A Trip to SFMOMA!

Me looking at Gerard Richter’s 256 Farben (256 Colors), 1976, Oil on Linen

Going to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was a very insightful experience seeing many great artworks I’ve never seen and some that I’ve learned in class. The exhibition's main mediums were paintings, sculptures, and mixed media with the theme of loss and remembrance in Germany in the 1960s. Every exhibition I saw was after the 1960s, however, the ones that I witnessed more were after the 1970s. Artists who were a part of the exhibitions were Gerard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, and Yayoi Kusama. The ones I will focus on will be Gerard Richter and Yayoi Kusama.

Gerard Richter (German, b.1932), Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Picture), 1987, Oil on Linen 

Gerard Richter was born in Germany in 1932 and created abstract works that started to develop in 1976. With this work of his, his process took layer by layer to finish, working slowly over time. He applied the paint and at times would scrape it around to create a lot of textures along with smearing wet pigments of paint that produced many patterns of color. He intentionally uses painting tools that limit his control of the medium being open to the element of surprise and forced from his will to his habitual practices. His work derives from arbitrary actions, inspiration, and the chance to develop an already predetermined image. He would not only do abstract art but also paint seascapes and landscapes throughout his career. “Seascape” is said to be a testament to the ocean’s power. It reiterates that nature is not only nostalgic but also “always against us, because it knows no meaning, no pity, no sympathy, because it knows nothing and is absolutely mindless: the total antithesis of ourselves, absolutely inhuman” (Richter, SFMOMA). His works are very deep in meaning, almost as if he created another meaning for it that applies to him mostly. The works were placed very spaced out as his pieces are very large-scaled. Each wall had its artwork hung to give the viewers a chance to look at each piece one by one.

Gerard Richter, Seestuck (Seascape), 1998, oil on linen 

One artwork I had the honor of witnessing was by Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist born in 1929, who created “Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart”, 2023, bronze and urethane paint. I wasn’t able to get into her actual exhibition for her other works, however, it was very refreshing to see one of her recent works in a separate room. Pumpkins have been a source she has been drawn to for almost all her life. She was first drawn to them during her childhood to explore them more deeply and later on she incorporated them in her paintings, installations, sculptures, and poetry. She cited pumpkins as “generous unpretentiousness” and “spiritual balance”. Polka-dotted patterns are also one of her many trademarks, and through that, she created polka-dotted pumpkins as one of her recent sculptures. Kusama developed a passion and style for polka dots during the time of her childhood and her experiences. It has a meaning of self-destruction but in a way to merge herself within the universe. This work was a way to push her style more extremely and delve into her world of polka dots that encourage her viewers to understand her admirations and passions. This sculpture encapsulates the entire room with its large-scale composition and vibrant color. The walls were painted black for the bright yellow pumpkins to stand out along with the black polka-dots. On the other side of the wall, it had in writing one of Kusama’s poetry excerpts “On Pumpkins”. This was definitely worth seeing because of the originality and the physicality that this work shows and getting to read her poetry on this certain piece was very engaging altogether.

Yayoi Kusama (Japan, b.1929), “Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in my Heart”, 2023, Bronze and urethane paint

Yayoi Kusama, Poetry on “On Pumpkins”, 2010

 Pumpkins are lovable and their 

 wonderfully wild and humorous atmosphere

 never ceases to capture the hearts of people. 

 I adore pumpkins. 

 As my spiritual home since childhood, 

 and with their infinite spirituality, 

 they contribute to the peace of humankind across the world 

 and to the celebration of humanity. 

And by doing so, they made me feel at peace. 

 Pumpkins bring about poetic peace in my mind. 

 Pumpkins talk to me. 

 Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. 

 Giving off an aura of my sacred mental state, 

they embody a base for the joy of living, 

a living shared by all of humankind on the earth. 

It is for the pumpkins that I keep going.

- Yayoi Kusama (2010)