“Appreciation of art is like an appreciation of beauty–it is in the eye of the beholder.”
There are many opportunities to appreciate art in the San Francisco and the Bay Area. We have great art museums, art galleries, and exhibitions. Those who have the means collect art; others buy copies or works of less known artists. Recently, we visited a new museum at Stanford University dedicated to the Anderson collection. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson started buying the works of up and coming American artists in the 1960’s. It is remarkable what an appreciation for art, education, and financial means can accomplish.
Next door in the Cantor Arts Center, there is an exhibition of a great photographer, Robert Frank’s “In America”. There is also a photo exhibition of the works of Arnold Newman, who created an amazing art gallery of portraits of famous people of the 20th century that is being exhibited at the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco. Last week, I wrote about an exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s work in Alcatraz. Additionally, Lucien LaBaudt’s Coit Tower mural “Powell Street” was recently released. Perhaps the highest point of the art scene was the opening of the collection of works by Keith Haring’s “The Political Line” at the De Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park. The exhibit will be open through February 16, 2015. It is a must-see.
Keith Haring’s images, which were created during his short-lived and very prolific artistic life (he died from AIDS in 1990), reflect the political climate of the 1980’s, which still affect our lives today. For years, his sexually explicit art-work was not welcomed in museums. Today, collectors are paying millions for his “running man” images. Through his graffiti-inspired drawings, paintings, sculptures, and murals, Keith Haring created an immediately recognizable iconography that speaks to a diverse population.
One of his sculptures, which for years was located on the corner of Mission and 3rd street in San Francisco, has recently relocated to the front of the De Young Museum. Throughout his life, the artist wanted to bring his message of the political and social unbalance in life to the people. The irony is that while The Keith Haring Foundation leases his images and sells his works to raise money for AIDS research and other good causes, only very rich collectors can afford his artistic creations.
“An artist is a spokesman for a society at any given point in history. His language is determined by his perception of the world we all live in. He is a medium between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’.”—Keith Haring
As a photographer, when I visit museums I am not only interested in art, but also in the people who come to see it. Enjoy.
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