ARTISTS ♥
In 2016, I was commissioned by SFMOMA's Interpretive Media team to create new content out of their massive archive of artists' interviews. Spanning decades, the interviews had already been mined, but some gems (which the team termed "sticky bits") had slipped through. SFMOMA gave me a list of those "sticky bits", access to the archive, and the creative freedom to utilize the footage to shed light on the artists and their creative practices. Emerging from this creative brief was three series: Art Is..., Artists' CRIBS, and Artists <3.
Artists ♥ are short love letters from artists to the specific times, places, and ideas that have shaped their lives.
Artists ♥ Football: Matthew Barney
Artist Matthew Barney describes how his experience as an athlete shaped his early work. He discusses his project Drawing Restraint (1987–ongoing), which includes overt and subtle references to football and the culture of organized sports.
Artists ♥ San Francisco: Catherine Opie
Photographer Catherine Opie describes San Francisco as the place that “allowed a sense of freedom and discovery” for her as a young artist. She fondly remembers meeting friends and collaborators at her old haunt, Red Dora’s Bearded Lady, finding her identity in the LGBTQ community, and getting her start in portrait photography—all in the beautiful city by the Bay.
Artists ♥ Artists
Artists of different generations and backgrounds—and working across many mediums—show some love for other artists who inspired them.
Artists ♥ San Francisco: Mark di Suvero
Sculptor Mark di Suvero recalls immigrating to San Francisco as a child during World War II, and later, being immersed in the city’s bohemian culture. He describes his experience of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time, which later inspired his 2013 exhibition of eight large, steel sculptures at Crissy Field.
Artists ♥ the SF Giants: Mike Mandel
Photographer Mike Mandel talks about translating his love of the San Francisco Giants into an oral history project as a young artist in the 1970s. He describes hitting the road to speak with dozens of players from throughout the team’s history and compiling the photographs, stories, and interviews he gathered in his rare book SF Giants: An Oral History (1979).
Artists ♥ Sci-Fi: Dora García
Artist Dora García shares how her creative practice was influenced by dystopic science fiction—including books by Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury and the film Blade Runner (1982). She describes how the genre inspired her to experiment with hyperreality in her own work.
Artists ♥ Garage Sales: Vik Muniz
Brazilian artist Vik Muniz describes moving to the United States in 1983 and the surprising delight he found in going to garage sales. He talks about how they helped him understand the ways Americans behave and communicate—and turned up objects that would serve as inspirations for his art.