The San Francisco MOMA recently reopened, and its expansion is incredible - the space is huge, open, and weaves around in a way that you could almost get lost in the art galleries. It's a very grand update and a hugely welcome re-addition to the Bay Area museum scene. These are some of our favorite impressions from a recent visit:
Read more about the museum, or find details on visiting here.
Fort Mason is hosting a slew of food-related events this weekend. Tonight marks the return of Off the Grid, one of our favorite Friday night activities when the weather is nice. Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the Chocolate Salon, where many varieties of chocolate will be available to sample. The salted caramels in particular look delicious.
One of our favorite blogs, DesignLoveFest, has put together an awesome list of 12 free things to do in LA. Biking the LA river sounds like an especially great idea for this weekend.
The 1975 did an amazing collaboration with photographer David Drake and art director Samuel Burgess-Johnson for their latest album, creating neon signs with each of the song titles from the record, shot in locations important to the band. While all of the images are fantastic, we want to frame "This Must Be My Dream", for obvious reasons.
The Palace of Fine Arts is hosting an exhibit featuring costumes and props from The Hunger Games. Fashion plays a huge part in the books and movies, and we can't wait to check out the over-the-top couture outfits in person, while it's in San Francisco. It runs through July.
FIDM's downtown LA campus is hosting a cinematic fashion exhibit as well, with costumes from each of the 5 best picture nominees, as well as past nominees. We've found many of the films this year very inspiring (see here and here), and we can't wait to check out the incredible details up close. It runs through April.
We love Domaine's Locals-Only Guide to San Francisco, curated by a former local. Many of our favs are on this list. Speaking of... a late night trip to Bob's Donuts may be in order...
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian's mirrored sculptures are incredible studies of pattern and tradition. This tour of her studio is incredibly inspirational.
We may need to borrow our friends' kids in order to take advantage of Kendall's Brasserie's Sound of Music Prix-fixe menu. Created to pair with the production coming to The Los Angeles Music Center it features dishes like do-re-mi macaroni.
Dreamforce's Dreamboat sounds like it's not all it was cracked up to be...
We are addicted to Pinterest, in case you didn't already know, and have recently found ourselves stumbling across the same amazing illustrator again and again. Upon closer examination, we discovered it was the work of Monica Ramos, an artist originally from Manila, who graduated from Parson's and lives in New York. Her illustrations are playful and have the most beautiful color palates. We want to frame them all.
British artist David Downton has been sketching fashion show illustrations and drawing celebrity portraits for the past twenty years. His whimsically elegant work has been featured at Claridge's in London and in Vanity Fair, most recently for his portraits of the magazine's International Best Dressed honorees. We are inspired by his illustrations, and many of his subjects are our own Style Icons. These are some of our favorites, and you can see more of his work on Downton's site. Should you feel inspired, he does do commissions...
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei knows about political censorship firsthand. The winner of the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation, he is suppressed by his own government for his creative expression; Weiwei is not allowed to leave China for speaking out against its policies. From his home in Beijing, he created an art exhibition for San Francisco's infamous former prison, Alcatraz.
On a rocky island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz is often colder and windier than the city and its surrounding area. It feels like a desolate place, and has held many criminals - including the infamous Al Capone. While Weiwei's exhibit uses themes of incarceration and repression, he focuses on those who've been unjustly punished or imprisoned for their beliefs of freedom and equality.
We went to visit the exhibit, which runs through April 26th, and would definitely recommend it - although not all of the visuals were as compelling as we had hoped, there is an incredible audio component, and the installations are thought provoking.
The annual Bouquets to Art Show at San Francisco's de Young Museum has become a yearly tradition for us. We love going back each time to see which paintings are most inspiring to Bay Area florists, and what creative arrangements they come up with the celebrate the museum's art. Last night was the opening, and the show runs through the weekend, so hurry if you'd like to see it for yourself! If not, enjoy our memories, and those of years past with 2013 and 2014's posts.
