San Fran - Recap

My long weekend in San Fran was art-filled. On Saturday, we checked out the galleries around 49 Geary. Highlights were the Yamamoto Masao show at Robert Koch and Katy Grannan at Fraenkel. I'd seen the Masao's online before and thought it wasn't really my cup of tea but there was an amazing quality to the small prints you can't come close to on on a screen. They were like little poems, quiet and full of beauty. I really wanted a very small one of a boy jumping from a waterfall but $1,000 for an edition of 40 seemed a bit much. The Katy Grannan show further proves her a master at casting and the aesthetic and technical side is very much there too.


Copyright Katy Grannan

I also got to see the anniversary show, the surveillance show and the Cartier-Bresson show at SFMOMA and all were excellent. Here's a Wayne Thiebaud I fell in love with and which also reminded me of the Granann's with that harsh sunlight.



The highlight of the trip, though, was Pier 24. To quote someone I talked to who had checked out Annenberg while in town for photo LA and was comparing the two, "Annenberg is like going to Disneyland." Pier 24 is anything but. I'd say it's more like going to heaven.

Since only 20 people at a time, 60 each day are allowed to make reservations, it's a perfect contemplative environment for viewing work in an incredible space and what work there is! I'll definitely be making it up again for future shows and wish LA had something comparable. You have to go check out this photographic Mecca. Here are a couple of mediocre architectural shots, since they were hand held and I only had a 50mm prime. Top photo is a glimpse into the conference / reception room and those Bechers are about 20-25% of all that are in that one room of the space. Yes, that is water out those windows. It was a foggy day and I felt like I was in a movie.