Art! Kambui Olujimi, Leah Rosenberg, Pier 24
the start-of-the-month post
A tiny road trip, a special event, and a farewell to a beloved institution. Looking at art in December was every bit as consequential, festive, and special as the season required.
Kambui Olujimi
I found myself in San Jose, and very much enjoyed the small but powerful Museum of Art there. The standout show on view was Kambui Olujimi: North Star, a remarkable immersive exhibition that brings together paintings and video in hauntingly beautiful galleries. Olujimi equates white supremacy with gravity and so explores in his work the “liberatory possibilities of weightlessness” and the Black body. The work is profound and beautiful and the show is up through May of next year, so you have time to get in there.
Leah Rosenberg
The Minnesota Street Project Foundation hosted their first-ever Warehouse Residency program, and Leah Rosenberg was the inaugural artist. During her residency she created an enormous paint-ball sculpture by pouring paint out on the warehouse floor, letting it dry, and then rolling it up, again and again. She also worked with filmmakers to document the process. A fundraiser party and film-screening celebrated the completion of this project — entitled A Ball the event included a buffet of ball-shaped foods and a “ball shop” of little colorful balls for purchase. Great fun.
Pier 24: the final show
Art-loving folks in San Francisco will know that Pier 24 has been an important local institution for over a decade now. Sadly, this enormous space for the exhibition of photography closing its doors at the end of January. It’s farewell show, Turning the Page, is a celebration of photobooks. Each room features an iconic book by a photographer (ranging from 1958 to 2023) with big beautiful prints of images from that book. This works well to showcase a wide range of amazing work. There’s also a gorgeous display of Libby Black’s papier-mâché books. Admission is free, though you must make a reservation—but doing so is easy! If you’re local I cannot recommend enough that you do this, now. This is your last chance to enjoy this gorgeous space before it’s gone.
xo
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