Inland Empirical: Cindy Sherman at the SFMOMA

In June of this year, the MoMA hosted a retrospective Cindy Sherman's work. The show also included several new works. I seriously considered traveling to New York specifically to see it.

Sherman had recently re-emerged on my own radar last year when I noticed she was doing a campaign with MAC Cosmetics. The images suggested that she was working on new, big ideas. I might have not heard about the exhibit in New York several months later, had I not been shopping for lipcolor. This is not at all surprising; she is known for her transformations in appearance to make her conceptual portraits. Since first seeing Sherman's work in 1997 at the MOCA while on a field trip with a college art history class, I have been an enormous fan of her portraits. The Untitled Film Stills was of particular inspiration to me as a teenager and as a new black & white film photographer. I remember scraping the money together—even borrowing a bit from a professor—to purchase the catalog.

I was most excited when after missing the MoMA exhibit this year, I heard it was traveling to San Francisco next. Boy, that's much closer! I could visit with friends while I'm in town as well. When SFMOMA began tweeting about the event, I realized it would coincide perfectly with my upcoming trip for Outside Lands. Really, the toughest part of this trip would be carving enough time in my tight schedule to head to the museum. (I was really disappointed that I had to miss David Shrigley's show at the Yerba Buena. I'd only learned of it while on foot toward the SFMOMA.)

The SFMOMA kept to a strict policy of NO PHOTOS in the Cindy Sherman galleries. The above photo is the only one I took inside the building. This is the view from the bridge on the way to the rooftop cafe where we stopped for Blue Bottle coffee. You'll remember I first tried this coffee on my SF visit last year. I went "off coffee" a couple months ago, but exceptions can be made while on vacation! I recommend you visit the cafe on the roof. There is a nice space there to enjoy a sculpture garden and a chat with your friends. Hungrier folks should check out Caffè Museo on the ground floor for pizza and lemonades. In any case, I highly recommend you visit the SFMOMA if you are ever in town. Last year I completely enjoyed The Steins Collect before my trip to France and seeing Midnight in Paris.

I'm fortunate that nearly all my Bay Area friends are either a member or have free admission through their employers. Admission can seem steep for us SoCal artsy types; $18 compared to LACMA's $15 or MOCA's $12 and SF has only a fraction of the exhibiting space. But consider this: SFMOMA doesn't have a separate charge for special exhibits (that I'm aware of). Also, you probably won't be dealing with finding parking as it is conveniently located—you'll probably just have to walk a bit and perhaps take the BART. And most importantly, the curating is top-notch. I can honestly say that both times I have been, that I have seen things that have opened my mind to something new. This time: Poison, a short film by Deville Cohen—if it's still running, make sure you catch it. Now isn't all that worth $18? There's always tons of other programs like talks and movie screenings too that I'd love to take advantage of if I lived in the city.