Ansel Adams Exhibit at San Jose Museum of Art

The Saturday before Labor Day William was super sick and so I decided to venture out on my own to take advantage of the Bank of America FREE Museum day which is the first weekend of every month. My primary reason for going was to see "Ansel Adams: Early Works" since I had seen his exhibition at the SFMOMA a few months ago. It was fascinating to see his earliest works in the 1920s because they are completely different from any of his other pieces. They were taken with a different shutter speed and so they are not crisp and clear like his f/64 ones but had a more softer look. Also, the photo paper was not nearly as good quality in that it was very yellow. But it was fascinating to see how advances or changes in technologies impacted the overall quality of his work and in my opinion, greatly improved it. They also had some of his f/64 photos as comparison including one photo of the Manti Temple which I had no idea he visited. The exhibit gave me such a greater perspective and appreciation of this amazing artist, kind of like the Picasso museum in Barcelona.

They had a few other exhibits was "Alexander Calder: Colors in Motion" an American artist who is similar in style to Joan Miro and Piet Mondrian. His specialty is metal mobiles. Another exhibit, "Variations on a Theme" had a collection of different works commenting on the interaction between humans and sustainability of the environment. They had polar bear sculptures that looked like pink/white animal cookies, a house made out of blue wine bottles, and photo of land cleared for development. Eh- it was ok. But it was definitely much better than the final exhibit I went to- "Todd Schorr: American Surreal." I liked his early works better than his later ones because he took items of pop culture and portrayed them in cubism. His later works, which you can see a few on this site, are definitely more crazy and off the wall. I did think one of his paintings was funny- the battle between the Easter bunny and Santa. I mean, they are definitely interesting to see all of these pop culture items- just a little too bizarre for my taste. I do like some of Salvador Dali's work- I went to his museum house if Figures, Spain- but there is also some of his pieces that are just too weird for me too. At least I am aware of some of the contemporary artists.