School’s out and summer has begun. Forget the beach. Skip happy hour. How about spending a lazy Sunday at the museum? These might not be the gayest exhibitions in town but they are happening through September and are worth checking out.
The Museum of Contemporary Art has a show up until Sept. 2 that I am eager to see. Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez is the first survey exhibition of this important Mexican-American artist and muralist who has had a profound influence on the Chicano art movement in the United States. Valadez is widely considered the most significant artist to have developed a realist pictorial language recording the Chicano experience in Los Angeles during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. His style is derived from street photography as he records the life of his community and of other inhabitants of downtown Los Angeles.
The Museum of Photographic Arts has an exhibition on view until Sept. 30. Drawn from their collection of more than 7,000 images, Three Story House traces how photographers have captured the familiarity of the domestic environment to tell stories of how we live and where we live, as well as transforming it into a creative space to make art. With the inception of photography in 1839, photographers began to explore the importance of domesticity in our everyday lives, offering insight into the home as a nucleus for daily growth and renewal.
Summer Salon 2012 is happening at the San Diego Museum of Art. This year the title is Beyond the Banner, a theme connected to the awesome Pastrana Tapestries that are on loan to the museum until the end of August. These four massive tapestries are truly amazing and I recommend you see them even if you can’t make an event at the salon.
This year the salon takes place every Friday evening right up until Aug. 31. Each Friday involves new art and conversations, all inspired by these tapestries, so expect to see projects and events tied to how history and tapestries are made, craftwork, propaganda and plain old quilting!
