Thursday, March 24, 2005
Joe's Ohs with banana for breakfast. Telecommute day. Installed Firefox 1.0.2. Worked on computer requirements summary from yesterday's meeting with Rob. Was going to announce the e-mail migration workshop date but realized I didn't have the previous text that ITS had agreed upon, so this will have to wait until Monday. Troubleshot a problem with itsa—the e-mail server was not letting people log on. Updated the grads job postings mailing list for Joel. Lunch: leftovers. Returned the Incredibles DVD. Dinner at Chevy's with Patrick. We went to SFMOMA this evening. Gary Hill, a video installation artist, was lecturing at 6:30 PM and I was on the fence about the lecture but I did want to see his current exhibit since I had seen his work in Seattle and thought it was very interesting. We left very shortly after 5:30 PM, parked in the 5th and Mission garage, and got dinner at Chevy's 3rd and Howard beforehand, missing the lecture. (We didn't know of any better but inexpensive restaurant in the area.) Patrick picked a 3-item combo and I picked a 2-item combo, we both had iced tea. Our server was Laura, who was friendly and helpful, but could have been a little more attentive. Patrick says the chefs at Chevy's Stonestown prepare the plates a lot more tidily. Dinner was $32.64 after a $5 tip. So back to Gary Hill. The works in this show are more disturbing than the ones I remember in the past. Lots more strobing. In one particularly intense exhibit, Hill is seen in microsecond flashes of him throwing himself against a black wall while speaking dialogue—an examination of how the sounds of the words are distorted by the impact of his body. The room is entirely dark except for the video, and a strobe light seems to pulse in conjunction with each impact. My favorite work in this exhibit was one in which about 5 or 6 projectors faced a very long wall showing a row of perhaps 20 or 25 men—migrant workers—simply standing, at about actual size. It seems trivial at first, but given a tablespoon of patience it reveals a blink here, a shifting of the legs there, and so forth. All the men are still—and not still—at the same time. After Gary Hill, it was quietingly pleasurable to walk a few feet to view works by Robert Bechtle, a Bay Area artist known for realistic and hyperrealistic paintings and drawings, mostly of Bay Area cars, houses, streets, and interiors. The exhibit includes source photographs and paintings from which Bechtle created some of his works, and it was interesting to see how he translated imagery from one medium to another. Although the subjects he draws and paints seem mundane at first, one can see the beauty he saw in old cars, suburban homes, daily objects like fans, heaters, and vacuum cleaners. The realism is startling—from certain angles and distances it's very hard to believe these aren't giant reproductions of photographs. Every Thursday is half-price from 6 to 9 PM, so this cost us only $8 total for 2 (Patrick with a student discount). Our SFMOMA receipt says "Transaction No. 174,318." Our parking at Fifth and Mission lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes and cost us $6.00. Our garage receipt says "Please Drive Safely." After the museum, we got gas at Twin Peaks. We buy 89 octane, which is currently $2.519 per gallon.