SFMOMA

Today’s wanderings brought me to the SFMOMA.

It wasn’t a particular busy afternoon. There were a number of people, but past the initial gallery the crowd was pretty well spread out.

Here’s a piece that’s 2 inflatable houses of different sizes. The larger one is set inside the smaller. And the installation inflates and deflates over time.

And next to the house, tucked away in a corridor is this hallway. Tilled with hexagons, each individually cast in plaster. The effect was stunning. It’s soft appearance beckons the viewer to poke it. However, the ever present security guard was around to foil such attempts.

This piece actually got a laugh from me. It’s quirkyness turns into an odd cuteness. Apparently the hair on it is real human hair.

As I progressed though the gallery I ended up on the rooftop garden.I’d hesitate to call it a garden due to it’s lack of any flora. But up on the roof lay a series of large sculptures.

It seems that even the benches were considered art. But at least we get to sit on these ones.

And of couse, this being an art museum, you’re bound to find someone sketching somewhere.

Proceeding off the roof and back though the gallery, I caught a view of the surrounding neighbourhood.

A feature of the SFMOMA building was a central turret topped with a glass roof. A metal grill bridge allowed patrons to cross within turret, 4 levels above ground. Looking down through the bridge’s floor to see the ground far below you was an interesting sight.

Looking at this piece, the first thing that came to mind was L-Systems and their recursive nature.

Further on back into the gallery there was a tower of plaster brains. If I wasn’t walking around alone, I would have struck a zombie pose. But alas, this simple pleasure wasn’t to be had today.

The artist of these lamps was inspired by human skin.

What looks like a spiky ball. But stare into the centre and walk around the piece and you’ll see much more.

The last piece that I’ll be talking about is a piece that I was rather impressed by, a video by Kevin Atherton. On 2 opposing walls were projections of 2 videos. One was Kevin, in 1978 as the interviewer. And on the other, was Kevin again, but this time in 2006, responding to questions from 1978 and occassionaly engaging in some banter. But what struck me the most was the interation between his 2 selves.