Visit to SFMOMA

Yesterday we visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). After waiting in a queue for 20 minutes we were told at the ticket counter that the museum's entire permanent collection of paintings and sculptures on the second floor was closed for renovations. This was profoundly disappointing to Brenda and myself. For me it had presented perhaps my only chance to see original Matisse's, Picasso's, Warhol's and many other masterpieces. Brenda has at least seen many original masterpieces in museums in Europe.

We made the best of it and attentively viewed the contemporary art on display. For me, who claims the aesthetic sensibility of a clam, most of the art varied from mildly interesting to uninteresting (principally the photographs) to disdain (particularly a canvas of all gray where the frame was sort of half painted in gray as though the painter was in a hurry.) I see no skill or inspiration in geometric paintings or those with patterns of flat colors. There was one work that attracted me very much and Brenda was able to take a good photograph of it. It had been done by a Vietnamese artist and conveyed to me a strong message about war and its affect on people. We also saw a very interesting art form involving multiple screens. One work titled "Motherhood" had clips from female actors such as Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, and Shirley McClain cleverly edited to present a powerful message about motherhood. The building itself was an art work.

We then visited the Yerba Buena Gardens across the road which we found to be interesting, beautiful, and serene. On one side was the Martin Luther King fountain. On the other side was St Patrick's Church. That entire area was like a large pedestrian oasis in the middle of San Francisco and is a credit to the city.

The top photograph was taken by Brenda of the work that affected me the most. If you look hard you will see the juxtaposition of a soldier, war planes, and people, set in the colors of napalm and Agent Orange. The second one shows the glass skylight of the building, which can be seen in external photos of the building. Further down are photos taken by Brenda at the Martin Luther King waterfall. Her visit to MOMA inspired her artistic photograph of the old lady sitting next to the screen. Thus inspired she then took the one the leaves floating in the water. The dark gray cubes in the last photo is the site of the Contemporary Jewish Museum.