GORGEOUS: Art exhibit at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Detail from Miss Blanche Chair, 1988 by Shiro Kuramata

What is beauty?  What is gorgeous?  Curators at the Asian Art Museum and at the Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in San Francisco have picked out examples of their personal idea of gorgeous art from the two museum’s collections and arranged the pieces in a fascinating and thought provoking exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.  From the statue of a bird/man from Thailand to Andy Warhol’s portraits of Jackie Kennedy, from a Rajastani miniature to a large luminous painting by Mark Rothko, the exhibit illustrates that beauty IS in the eye of the beholder and that each piece of art connects with the viewer in personal ways.

Phebo by Beatriz Milhazes, 2004, combination of painting, collage, printmaking.

To quote from one of the exhibit panels:  “Certain artworks come alive in the mind’s eye.  Others linger in memory, inspiring a range of imaginative musings, pointing to ideas, implications, or states of being beyond the visible. Sometimes this experience surpasses the art itself over time, and that may just be the point.”

Ewer with lid, 1050-1150, Korea. Stoneware with celadon glaze

Some of the pieces in the exhibit are gorgeous because of their elegant simplicity–such as a celadon glazed Korean jar–or from the richness and complexity of the design–such as the intricate woven designs on a Japanese robe. However, many of the works chosen for the exhibit contained an inherent conflict between the richness of the art medium and the subject being portrayed. From the sensual to the cerebral, elegant to outrageous, intimate to grandiose, ancient to modern, the exhibit has something for everyone.

Girl in a Pink Dress, Senegal, 2008, photograph by Jim Goldberg.

Among my many favorites was a photograph of a young girl at a construction site in Senegal.  The colors of the photo are hauntingly beautiful and yet I had some of the same questions as the curator who chose it. “I am curious about what led up to the photo.  Why does the girl have on (in addition to her flip-flops) a satiny dress and necklace that seem to fancy for everyday?  Was it her idea to climb the rubble pile?  Did she get to know the photographer?” Like the curator who chose Girl in a Pink Dress I liked the photo because of its visual qualities but was also intrigued by what it did–and didn’t– depict.

Portrait by Yasimasu Morimura recreated Edouard Manet's 1865 Olympia using his own image for Olympia and her maid

 I actually had many favorites.  Here are a few of them.

Women of Algiers, 1955, by Pablo Picasso.

Women of Algiers is one of 15 paintings by Picasso inspired by Eugene Delacroix’s 1834 painting Les Femmes d’Algiers dans leur appartament, depicting Algerian concubines in their private quarters. I love the abstract figures against the patterned background.

Miss Blanche Chair, 1988 by Shiro Kuramata paired with ancient Chinese throne chair

I went to see Gorgeous on a recent trip to San Francisco.  I had never been to the Asian museum before. It is at the Civic Center, across from the square with convenient underground parking. It has a nice café where I had a delicious lunch of dim sum and a wonderful gift shop with many tempting items. I realized that I need to go back to the Asian Museum another time to see the rest of the floors.  Gorgeous will be on view through September 14, 2014.

Detail, Phebo by Beatriz Milhazes, 2004, combination of painting, collage, printmaking