Visiting the San Francisco Bay Area? Do not miss the Post Impressionist Masterpieces on exhibition from the Musee D'Orsay at the de Young Museum. Van Gogh's Starry Night Over The Rhone brought tears to my eyes. The show runs through January 18, 2011.
There are images we remember for generations, if we're lucky, we pause to remember the creative lens behind the camera. Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life is on view at my favorite museum in San Francisco, The Legion of Honor. Thanks to Leibovitz and the Brooklyn Museum, this stunning portrait captures the Leibovitz Lens 1990 - 2005. Don't miss this exhibition now through May 25, 2008, it's the last U.S. stop before heading overseas.
For many of us, we'll always remember her Rolling Stone covers and a prolific period at Vanity Fair in the 90's where editor Tina Brown and Annie Leibovitz always pushed the envelope. The GAP and The Sopranos recent advertising campaigns are stamped with the Leibovitz signature.
Last year, as Leibovitz made the rounds launching her new book, including a 30 minute interview with Josh Kornbluth on his now defunct local KQED show, a wonderful documentary produced by her sister also gave fans a rare glimpse of Leibovitz behind-the-scenes. An American Masters program can be seen on PBS beginning about March 19.
When walking into the last room at the Legion, I suddenly felt tears brimming over, distorting my own lens for a moment. While an array of family portraits can be seen throughout the exhibition, this room Leibovitz dedicates exclusively to joy and death in life. The walls depict personal images of her family-- her dying Father, Mother, and Susan Sontag--her siblings and their children, and the birth of her beautiful children.
Sand Sculptures from the International Fiesa 2006 held in Algarve, Portugal as photographed by Mario Proenca. Click on the photo film strip and wait a moment as the film loop loads, amazing creations!
You probably read earlier this week about gillionaire Steve Wynn's accidental desecration of Picasso's "Le Reve." While showing the painting to pals like Barbara Walters, Nora Ephron, Louise Grunwald and others, Wynn gestured (he has an eye disease which alters peripheral vision) and placed a hole through the canvas. This incident occurred just after he had agreed to sell the painting for $139M to a hedge-fund broker who apparently collects art. What is this trend with hedge-fund brokers paying gillions for art these days? Wynn reportedly will keep the damaged Picasso for now. It appears that he paid $48.4M for it at auction in 1997.
DeKooning's "Police Gazette" an abstract from 1955.
The New York Times reported today on gillionaire entertainment mogul David Geffen's private auction sale of a DeKooning ($63.5M) and a Jasper Johns ($80M) to two hedge-fund gillionaires. I don't even want to begin to think what DeKooning or Jasper John's actually sold these works for the first time around. Maybe it's me, my mind remains boggled about one's attachment to things when I attempt to place this into a global perspective. Jasper John's "False Start" from 1959 ------------>
Here's two great dreamers. . . one of my high school theatre buddies, Ken Fallin uses his unique drawing style to render sketches of notable folks for the Wall Street Journal and other clients. Today's drawing of the legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson caught my attention.
My first memory of hearing Mahalia Jackson is sitting in the darkened 5-Points movie theatre with my parents and watching the Lana Turner remake "Imitation of Life." It's also my first recall of watching black & white racial discrimination on film. I was 8 or 9, so it had to be about 1959. I remember sitting with a huge lump in my throat trying not to cry as the maid’s daughter, very light skinned and ashamed of being black, had decided she wanted to be accepted into society as white, the lump was due to her treating her Mother so badly—when her sweet Mother died, Mahalia Jackson sang at the funeral. By this time, the lump in my throat was enormous, I could barely breathe. I always remember Mahalia Jackson in this way, singing up in the choir loft. Another amazing person who showed up for civil rights, Mahalia Jackson lived her life with amazing grace.
There are images we remember for generations, if we're lucky, we pause to remember the creative lens behind the camera. Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life is on view at my favorite museum in San Francisco, The Legion of Honor. Thanks to Leibovitz and the Brooklyn Museum, this stunning portrait captures the Leibovitz Lens 1990 - 2005. Don't miss this exhibition now through May 25, 2008, it's the last U.S. stop before heading overseas. 
Sand Sculptures from the International Fiesa 2006 held in Algarve, Portugal as photographed by Mario Proenca. Click on the photo film strip and wait a moment as the film loop loads, amazing creations!
