Museum Monday - Santa Barbara Museum of Art
This week I had the good fortune to accompany J. on a work trip to the Santa Barbara area. Our short stay there happened to coincide with the recent grand re-opening of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) following major renovation.
I spent a good part of my time in Luddington Court, the entry gallery, seated on the cool bench at the base of the pedestal of the marble statue Lansdowne Hermes (images above). This provided a comfortable spot to view the European and American paintings hung salon-style.
The new galleries on the second level highlight SBMA’s contemporary art, photography and new media. Shown above are the contemporary works that caught my eye: a mirrored orb by Amish Kapour, a painting by Helen Frankenthaler, a neon piece by Laddie John Dill, a textile sculpture by Jim Isherman, and a painting of a collage by Keez Goudzwaard.
The media gallery exhibit, Mediated Nature, included works of LA-based Diana Thayer, Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung and Santa Barbara born and raised Petra Cortright. Several still images are shown above, but the media works are best seen and heard in person.
I enjoyed the exhibition of Austrian photographer Inge Morath. The works on display include images of internationally-known figures and people she met on her numerous assignments all over the world and an iconic one of a llama taking a ride in a car in Times Square.
Leaving the museum I noticed a structure to the right of the entrance on State St. that housed a mural. I stepped into the structure to view the mural and learned it was called Portrait of Mexico Today and the work of David Alfaro Sisqueros. It is one of three murals that he painted as a political exile in Los Angeles in 1932. The other two murals, Workers’ Meeting at the Chouinard Art Institute and América Tropical at the Plaza Art Center on Olvera Street were subsequently whitewashed for what was perceived as their radical, anti-capitalist subject matter. Portrait of Mexico Today, created for a private residence was spared from destruction. For the story of how the mural and the structure in which it is housed came to its present location, CLICK HERE.
