…s museum quietly serves up a visual banquet. By Lydia Lee It’s tempting for designers to try to turn art museums into works of art themselves. But what if the client’s directive is just the opposite? A new campus museum in the Bay Area by the New York–based firm Ennead Architects may disappoint those hoping for a bigger architectural statement. However, as designed to house the 121 works of the Anderson Collection, a choice selection of postwar A…

…ns. Each item he finds holds a story — the energetic imprint from every previous owner, which he assembles into his Soundsuits. In that way, it can be said that Soundsuits are formed from memories. The Chicago artist’s creations are part sculpture and ornament, armor and instrument and are often worn as costumes and performed in. The energetic vibration of each single, insignificant article is magnified by how Cave chooses to bind the…

…ts. It is said that she initiated the practice of pouring thinned-down oil paint onto unprimed canvas, resulting in a fusion of surface and color (which later would be called “color-field painting”). Her “Monotype VII” has the same energetic feeling as “Approach” upstairs. In the painting, the staining is applied sparingly, so as to create more perspective space. The monotype, however, is a joyous expanse of co…

…llock, Mark Rothko, Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn. The challenge to this and other single-donor museums, however, is how to keep the momentum going once visitors have seen the permanent collection. “The collection is not fixed to the initial gift (121 pieces). It has grown, and our hope is that, in a very thoughtful way, the collection will continue to grow,” Executive Director Jason Linetzky said. “We are always trying…

…ts new Stanford University home this Sunday, Sept. 21, in a freestanding pavilion next to the Cantor Arts Center in the University’s growing arts district. Members of the Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection can also attend a special preview of the museum on Sept. 20. Opening day festivities will include food trucks, music, activities and digital tours. Admission is free, and while visitors can reserve timed tickets online at anderson.s…

…e building’s interior ceiling as “the belly of the whale” because it curves gradually from its perimeter toward its center, like a huge canopy. This structure permits a clerestory of frosted windows to enfold the space completely, letting in a computer-modulated mix of daylight and artificial light. The clerestory makes light seem to buoy the ceiling. The opening collection display is clustered according to the Andersons’…

…aesthetics to create radical statements with lasting cultural impact. Following the film, Leeson will take part in a panel discussion with Feminist Art Historian and critic Moira Roth, Stanford chair of Theater and Performance Studies Jennifer DeVere Brody and others. For more information about the event, go to anderson.stanford.edu or call 650-721-6055. FASHION FOR A CAUSE … One of a kind textiles, jewelry, bags, children’s clothes…

…ture collection, for example), there have been some significant changes at both museums since they last welcomed in-person visitors. In addition to current health policies such as mask mandates, timed tickets and social distancing rules, perhaps the most notable difference can be found at the Cantor, which is now being led by two interim directors, Elizabeth Mitchell and Maude Brezinski. Mitchell, who is the curator of prints, drawings and photog…

…een to wake up to the colors and the lines of “Lucifer” everyday. There was a piece that looked like a Rorschach inkblot, a large chaotic dark shape on a white background. Like Rorshcach, who asked people to tell him what they were seeing in his famous inkblots, I questioned how to interpret this painting and thought about what was going on in the artist’s mind. Was he going through a chaotic period in his life? Is it fear he is trying to draw? A…

…the comfortably appointed library. Here, the Andersons’ private library of art books (used to assist them in their collecting) and a video interview with the couple can be found. The second floor is where the initial 2014 gift of 121 paintings and sculptures, as well as more recent acquisitions, are installed. The museum was closed for a period in 2021 while building maintenance was undertaken; it was also an opportunity to totally reinsta…

…or accurate representation of, for example, skin, land, and sky. Syjuco uses terms such as “neutral” to question how photography reflects deep-seated biases that position whiteness at its center. “This is political and activist work, because representation matters.” —Stephanie Syjuco “My work is about the slippery spaces between visibility and invisibility, made from the perspective of an American artist who was born in the Philippines, grew u…

…ollection White Balance/Color Cast delves into the history of photography by challenging the idea of correct and incorrect color. “It turns out that early film was not good at capturing dark skin tones,” Syjuco says. “This actually affected how photography has represented racialized people.” When she uses the color bar in her work, it becomes a “weird interruption into what you’re seeing.” The Anderson exhibit is almost a small retrospective of S…

“I am interested in change of scale: how the observer affects the object of observation; space as a void; non-space existing in time. By altering the scale and context of the grid (as a scientific tool of measurement), the grid becomes an artistic tool of perception.” — Lita Albuquerque The most unprecedented, remote and isolated locations were used to host a global project, made an unconventional space for art installations in the t…