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Exhibition

Fifty Years of Bay Area Art

The SECA Awards
December 9, 2011–April 3, 2012

Celebrating the unique and long-standing role of SFMOMA’s SECA award program, this presentation brings into dialogue works by a number of past award recipients. In concert with an oral history project and a comprehensive book, the exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the museum’s distinguished art interest group SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art), which honors the achievements of Bay Area artists. The exhibition offers a lens onto some of the key artistic approaches that have contributed to the vitality and breadth of contemporary art here. Artists include William Allan, Hung Liu, Chris Johanson, Barry McGee, Laurie Reid, and Kota Ezawa, among many others.

Rigo 98, aerial perspectival view of San Francisco
John Bankston, painting of cowboy riding horse
Gay Outlaw, yellow spherical sculpture
photo of performance by Bonnie Ora Sherk, talking to two men and petting cow
mixed media colorful collage on paper
Nayland Blake sculpture of cleavers hanging from metal structure
Barry McGee, installation view of red shapes on wall

Rigo 98 (now Rigo 23), Study for Looking at 1998 San Francisco from the Top of 1925, (detail), 1998; collection SFMOMA; © Rigo 23

John Bankston, Bronze Cowboy, 2003; collection SFMOMA; photo: courtesy SFMOMA; © John Bankston

Gay Outlaw, Nest, 1999; collection of Lucinda Reinold; photo: courtesy the artist and Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco; © Gay Outlaw

Bonnie Ora Sherk and Howard Levine, Portable Parks II, 1970; performance and installation staged on June 26, 1970, at the freeway off-ramp on the corner of Mission, Otis, and Duboce Streets, San Francisco; Bonnie Sherk discussing the project with CalTrans officials; © Bonnie Ora Sherk

Sarah Cain, Hello Darkness My Old Friend, 2006; collection SFMOMA; photo: Ira Schrank; © 2006 Sarah Cain

Nayland Blake, Work Station #5, 1989; collection SFMOMA; photo: courtesy SFMOMA; © Nayland Blake

Barry McGee, Untitled, 2011; commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; courtesy of the artist, Ratio 3, San Francisco, Cheim & Read, New York, and Modern Art, London; photo: Johnna Arnold; © Barry McGee