Pier 24 Photography

Madame Le Chef and myself are vacationing at home this summer and we’ve been having a very good time. I’ve now lived in San Francisco for 34 years and feel qualified to say (contrary to the usual geezer line) that the city is better and more beautiful than ever. One of the fairly new cultural additions is Pier 24 Photography. This is a private photography collection housed in a renovated warehouse on a pier under the Bay Bridge. In order to see an exhibition you have to sign up on line. They only let 20 people in at a time and it's free.

The current show is called "Here" and consists of photographs shot in the extended Bay Area by photographers based here or passing through. Because California has been a magnet for photographers the lineup of artists is pretty amazing, going from Watkins and Muybridge through Weston, Arbus and Frank, up to the present day. The revelation of the exhibit is Larry Sultan. They gave an entire room to his show "Homeland" which he shot from 2007 to 2009, the year of his death. He photographed Hispanic looking men posed on bits of undeveloped land next to various suburban developments. Obviously the photos make a historical point but are also just beautiful images. I would recommend the exhibit just for Sultan's work but the whole thing is wonderful. Highly recommended.