Lots of Art --- Day 5/79

Walk: Sundance Kabuki
Distance: 2 miles, home yoga

So in case you are interested in Ciwt's first impression of our new SFMOMA, here's what she emailed a friend:

Still taking it in - after almost 24 hours.  It is A Lot of modern art - much of it quite excellent (Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, etc), some of it overly predictable (most of those huge, gloomy, corporate German Neo-Expressionists).*

Love the acoustics and think the new addition is very good and pleasant in its vast way.  The only building glitch that bothered me was the "hidden" stairways.  I walked and walked on every floor trying to find a staircase and felt claustrophobic when I couldn't.  Then, when did show up, it was some tiny thing in some unexpected place.

Two museums with many duplicate artists and periods in several different places is very peculiar and difficult/confusing/unsatisfactory for the viewer.  Maybe at some point SFMOMA won't be required to make such a separation between the collections and can blend them.  That will be a very good point, imho.

Right now it's an excellent slog.  An IKEA light, gallery-after-gallery, art-filled slog that already makes a quite wonderful/totally needed contribution to SF and its art scene.  But still a slog.  I think your "dizzy and overwhelmed by too much art" is exactly the necessary and unavoidable response.  I felt the same - probably for slightly different reasons.  Over time I'm sure SFMOMA will make many fine tunes - weed out some things, focus the corridors of galleries a bit more, add art, create viewing breaks, etc,.  And then it will be a truly outstanding and true worldwide modern art center.

So, onward.  I look forward to returning many times.

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 Not SFMOMA, but you get the point.  Ciwt says ISH!