Saturday, May 14th 8:30 am to 10:00 am– Ribbon-cutting ceremony and neighborhood celebration of the new SFMOMA: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will open to the public for free on Saturday, May 14, 2016, with a day of festivities that include a neighborhood celebration with cultural organization activations in the Yerba Buena district and beyond. The newly expanded SFMOMA will offer nearly triple the gallery space, with inaugural exhibitions showcasing 260 works from the distinguished Doris and Donald Fisher Collection of postwar and contemporary art, more than 600 artworks promised to the museum through its Campaign for Art and the debut of the new Pritzker Center for Photography.
SFMOMA’s ribbon-cutting festivities with SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra, other members of museum leadership and civic dignitaries will be open to the public beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Howard Street, which will be closed to traffic between Hawthorne and Third Streets from 4 a.m. to noon that day. Street entertainers, musicians and chalk artists, including performers from SFJAZZ, the SF Conservatory Collective, the Chinese American International School and Circus Center will entertain the crowd in front of the museum’s new entrance at Howard Street.
May 2nd – January 31st, Collected at Pier 24 Photography: This exhibit brings together photographs from the Pilara Foundation and other Bay Area collections. Nine collectors were invited to select works from their holdings that reflect their interests in the medium. The exhibition thus offers a lens on various collecting approaches, with some collectors focusing on the work of particular artists or on specific art historical movements or themes, and others developing their own criteria, whether deliberately or unconsciously. Spanning the last hundred years of the medium, the selections on view here reflect each collector’s strong understanding of photography while also highlighting the singular sensibilities guiding the deeply personal act of collecting. Yet for all their variety, the assembled photographs also reveal the shared traits that unite all passionate collectors: curiosity and discipline paired with rigorous study and close looking. Pier 24 Photography is free and open to the public by appointment only. To make a reservation visit the website here.
Ongoing to July 5th, Val Britton: Transmissions and Miguel Angel Rios: A Trilogy at Gallery Wendi Norris: Bay Area artist Val Britton presents a series of new, large-scale painted collages, a suspended column-shaped paper installation, and her first ever free-standing sculptures. Britton’s work suggests elements of both the celestial and terrestrial domains within the universe, bridging the terrain between the two. Argentine artist Miguel Angel Rios will exhibit three of his most recent video works: Piedras Blancas, Mulas, and Landlocked. These new video projects are site-specific and grounded in an approach to Land Art, where Rios challenges traditional modes or representations within the landscape. Gallery Wendi Norris is located at 161 Jessie Street in San Francisco.
New York Galleries in San Francisco –
Ongoing to May 21st – Anton Kern/Andrew Kreps Temporary Exhibition at Minnesota Street Project: New York galleries Anton Kern and Andrew Kreps join forces to launch a temporary gallery space at the Minnesota Street Project. This collaborative exhibition will present works by Ricci Albenda, Andrea Bowers, Anne Collier, Roe Ethridge, Mark Grotjahn, Eberhard Havekost, Goshka Macuga, Chris Martin, Matthew Monahan, Robert Overby, Wilhelm Sasnal, Michael E. Smith, Hito Steyerl, Padraig Timoney, Erika Verzutti, and Pae White. Minnesota Street Project is located at 1275 Minnesota Street in San Francisco.
May 3rd – July 30th – James Turrell at Pace Palo Alto: Pace Gallery inaugurates their new permanent gallery in Palo Alto with a James Turrell exhibition. For over three decades, Turrell has used light and indeterminate space — not objects, nor images — to extend and enhance perception. Turrell’s inspiration draws from astronomy, physics, architecture and theology. The new Pace Palo Alto gallery is located at 229 Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto.
May 18th, 5 – 7:30 pm – Opening Reception for Plane.Site, the inaugural exhibition for Gagosian San Francisco: Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present Plane.Site, a cross-generational exhibition of modern and contemporary artists organized by Sam Orlofsky to inaugurate the San Francisco gallery. Plane.Site explores the dynamic exchanges between drawing and sculpture, in the work of artists from the modern post-war period to the present day. To that end, each participating artist is represented by a work in both two and three dimensions. The exhibition is open from May 18th – August 27th. Gagosian San Francisco is located at 657 Howard Street in San Francisco.