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

TERMESSOS, Ancient City in the Mountains of Southern Turkey, photos by Tom Scheaffer

Ruins of the Ancient City of Termessos, near Antalya, Turkey

My brother Tom recently returned from a three-week trip to southern Turkey, staying first in Selkuk (near the ancient city of Ephesus) and then in Antalya, overlooking the Aegean on the Turkish Riviera.  While in Antalya, he went with friends one day to visit the ruins of the ancient city of Termessos, located in a mountain pass in Gulluk Dagi National Park about 24 miles from Antalya.

He wrote to me in an email: “Today we hiked up to some amazing ruins called Termessos. It is an old Roman trading post on the road from the Aegean Sea to the Mediterranean where people used to cross the mountains. It was very beautiful and peaceful. The weather has been perfect and it is good to come in the off season because there are few people.”

Termessos is one of the best preserved ancient sites in Turkey and dates from the time of Alexander the Great (who was never able to conquer it due to the rugged terrain and its highly defensible position high in the mountains).  The city is built at an altitude of more than 1000 meters (3000 feet) in a mountain saddle. The mountain peak rises 600 more meters above it. The city was abandoned after the aqueduct that provided the its water supply was destroyed in an earthquake.




Termessos is only accessible by a hiking path, requiring sturdy shoes and some endurance. But once one reaches the top, the views are spectacular. Tom has graciously allowed me to post some of his pictures of his trip to Termessos.

The remains of Termessos include the city's main square and marketplace, or agora, a large theater, temples, tombs and more.
For hours, a more detailed description of the site, and more information about Termessos, click HERE.
Tom Scheaffer recently retired from a career in teaching.  He is also an artist and is currently exhibiting some of his watercolor paintings at the Blue Dot Cafe in Alameda, California.  You can read about his exhibit and see some of his paintings in my January 8, 2014 post at my Caroline Arnold Art and Books blog.