On Saturday, when we should have been doing responsible things like filing mail and preparing for our vacation next week we instead decided to catch How Wine Became Modern exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which is closing on the 17th (so this was our last weekend to catch it).
It’s almost laughable that we hadn’t been before, it’s very close to where we live. How close? This photo is taken from the roof sculpture garden at the museum, the brown building in the back is ours:
A view from our roof deck into the sculpture garden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/5584276418/
I will be the first to admit that the mention of “modern art” makes me cringe slightly. Unlike MJ (who is a fan of modernism) I am a fan of giant, old, wooden, classic things. Paintings and sculptures that are of and look exactly like actual things and places make me smile. My perfect place in the world? A personal library room with a big plush couch and pillows, huge wooden bookcases, a fireplace and some old oil paintings of woodsy scenes on the walls. Bonus points if said personal library is a log cabin in the woods next to a river. Modern art need not apply.
However, I do enjoy a nice glass of wine. A wine exhibit could get me into a modern art museum.
It ended up being an enjoyable little exhibit. In addition to fun wine memorabilia they had a lot of data regarding modern wine production and the export/import statistics of wine since 1976, and it really is extraordinary how the market has grown from being almost completely dominated by Europe to what we see today with California wineries being held in such high regard and wineries popping up in South America and Australia.
From there we walked across the floor to see Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870, a much larger exhibit and had some really fascinating pieces.
I’ll admit it, I really enjoyed the museum and I want to go back soon. Thursday nights from 6-8:45 (closing) tickets are half price, so I may need to take advantage of this (or just get a membership).