A minor controversy recently erupted in the highly-caffeinated Mission District of San Francisco. The work of photographer Varese Layzer was prematurely removed from the walls of Ritual Coffee Roasters, a café that regularly exhibits artwork. Layzer posted online an e-mail from Eileen Hassi, Ritual’s owner, explaining the censorship. The works in question are innocuous photographs of suitcases, dogs, and windows, [...]
The late conceptual artist Félix González-Torres is well known for his “take-away” sculptures. For many, the only artwork they will ever own is the González-Torres poster they grabbed from a stack of identical posters on the floor of the Museum of Modern Art. I have two hanging on my walls. And both times, the acquisitions felt akin to a museum [...]
At the opening night reception of A Sensory Feast, an exhibition at San Francisco’s SOMArts, the curators asked the question: Are you what you eat? The question, however, was not that of a nutritionist or a concerned grandparent. The question was a cultural one, and the ten exhibiting Asian American artists explored the relationship between what they eat and who [...]
