Glossary attended the press preview yesterday for the new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. We took pictures of tempting highlights for our 2nd Review as Pictures. Berkeley Art Museum + Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA – pronounced Bam P.F.A., Bam for short) Grand Opening to the public Sunday January 31, 2016 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA. 94704 The museum began in 1963 when it received a gift by Abstract Expressionist artist Hans Hofmann, which included forty-five of his paintings and $250,000 to build a gallery. Although we will miss the original Brutalist museum built by Mario Ciampi in 1970, the new space is also architecturally progressive, and with many contemporary considerations. Fun fact: The new museum was the previous home of the UC Berkeley printing plant, built during the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in 1939. (pictured below) The 1945 UN Charter was printed there. Bosting several galleries and two state-of-the-art film theaters, the new museum is—to put it very plainly—fantastic. The building is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro of The Broad and the Stanford Art and Art History fame, among others. The architecture for BAMPFA is comfortable & fresh: super high ceilings and subterranean access makes the space open and invites curious personalities to explore; split level ramp floor plan that encourages easy meandering, with cross platform views into other galleries & plenty of opportunities to lean and ponder. The café is upstairs, with excellent people watching from up high and the Carla and David Crane performance space that also acts as resting and socializing area when not in use, and if that is not enough, there is a huge video screen outside of the museum for everyone to enjoy. BONUS: it is closer to BART than any other museum in the Bay Area—only one block away! Attention to detail really makes the space feel like it cares about art and visitors: tons of natural light (!); end–grain parquet floors add warmth in contemplative and darker display rooms; open floor plan in main gallery and lots of breathing room between pieces; Café Babette is integrated into the space upstairs so you can snack and look at art at the same time; considerate and conscientious use of the pre-existing building. Thoughtful finishing touches: Custom joinery by master craftsman Paul Discoe of Oakland, using wood from Canary Island Pines removed next to the building to make room for the new addition. Twenty three new trees were planted including Chinese pistache, ginkgo, hornbeams and honey locust. Future programming highlights: Twelve artist led family art workshops per year, free tours for elementary schools, drop-in Art Lab for hands-on learning, film, conceptual art and works on paper study centers by appointment, 450 film programs + concerts, performances and lectures. There was a lot to see in the new inaugural Architecture of Life group exhibition. “Architecture—as concept, metaphor, and practice—illuminates aspects of life experience: the nature of the self and psyche, the fundamental structures of reality, and the power of the imagination to reshape our world,” the press release states. It is an excellently curated selection of works. In the Ben Shivers shed in the main gallery, a piece of steel from the new construction was Included—a nice touch. The show is quite lyrical, with many noticeable threads and pattern throughout, including extremely delicate lines, stellar abstraction and poignant minimalism. Glossary is glad they decided to come to the Bay Area in 2011 with the intention of staying—and they have stayed. The people, the way they think, and the art is what keeps us here. Our art world is getting excited for 2016 and the things that make art in the Bay Area worth recognizing. The opening of both 500 Capp Street and BAMPFA this January is a great start. BAMPFA Hours beginning February 3rd, will be 11 am to 9pm, Wednesday through Sunday
$12 general admission, students $10. FREE FIRST THURSDAYS See www.bampfa.org for more details.
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Glossary presents the first Review as Glossary with the work of Erik Parra. Review as Glossary are "reviews" that define conceptual or visual language associations with the work. They unpack vocabulary, building ways to contextualize art while leaving room for readers to assess the merits and aesthetics of the work on their own terms. mid century modernThe Mid-Century modern movement in the U.S. was an American reflection of International and Bauhaus interior design movements focusing on simple lines and functionality devoid of decorations. Open floor plans, large windows, post and beam ceilings, and minimal use of walls in favor of interior architecture encouraged views of room through multiple vantage points. Integrating the outside with the inside was also a priority, creating a sense of unity with the environment and a holistic lifestyle. With the family in mind, the spaces were meant as areas that would enhance socializing, communication and transparency — as opposed to privacy. idealIdeal pertains to a person or thing conceived as embodying such a conception or conforming to such a standard, and taken as a model for imitation. From Late Latin idealis "existing in idea," from Latin idea* in the Platonic sense. Senses "conceived as perfect; existing only in idea," is from the 1610s. *idea noun From Latin idea, a word in philosophy, the word (Cicero writes it in Greek) and the idea taken from Greek idea "form; the look of a thing; a kind, sort, nature; mode, fashion," in logic, "a class, kind, sort, species," from idein "to see," from PIE *wid-es-ya-, suffixed form of root *weid- "to see" (see vision). In Platonic philosophy, "an archetype, or pure immaterial pattern, of which the individual objects in any one natural class are but the imperfect copies, and by participation in which they have their being." The meaning "mental image or picture" is from the early 1600's (the Greek word for it was ennoia, originally "act of thinking"), as is "concept of something to be done; concept of what ought to be, differing from what is observed." [Century and Etymology dictionary] factice Borrowed from Latin factīcius. Compare the inherited Old French form faitis as well as the doublet fétiche, borrowed from Portuguese. The English translation of Factice is Fake. still life A still life (p. still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate* subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (human or animal skulls, raw meat, fruit, piles of grains, and other foodstuffs, fresh or withering cut flowers, plant cuttings or leaves, branches, dead hunting game or other animals ready for slaughter including rabbits, birds and cloven creatures or their body parts, water droplets, rocks, or shells) or man-made (breads, baskets, drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, candles, letters, pens, furniture and so on). Traditionally subjects of paintings, still lifes are also used in sculpture, photography and dioramas. Still lifes are oftentimes allegorical and contain symbolic references, particularly to life itself. * inanimate, adjective - not alive, especially not in the manner of animals and humans - showing no sign of life; lifeless. control"According to modern concepts, control is a foreseeing of action whereas earlier concepts of control was used only when errors were detected. Control in management means setting standards, measuring actual performance and taking corrective action." (edited wiki) The word control when used as a noun dates back to the late 1500's. As a verb, it's past begins in the 1500's. From Anglo-French contreroller "exert authority," from Medieval Latin contrarotulus "a counter, register," from Latin contra- "against." Later usage implies a sense of domination or directness in the term. "Control Freak" is a 1960's term, referring to those who march with the mainstream corporate status quo individual who tend to be inflexible about certain behavior by others who may be trying to control a situation or person too much, particularly art and creative or politically motivated people. suspense noun. - a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety. - a state of mental indecision. - undecided or doubtful condition, as of affairs: - the state or condition of being suspended. From Anglo-French suspens (in en suspens "in abeyance," c. 1300), Old French sospense "delay, deferment (of judgement).; "state of mental uncertainty with more or less anxiety" (mid-15c.) [Etymology dictionary] It is also a genre of novels, stories, film, etc., attested from 1951 (and to which Parra relates) . ascendingFrom Latin ascensionem (nominative ascensio) "a rising," noun of action from past participle stem of ascendere "to mount, ascend, go up." Ascension in the religious sense refers to the rise of Jesus or Muhammad to Heaven while he was still alive.
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