Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond
Last Wednesday (forgive our slowness) the New Yorker offered a tantalizing sneak peak at Andrew Pilara’s soon-to-be-not-so-private collection of more than 2000 photographic works, a rotating selection of which will be displayed at Pier 24. Not only is the speed at which Pilara — the president and senior portfolio manager of the RS Value Group and a member of SFMOMA’s Board of Trustees – has amassed his staggering collection astounding (six years!), but the quality and breadth of his holdings would send any photography curator worth their salt into apoplectic fits. In addition to name-dropping Jackie Nickerson, Vera Lutter, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Marilyn Minter, and Dorothea Lange, the New Yorker also mentions that Pilara owns all fifty-two of Lee Friedlander’s “Little Screens” (which SF’s Fraenkel Gallery last displayed in 2001) and all of Garry Winogrand’s “The Animals.” In the words of Rachel Zoe, “I die.”
Also of interest: “Each work is installed without any caption information, so looking becomes an exercise in recognition and speculation, and ultimately conversation.” I like this approach, in theory. And based on the caption information in the article’s accompanying slide show, it seems that whoever hung the photographs has an eye for not only what’s visually resonant, but more importantly, for what will spark a conversation. One example: Vanessa Beecroft’s highly theatrical and controversial portrait of a Sudanese woman nursing two malnourished infants hangs next to Dorothea Lange’s famous “Migrant Mother.”
Joe public will have to wait until “later this spring” to check out Mr. Pilara’s goods, but for those curious as to the look of the place, Envelope A+D, the firm responsible for renovating the old pier, has posted artist renderings and a description of their projected re-design. Coupled with SFMOMA’s recent announcement (http://www.sfmoma.org/exhibitions/407) that the museum will re-stage the influential 1975 George Eastman House exhibit New Topographics in June, SF looks like the place to be for photo buffs this S-S season.
In tech news, the only question I have about the iPad is: will it blend?
I want to second the Awl’s gay-dazzled love for the I Am Love trailer. The trailer is almost so perfect as to make watching the actual film (which screens at this year’s SFIFF) pointless. Cut at the speed of any contemporary fantasy-action-CGI-craptacular, the I Am Love trailer has everything: Tilda Swinton in fitted rich lady clothes; the Italian countryside; suggestive food preparation; a hunky and hirsute otter-chef; references to family (just like the Olive Garden!); references to Vertigo; Tilda Swinton’s cheekbones; furtive glances; lovemaking! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll swoon. I die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhbTeBneRVU