Janine Antoni & Chocy

Welp, after an eventfilled weekend of camping (we even got our tent peed on - drunk offender remarked "I hope ya like asparagus" as we cowered inside), veiny yogis, spastic DJs, our first fine food in two months, and an updated mid-century spectacle, Xan and I are once again sitting static in front of our computer screens. Hence, more blog posts!

Exciting things from Monday so far:

1) a Richard Avedon test cake is now available at the Rooftop Garden Cafe...it eluded me today but I will get a slice soon.

2) The SFMOMA just opened their new exhibit "Not New Work: Vincent Fecteau Selects" and it is really wonderful. I found the pieces to be mostly kooky (see the pink snowman-esque Max Ernst piece below) or mysterious (favorite example: a half-erased Diego Rivera drawing - and I don't even like Diego Rivera!). The show also deals with the idea of the exhibition narrative - how pieces flow and connect to one another. Vincent Fecteau, a local sculptor, picked the pieces and planned the lay-out of the show instead of a curator. The result is a set of pieces selected and organized based on an artist's emotional response (ie how did Fecteau feel when he came across this piece in the archives) instead the more academic, theme-based decisions of a curator.

Max Ernst, Bauta, 1964; Collection SFMOMA, gift of Peggy Guggenheim; © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Fecteau's witty contemporary sculpture selections reminded me of another artist's work that the SFMOMA displays from time to time. Janine Antoni works with odd media (here chocolate and soap) to create her sculptures. These things must be difficult to transport, especially the chocolate one. I can't even keep a pack of M&Ms in my pocket without melting them...

What strikes me most about the pieces is their craftsmanship. Cutting chocolate and soap is miserable - so flaky and unpredictable. Antoni's smooth surfaces and details are all the more impressive, not to mention unique, when executed with such fickle substances.

Lick and Lather Series (Soap & Chocolate)

Lick and Lather Series (Soap)