Bey does not simply document Black life, but Black existence in a nation-state built upon the creation and maintenance of our subjugation.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
An Art Film Created With Middle Schoolers in Mind
Artist Nicole Miller sees her film To the Stars as being about potential: “I want the kids to feel like they are part of the narrative of what it means to be an astronaut or a brilliant thinker.”
The Astonishing Discovery of an Artist’s 9,200 Portraits of an Alternate Queer Self
The previously unknown Polaroids of April Dawn Alison were not just snatched from the jaws of oblivion, but are now in an esteemed museum collection.
Looking at the Legacy of Jess in California
An exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art positions the artist known as Jess as the center of a creative nexus, bringing together his works with a smattering of California artists.
Suzanne Lacy’s Powerful Legacy of Feminist Collaboration
What struck me most in moving through the arc of Lacy’s career is what varied and thoughtful work she’s produced decade after decade, no doubt the result of her preference for collaboration.
JR’s Digital Mural Features 1,200 San Franciscans, Telling a Story of a Diverse City
The artist says he wants the 107-feet-long mural at SFMOMA to get people to interact with one another.
A Nonjudgmental Look at Our Impulse to Share Images
Although social media has amped up the sharing of photos, the urge behind it is nothing new.
When Vija Celmins Holds the Shifting World Still
Celmins’s images of oceans and galaxies are powerfully personal and intimate, even if they are mysteriously deserted and distant.
Stream 15 Independent Chinese Documentaries Selected by Ai Weiwei
SFMOMA has partnered with Kanopy to stream the films screening at the museum.
Orientalism Persists in Conversations Around Chinese Contemporary Art
In Art and China after 1989, now at SFMOMA, China’s emergence onto the world stage is eclipsed by persisting Orientalist ideas and Western modes of curation.
René Magritte’s Bad Paintings
When Belgium was occupied by Germany during World War II, René Magritte adopted the style of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and painted images based on popular cartoons.
Photographer Susan Meiselas on the Relationships She’s Built with Her Subjects
Meiselas, whose documentary photography is wide ranging, says the one thing that ties her work together is her “relationships with subjects over time.”