Fresh Produce

On my trip to San Francisco a few weeks back I stopped in to MoMA SF to hang out and soak up some art. They had a really cool exhibit called “Picasso and American Art” that is definitely worth checking out. It showcases, through the juxtaposition of the artwork of well-known American Artists with Picasso pieces, the influence of the Spanish born painter, sculptor, and co-founder of cubism. Each “room” of the exhibition features the artwork of an American artist with the art of Picasso intermixed to showcase different elements of his influence in their work. Check out a super cool interactive feature called “A Hidden Picasso” found at the SF MoMA website. They also had a pretty cool exhibit by Brice Marden entitled “A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings” that had just arrived from NYC and that came highly recommended from an installation artist friend of mine. My favorite was a piece called “Muses” or “Muse”- something of that nature. There was also a cool area of the exhibit displaying pieces where he painted on paper with sticks (technique seen below). A lot of his pieces have a calligraphy type feel, which apparently was an influence of his. Read more here. He was also influenced by the art & architecture of Rome & Pompeii.

Anyhow, after my 3 hour stint at the museum I hit up the museum shop and made a very cool purchase. A wooden ring by obscure Belgian artist Georges Larondelle. I know nothing about the artist, and don’t even know what kind of wood was used to make this ring. He’s not on their website, I had to call the store to find his name, and nothing comes up when Googl’ed. But, the ring is very very cool. It has slivers of different colored woods glued or pressed together to make a striped pattern. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but check them out below.