25/1/2008
Gabriele Basilico - An-my Le'
SFMoMA, San Francisco
Gabriele Basilico creates beautiful, often haunting portraits of urban environments that favor areas of transition and transformation. This exhibition presents a series of nearly 50 black-and-white and color photographs taken by the artist during a monthlong residency in the Bay Area. In her recent photographic series Small Wars and 29 Palms, Vietnamese American artist An-My Le delves into Americans' complicated relationship with war by turning her lens on two of the less familiar sides of conflict: reenactment and rehearsal, respectively.
Gabriele Basilico
Italian photographer Gabriele Basilico creates beautiful, often haunting portraits of urban environments that favor areas of transition and transformation. His pictures are marked by an eerie stillness — and a notable absence of people — that propels architecture and landscape to the forefront and turns the viewer’s attention to frequently overlooked places.
This exhibition presents a series of nearly 50 black-and-white and color photographs taken by Basilico at the invitation of SFMOMA during a monthlong residency in the Bay Area last summer. Chronicling the impact of the technology boom on the region, this exhibition will be the first of an ongoing project focused on Silicon Valley, in which artists will document the area on film. Basilico’s objective style and affinity for observing marginalized urban settings in a classical mode promises a compelling counterpoint to future installments in the project.
Discussion
Documents: Silicon Valley
Gabriele Basilico, artist
Sandra S. Phillips, senior curator of photography, SFMOMA
Fred Turner, assistant professor, communication, Stanford University
Richard A. Walker, professor, geography, University of California, Berkeley
January 26, 2008
3:00 p.m.
Phyllis Wattis Theater
Proceeding from what the artist calls a “slow-paced gaze,” Basilico’s work most often focuses on cities, notably those in states of construction or decay. The subject of his latest photographic project is Silicon Valley. This program features two conversations. In the first, Basilico is joined by Phillips for a discussion of his artistic approach. In the second, Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism, and Walker, author of The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area, address the region’s landscape, built environment, and social history.
$10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, students, and seniors. Tickets are available at the Museum (with no surcharge) or online. Ticket includes gallery viewing.
Course
Intersections in the History of Photography and Painting
Beth Dungan, independent curator and postdoctoral fellow, University of California, Berkeley
February 21, 2008
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
University of California, Berkeley, Extension; 95 Third Street; San Francisco
Traditions of portraiture, landscape, and commemoration of historical or current events were central to the discipline of painting long before photography’s emergence in the 1840s. Since that time, however, photographers have put their own spins on these traditions, taking up, reworking, resisting, and elaborating upon them in new and unique ways. Using SFMOMA’s current photography exhibitions as case studies, this course will explore the ways in which photography relates to and utilizes art historical and painterly traditions, while also considering its contextual influences. Meets Thursdays, February 21 - March 20, 2008.
$295 general; $265 SFMOMA members. One semester unit in art history. To enroll, call 510.642.4111 and reference course number EDP023820.
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An-my Lê: Small Wars
In her recent photographic series Small Wars and 29 Palms, Vietnamese American artist An-My Lê delves into Americans’ complicated relationship with war by turning her lens on two of the less familiar sides of conflict: reenactment and rehearsal, respectively.
With a style that mirrors documentary photography, Lê depicts Vietnam War reenactors staging theatrical battles in the forests of Virginia and soldiers at the Twentynine Palms, California, military base training for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — warlike activities without the mortal dangers of war. This exhibition unites 50 large-format, black-and-white pictures from the two series, offering a novel perspective on military engagements that maintains a deliberate ambiguity.
Video Screenings
Art:21: Art in the 21st Century: Protest
Featuring An-My Lê
Art:21, 2007, 60 min.
January 07 - May 04, 2008
Daily (except Wednesdays), 2:30 p.m.
Koret Visitor Education Center
Free with museum admission.
Image: Gabriele Basilico
SFMOMA Communications Department, 415.357.4174 or commassistant@sfmoma.org.
Press: Sandra Farish Sloan, 415.357.4174, ssloan@sfmoma.org
SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street San Francisco, CA 94103
Museum Hours: Open daily (except Wednesdays) 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.; open late Thursdays until 8:45 p.m.; summer hours (Memorial Day to Labor Day) open at 10 a.m.; closed Wednesdays and the following public holidays: Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day.