A Sunday Visit to the SF MOMA

Exhibit: Zanele Muholi: Eye Me

I have enjoyed visits to San Francisco for as long as I can remember. Growing up I would go on shopping trips with my mom to the Westfield mall and Union Square. My brother and I would get dragged by our parents to all the tourist locations around the city, even a ferry boat tour of Alcatraz Island. I’m pretty well-versed in what the city has to offer in terms of sights, food, music festivals, and of course—the art. I enjoy going to the art museums of San Francisco, but I tend to visit the Deyoung and the Legion of Honor most often since they participate in Museums For All and are generally more accessible. However, in order to ensure I got a fully contemporary experience this time round, I chose to visit the Museum of Modern Art.

The SFMOMA is almost like Willy Wonka's factory— endless floors filled with amazing sights and sounds. It’s worth the high admission every once in a while. My last visit to the SF MOMA was all the way back in 2018! Finally I was able to return while simultaneously enrolled in a contemporary art history class. It was exciting to view work relevant to class lectures and other art history classes I have taken here at Sac State. On this visit, my mom and I went together to see what exhibitions were on display. She was most excited to see Alexander Calder’s wire mobile sculptures herself. I however, was most anticipating Zanele Muholi’s exhibit—Eye Me. 

Me viewing Thatha II, Sheraton Hotel, Brooklyn,
from the series Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail, the Dark Lioness) 2019, printed 2023

    Born in South Africa, Muholi’s art celebrates blackness and queerness as a way to document these lifestyles for present and future generations. Located on the third floor, the exhibit presented 100+ photographs, painting, sculpture, and video from Muholi’s career beginning in 2002. At the start of the exhibit is a simple yet effective statement by the artist. “I was born in South Africa, I came out in South Africa, and my work taken from my life. We have to document in the ways that we know how”—Zanele Muholi. Clearly Muholi is an apt messenger. Their works display queer black youth through portraiture, domestic life, struggles, and triumphs. I was drawn to their recent work, which features a lot of theatrical self-portraiture through photograph. Dressed in wild and contrasting clothes and various hairstyles—the black and white photos of Muholi are vibrant, bold, and accentuate the color of their skin. Another self-portrait of Muholi appears in the form of a bronze bust. The sculpture of the artist shows them covered in electrical cables and clamps providing shocking yet mesmerizing stoic pose. These portraits are unafraid and lively, showing various sides to the artist and their creative expression while still recognizing the strife of being queer in a heteronormative society. 

Muholi, 2021, Bronze

In addition to the Eye Me exhibit, there were various floors that featured artworks we have discussed in class this semester. It was particularly exciting to be able to recognize works and artists that have been featured in lectures and the textbook—here are some of my highlights. On the fifth floor there was an exhibit titled Afterimages: Echoes of the 1960s (from the Fisher and SFMOMA Collections). The 1960s saw a period of rapid social, political, and technological change. Commercial media entered the fine art space through the pop art movement, and conceptual and minimal artists questioned social structures and methods of artistic production through unconventional materials and contemporary exhibition methods. It was in this exhibit that I encountered many artists from our contemporary art history course. One of the first I noticed was Video Commune by Nam June Paik and Jud Yalkut. What better way to show the progression of art installation but the inventor of video art. Though we are used to seeing screens constantly and viewing international broadcasting today, back in 1970 this was not typical. Paik was pioneer if video art and using TV to display his work. This piece in particular featured eight and a half minutes of the original 4 hour live-broadcast. Next in this section, I noticed David Wojnarowicz’s 1987 painting titled The Death of American Spirituality. This four paneled painting features an intense color palette, and punching social-political imagery. Wojnarowicz experiences as a gay man suffering from AIDS fuel the emotions in his artwork and stress the evils of a broken American government. It was so much more powerful in person than merely a textbook or lecture slide. 

David Wojnarowicz

The Death of American Spirituality, 1987

Next were two minimalist artists who challenged fine art standards and exhibition convention. Sol Lewitt’s Wall Drawing 1 (1968), stems from the artists concept that the idea has more value than the end product, and features meticulously drawn graphite lines directly on the museum wall. Across the room, Donald Judd’s sculpture titled, To Susan Buckwalter (1964), features four galvanized metal cubes linearly protruding from the wall in a horizontal row. These two pieces challenge the conventions of gallery artwork and invite the viewer to question what can be art. 

Donald Judd, To Susan Bulkwalter, 1964

    But perhaps what I enjoyed most of all was the Yayoi Kusama interactive exhibit. This installation, which required an extra ticket and reservation, featured two fully transformed spaces for viewers to immerse themselves in. A major component to Kusama's work is polka dots, which were the highlight of each altered space. The first room was a cube which you enter through a short quarter-circle entrance. Once inside, each facade of the interior is a mirrored surface, covered with giant transparent polka dots. Viewers may walk around the room for two minutes, observing the altered space and simulating a never-ending mirror-illusion. The next room was similar in that it has all mirrored walls, but also featured multicolored polka dot tentacles that protruded into the interior space, creating a crowded atmosphere in the small space. It was whimsical and brought-out child-like awe from my mother and the other strangers in our group.

Kusama Exhibit 

My mom and I inside the Kusama exhibit

I enjoyed seeing the artworks I described in person, and imaging what has changed between now and when these artworks were created. Overall my SFMOMA trip was a major success. I quenched my thirst to revisit this expensive all-day art excursion for the next couple of years, and I will return when I feel necessary. In the meantime I will keep and eye out for the upcoming exhibits to the Legion of Honor and Deyoung museums which I can visit for free through the Museums for All Program. I am grateful for my relative proximity to the art hub which is San Francisco and hope to return soon.