If you grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ruth Asawa is likely a household name. The artist, who endured Japanese internment and studied at Black Mountain College with instruction by Josef Albers, left a lasting impact on public art and equitable education in San Francisco.
Asawa and her husband Albert Lanier had six children that they raised in an Arts and Crafts-style home in Noe Valley, where the artist also maintained her studio. Art covered simply every area of her home, with Asawa’s signature undulating, looped wire sculptures hanging from the ceiling beams.
Perhaps you only learned about Asawa in the last year, while her major posthumous retrospective went on tour from SFMOMA and New York MoMA to the Guggenheim Bilbao where it’s currently on view through September 13 before heading to Foundation Beyeler in October. For San Franciscans that couldn’t get enough of that show, there’s yet another venue to engage with Asawa’s art that isn’t one of her outdoor sculptures dotted around the city. And this space is free for all to visit!
Ruth Asawa: Untitled is the first of many exhibitions planned at Ruth Asawa Lanier Inc.’s new permanent gallery inside Minnesota Street Project, a major art space that houses several small and independent art galleries in the Dogpatch.
Curation of the shows, handled by the artist’s family who steward Ruth Asawa Lanier Inc., focus on never-before-seen artworks selected by her children and grandchildren. They’re all local, and host activations at the space and across the city often; I even ran into Asawa’s grandson during my visit.
When I visited Asawa’s retrospective at MoMA (a few times, might I add), I couldn’t get away from how sterile the whole environment felt, which feels like the antithesis of her art. The new Asawa gallery within the larger Minnesota Street Project building is a little cozier and thoughtfully curated, from the wooden wall that was installed to emulate those in Asawa’s own home to an impressive selection of books on the artist for visitors to peruse. Untitled has a sampling from nearly all mediums of Asawa’s multimedia practice: cast bronze sculpture, watercolor, pen drawings, engravings, and more.
Even better, this initiative feels like it’s bringing Asawa’s legacy into the present and future. Contemporary artist Lilli Lanier’s stunning origami portraits of her grandmother and another of the artist’s logo dazzle visitors before they’ve even stepped into the gallery. Once inside, a selection of bold, folded paper works bark back to Lanier’s contemporary interpretation of her grandmother’s practice.
A main critique one of my museum colleagues, who specializes in Asian American art, had of SFMOMA’s retrospective was how the show lacked context of Asawa’s forced incarceration in Japanese internment camps in California and Arkansas in the 1940s. In contrast, this show dedicates a viewing room for a film about Asawa’s life that actually elaborates on how her experience in internment shaped not only her artwork but her belief that art and education is for everyone.
Minnesota Street Project is the perfect venue for this egalitarian artist. The campus houses 14 independent galleries in an airy, industrial warehouse, but the selections widely differ. In just 5 minutes of strolling around, I found two works I absolutely loved: a textile-based painting by Malian artist Ibrahim Bemba Kébé and a series of ceramic wall hangings by Berkeley-based artist Anastasia Tumanova.
You’d think so many galleries operating in one space would feel fiercely competitive, but the result inspires coexistence and the constant exchange of new perspectives and aesthetics.
Bay Area friends, you have until this Saturday, June 20 to see Ruth Asawa: Untitled until it’s rotated out for a new selection from the artist’s oeuvre.
Across-the-country art news + happenings:
Artnet: “The Art World Is Great at Spotting Talent. Keeping It? Not So Much”
New York Times Style Magazine: “8 Proposals for a Better Art World”
The Guardian: “Artists are making ‘anti-slop’ to rebel against AI: ‘It’s been rammed down our throats”
San Francisco: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is now free on Wednesdays and hosting complimentary art workshops. I still need to see their current show featuring Diedrick Brackens!
San Francisco: I had a really lovely time at the opening of Col Gallery’s new show featuring local artist Esteban Samoya. On view through July 11 in Ghiradelli Square!
Los Angeles: LACMA’s Geffen Galleries Grand Opening is this weekend featuring an Art Parade down Wilshire Blvd features hundreds of artists.
San Francisco: MoAD’s show featuring the embroidered works of Demetri Broxton, whose work I first saw at FOG Art Fair, just opened. It’s on view through August 16.
Chicago: Every time I see a new photo of work commissioned for the Obama Presidential Center, my smile grows wider. This week, the former President and First Lady’s first dual portrait by Njideka Akunyili Crosby was unveiled.
New York: Still haven’t seen the Whitney Biennial? The museum is now open 7 days a week and offers free admission for everyone on Fridays from 5-10pm.
New York: ICP’s new show, Yves Saint Laurent and Photography, opened last week for fashion photography lovers.
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