10 Art Shows to See in the Bay Area This Summer
Demetri Broxton beads an ancestral path, Mildred Howard gets an overdue retrospective, 14 galleries share one space, Diedrick Brackens tends a garden, and more.
If you’ve been following along, you know that things haven’t exactly been smooth sailing for San Francisco’s art scene in the last six months. Our last art school announced plans to close. Several galleries called it quits. City budget cuts have decreased arts funding. But in the middle of it all, the community is coming together and finding new ways to support itself. A collaboration between several local galleries, a deep-dive into the history of the Bay Area’s suburban hardcore punk scene, local film history-turned-immersive art, and overdue recognition of the living legend that is Mildred Howard go a long way to remind us all of what we have here. And what we have is something special, something worth fighting for.
Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third Street, San Francisco, California
Ongoing
A decade into its century-long loan to SFMOMA, the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection has gotten a refresh. This comprehensive re-hang of the collection boasts new and newly curated works alike, from immersive Sol LeWitt wall drawings to enchanting William Kentridge animations, totaling almost 250 works. It’s an energizing shake-up, the sort that would be welcome again before another 10 years go by.
Video Craft
Museum of Craft and Design, 2569 Third Street, San Francisco, California
Through August 12
In response to the AI takeover sweeping San Francisco, Video Craft offers a counter-narrative. The show is packed with craft objects and methodologies that precede and engage with video. Featuring nearly 20 artists working in textiles, ceramics, and other mediums, the show creates a fresh and dynamic cross-disciplinary conversation and makes the case for returning to non-digital artistic traditions.
Slice of the Pie
Fraenkel Gallery, 49 Geary Street, San Francisco, California
Through August 15
This collaborative group exhibition brings together 14 local galleries to share Fraenkel Gallery’s wall space, from fellow veterans to relative newcomers. Local artists shine here, from delicate paintings by Rupy C. Tut and Clare Rojas to a sculptural video installation by Julio César Morales and Robert Bechtle’s vision of San Francisco suburbia. It’s a timely reminder of how the community can come together and the strength of what we share.
