhibition The More Things Change samples SFMOMA’s collection to present a range of works made since 2000, offering a selective survey of the art of the last 10 years and a thematic and psychological portrait of the decade. The exhibition is also an unusual collaboration among all five curatorial departments at the museum, and over the course of the year, Open Space will present texts from each of the 10 curators.

Things Will Have to Change

The title The More Things Change was Curator of Architecture and Design Henry Urbach’s idea. ... More

Jack Spicer was an American poet, born in 1925 in Los Angeles, and something of the grit and the gold of Southern California clung to him throughout his life, even after moving to Berkeley, then San Francisco, when the Second World War ended in 1945. There’s supposed to be a giant feud between LA and SF, but I can’t say I’ve seen it in actio... More

Robert Bechtle on Richard Diebenkorn’s Coffee (1959). “An artist looks at those hands and says, ‘That guy knows how to paint hands, but he’s not trying to prove it to you. They’re doing what they need to do to get that coffee cup up to her lips, and that’s it.’ ” Click thumbnail for larger version, yo... More

Our beloved Megan Brian, education and public programs coordinator, who can clearly do anything, stepped in at the 11th hour when one of our speakers couldn’t make her talk, and gave us this brilliant bit on Marilyn Minter’s Strut (2005). More on the artist.

NEWS: We’ll be revisiting the 75 Reasons to Live talks on the big screen:... More

Artist (and recent SECA awardee) Kamau Patton on Nata Piaskowski’s Untitled (Playing Handball) (1950).

We’ll be revisiting the 75 Reasons to Live talks on the big screen: tomorrow, January 4, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Join us!

Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? Last January, during SFMOMA&#... More

Artist Leslie Shows on Arthur Dove’s Silver Ball No. 2 (1930). “I love the literalness of using metallic silver paint to depict a silver ball … yet he also uses this silver paint in the atmosphere around the silver ball, so the silver depicts not only silver but depicts the luminousness of moonlight, luminousness of the atmosphere... More

Jeffrey Fraenkel opened his San Francisco photography gallery more than 30 years ago. On Diane Arbus, and A Young Brooklyn Family Going for a Sunday Outing, N.Y.C. (1966, printed ca. 1971): “I come back to her work because of what she tells me about what it’s like to be human.” Thanks so much, Jeffrey.

NEWS: We’ll be revisi... More

Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? About this time last January, during SFMOMA’s three-day 75th anniversary celebration, 75 people from the Bay Area creative community gave extremely short talks — 7.5 minutes or less! — on a single work of their choosing from the museum’s collection. As The Anniversary Show and the museum’s 75th anniversary year are drawing soon to a close (Jan 16, to be exact), we’re going to celebrate by screening these videos all day long, TOMORROW, in the Phyllis Wattis Theater. Do come down.

11 a.m.–5 p.m. FREE.

AND: Following the 75 Reasons marathon, we’ll be screening David Wojnarowicz’s FIRE IN MY BELLY, beginning at 5:30 p.m. There will be a public discussion, with members of the Bay Area arts community and SFMOMA curators, following the screening. ALSO FREE.

Kaja Silverman, art historian and film theorist, on Robert Rauschenberg’s Cy + Roman Steps (I – V) (1952).

NEWS: We’ll be revisiting the 75 Reasons to Live talks on the big screen on Tuesday, January 4, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Join us!

Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? Last January... More

Poet Lisa Robertson, on German artist Eva Hesse’s Sans II (1968). “Identity is the state’s authority.”

NEWS: We’ll be revisiting the 75 Reasons to Live talks on the big screen on Tuesday, January 4, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Join us!

Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? Last... More

Rachel Rosen, director of programming for the San Francisco Film Society, on Eadweard Muybridge’s Panorama of San Francisco from California Street Hill (1877).

NEWS: We’ll be revisiting the 75 Reasons to Live talks on the big screen on Tuesday, January 4, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Join us!

Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks him... More

The exhibition The More Things Change samples SFMOMA’s collection to present a range of works made since 2000, offering a selective survey of the art of the last 10 years and a thematic and psychological portrait of the decade. Some common themes emerge: fragmentation, fragility, entropy, metamorphosis, reconfiguration. The exhibition itself ... More

Thanks to Ron, aka Cuzinyung, and his wife, April, for this great series. I love how April interpreted Robert Therrien’s Untitled (Bent Cone)!

We choose the Flickr pictures of the week from anything tagged “SFMOMA.” You tag, too!

Our “One on One” series features artists, writers, poets, curators, and others, from around the country, responding to works in SFMOMA’s collection. You can follow the series here. Today’s post is more “Two on Several” than “One on One”: Every year since 1974 the photographer Nicholas Nixon has made ... More

The exhibition The More Things Change (“TMTC“) samples SFMOMA’s collection to present a range of works made since 2000, offering a selective survey of the art of the last 10 years and a thematic and psychological portrait of the decade. Some common themes emerge: fragmentation, fragility, entropy, metamorphosis, reconfiguration. The exhibition itself will continually change, with a varying array of works on view. TMTC is also an unprecedented collaboration among all five curatorial departments at the museum: over the course of... More

The More Things Change, which opens today, offers a selective look at contemporary art made in the last 10 years, drawing on a range of works from the museum’s collection to present a thematic and psychological portrait of the decade. Some common threads emerge: fragmentation, fragility, entropy, metamorphosis, reconfiguration — and the exh... More

Bill Fontana is a composer and sound artist. SFMOMA has commissioned what will be a truly fantastic new site-specific installation by the artist, opening this month.  Bill talks here about his appreciation for the sound qualities of Dan Graham’s 1994 sculpture Double Cylinder (The Kiss).  I remember that after his talk, one listener sugges... More

[Our "One on One" series features artists, writers, poets, curators, and others from around the country, responding however they wish to a collection work of their choosing. You can follow the series here. Today, very pleased to welcome Darrin Alfred, associate curator of architecture, design, and graphics at the Denver Art Museum. ]

Not long after S... More

The first comprehensive exhibition of the work of Eadweard Muybridge, protean genius of early photography, is coming to SFMOMA next February. It will arrive by way of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington and now Tate Britain, where I caught the show a day or two after it opened earlier this month. Tate Britain in Pimlico is the original Tate Gallery,... More

[from SFMOMA Assistant Curator of Photography Erin O'Toole]

The June 18 death of Joe Deal was a deep blow felt throughout the photography world. A widely respected and much loved artist and educator, Deal will be sorely missed by his former students, fellow photographers, and legion of friends in the community.

Although I never had the opportunity to meet Deal, I have long been an admirer of his work, particularly the photographs he made in Southern California in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Perhaps the fact that I grew up in Los Angeles in ... More

Carey Perloff is the artistic director of the American Conservatory Theater. She likens Robbert Flick’s Along Ocean Park, Looking West, Summer (1980) to a curtain rising at the theater. Thanks, Carey, for so fantastic a talk. Readers, click the thumbnail for a larger image and slightly better view on the small pictures that make up the whole work... More

Chip Lord is a media artist working with video and digital photography, and was a founding member of the art and architecture collective Ant Farm. He’s talking about Terry Fox‘s 1976  sculpture, A Metaphor. And for more Terry Fox, see Sarah Roberts’s talk on Pendulum Spit Bite, just below. Thank you, Chip!

Remember the en... More

Sarah Roberts is SFMOMA Associate Curator of Collections and Research, and she’s talking here about Terry Fox’s print Pendulum Spit Bite (1977). It’s quite delicate and especially difficult to read in the video, click the thumbnail for a slightly better view. Or come down and see it in person! The work is only on view through next... More

Craig Baldwin is a filmmaker, curator, and publisher, and as long-time host of ATA‘s Other Cinema has been premiering experimental, essay, and documentary works for over a quarter century. He’s talking about the legacy of  Wallace Berman and the art/poetry journal Semina (1955-1964). Keep your eye out for Rick Prelinger w/ video camera ... More