My Visit to SFMOMA
Art Museum Review
Written by DJ Hadoken Exlamparaaghis
I intended to wake up this morning at around 10:00 AM to head to SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) early, but I was not very successful. I slept until 1:30 PM and ended up arriving there at around 4:00 PM. It was alright though- I still had enough time to enjoy the exhibits. The line to buy tickets wasn’t too bad either.
The first thing I noticed about the SFMOMA building was that I actually liked it. The architecture was not as boring as most other museums. The reason most people do not enjoy visiting museums is probably because the interior design and decoration is usually just very dull and draining. This museum was not. Although it still had those white walls that just suck the life out of anything hanging on them, the glorious staircase and confusing layout left no time for the mind to notice anything dull.
The people in the museum were of all spans of the world; there were some artsy people, some families, some couples, other college students and other people dressed all flashy with fabulous hair. It was actually pretty crowded, more crowded than other museums I have been to. The people seemed to actually enjoy being there too.
At one point, I came upon a room where there was some painting of a monster woman hanging on a wall, some spear propelled up in the center of the room for no apparent reason, and a lot of other paintings that just made no sense. As I looked around this room (and as the little question marks popped up in my mind), I noticed a little wooden box with a deep blue encasing that held a curious little owl.
It was the only thing in that room that made sense. You look at it, it’s dark, you see an owl. I loved it. You can barely see what’s behind the owl. The first thing I thought when I saw it, is that it’s something I wouldn’t mind having in my house. It’s like a little decoration you put next to your grandfather clock or on a nice piano.
And the little owl, I felt so bad for the little thing. It looks so helpless trapped in its little box. I just stared at it. The box is so dark that you can’t see what’s behind the little owl (which makes you feel bad for it). The owl looks like it is lost. It’s as if it had been sitting in a tree one night, looking for mice like it always does, and then all of a sudden someone decided to trap it in a box forever.
The description said it was created by Joseph Cornell in 1950. The piece was untitled. The exact materials listed were: wooden box containing glass, tree bark, paper, sawdust, light bulb, and electrical apparatus.
The light bulb. The first time I saw the box I was so intrigued by the owl that I overlooked the button under the box. But upon my second visit to the box, I saw the button, pushed it, and it lit up! I was so happy! I love buttons. I love playing with things! It was great, it was wonderful.
But poor little owl. It doesn’t close its eyes when you turn on the light, so the poor little thing is blinded whenever you push the button (I felt so bad pushing the button the many times I did). I finally stopped because I was worried that one of the little old lady security guards would come and threaten me.
When you push the button, you can see the tree bark behind the owl, and when you let go, it disappears again. It makes sense, it’s pretty, it’s fascinating and it’s fun to play with. That’s why I've decided to focus on that piece.
Cornell’s other works did not make much sense to me, however, so I averted my attention and tried not to think too hard about them. There was some house in a little glass box and, for some reason, it seems that he decided one morning it’d be nice to make a little window and also put that in a glass box. Who knows what he may have been thinking that day. So I can’t say I am a fan of his now, just the little owl. He probably liked boxes.
Besides Cornell’s owl, there were a lot of good pieces by other artists being exhibited at SFMOMA. Many pieces that look like the artist put a lot of thought and consideration into. I also found it interesting to look closely at paintings I have previously seen in text books only.
I was also very pleased to see some of Picasso’s work in real life. He has always been an enigma to me, but after seeing his brushwork up close, he finally became a human. It made me more confident in what I am capable of. Overall, there were a lot of good pieces in the museum that I enjoyed. There were a few that I did not enjoy, but altogether my visit was very enjoyable.
Before I continue more about how great the little owl was, let me comment on a piece I didn’t like. Robert Rauschenberg's “White Painting”. Oh sweet goodness, when I saw those white canvases they had hanging there, I was very offended.
To profit from something like that is an insult to human intelligence. To call that art is preposterous. They try to do him justice by explaining the piece in those wordy, flowery descriptions trying to assert why Rauschenberg (and other artists just like him) will always be better than me because they can wake up one morning and spill their coffee on a canvas and sell it for ten thousand dollars and nothing I ever do will even compare, because they are genius and I am not.
But of course, that is just my humble opinion. The only redeeming quality of Rauschenberg is that there were a few decent paintings of his hanging in the same room.
I will revisit Joseph Cornell in an upcoming post.
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