Jewish Contemporary Art Museum Exhibit: RetroBlakesberg The Music Never Stopped
I also visited the Jewish Contemporary Art Museum during my trip to San Francisco. I went on the first Friday of the month, where they offer free admission. If not visiting on the first of the month, they do offer a student discount.
The first exhibit seen in the museum was, RetroBlakesberg's The Music Never Stopped, this show was on the first floor and highlighted the work of photographer Jake Blakesberg. The exhibit showcased his contribution to recording the revolution of the Bay Area's music scene from 1978 to 2008. Blakesberg grew up in New Jersey but found a love for music and photography when coming to San Francisco. His work highlights multiple artists and festivals. Some of his work is private portraits of singers, while others are performing. His photographs of the audience are always of them enjoying the music.
I enjoyed the photos of the audience from festivals. The one highlighted is from the Woodstock festival in the 70s. I could feel the music's impact on these audiences through these photos. You can feel the human connection and the love for music just by looking at these moments he captured.
My favorite photographs from this exhibit were from his "Blue Period". His Blue Period is described as a nine-year on-and-off period starting in the mid-1990s. By using film that had a color balance for indoor on outside environments, Blakesberg produced unique rich blue photographs. I loved how unique these photographs came out. Before reading the description, I thought he edited them to look like that. To learn these were experimental gave them a different touch compared to his other works. I saw these as more playful and found the compositions interesting.
The RetroBlakesberg exhibit was an entertaining show. Seeing photographs of performers and audiences showcased the human connection found with the love of music.
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I would've loved to see this exhibition in person. As good as your blog post is, I can only imagine seeing these photos in person. I also was really attracted to his "Blue Period" pieces. The blue filter naturally gives off a melancholic vibe, however the poses and perspective of each person gives each photo a carefree, non-serious vibe. Its that juxtaposition that is so eye-catching, just as you described.
ReplyDeleteThe QR codes under these pieces remind me of the student exhibition that happened in the Witt Gallery. The artist was Bryanna Moore. I wonder if she got that inspiration from this exhibit. The only difference was.. was that Bryanna's was music, while these were stories. Did you get to listen to them? What were their stories?
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