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San Jose Museum of Art to Showcase New Acquisitions

The San Jose Museum of Art will present its growing collection of modern and contemporary art in two summer exhibitions that feature recent acquisitions. Breaking Ground: Gifts from Katie and Drew Gibson will include selections from the 44 works the Gibsons gave SJMA in 2012, as well as previous gifts the Gibsons made over the years. On view will be works by Robert Arneson, Willie Birch, Dale Chihuly, Helen Frankenthaler, Mineko Grimmer, Nathan Oliveira, and others. Timelapse: Doug Hall and the Western Landscape will center around Hall’s critically acclaimed work Chrysopolae (2012), which SJMA purchased in 2012 with funds contributed by the Lipman Family Foundation and the Acquisitions Committee. This video work will be accompanied by a group of Hall’s photographs of Western landmarks. Both exhibitions will be on view July 18 – October 20, 2013.

“The Gibsons built their collections adventurously and independently, with deep passion for art and with a belief in supporting the work of living artists,” said Susan Krane, Oshman Executive Director of SJMA. “The artworks that they have so generously gifted to the San Jose Museum of Art were part of their daily lives and daily pleasures. They occupy an honored place in SJMA’s permanent collection. These important gifts mark another stage in the evolution of this museum—and exemplify the generosity of these extraordinary, loyal donors who, decades ago, boldly envisioned SJMA’s future.”

KATIE AND DREW GIBSON

Longtime supporters of SJMA, Katie and Drew Gibson have previously given the Museum such public favorites as Abode: Sanctuary for the Familia(r) (1994) by Mildred Howard and Alan Rath’s Info Glut II (1997), which set the pace for SJMA’s initiatives with digital media. Their latest gift brings their total number of donations to the collection to 75. The exhibition includes works ranging from a powerful sculpture by Willie Birch about the 1992 Los Angeles riots (Pensive, 1992) to a delicate woodblock print by Helen Frankenthaler (Cedar Hill, 1983). Other highlights of the Gibsons’ gift include: Mineko Grimmer’s mixed media work Mahogany Music Box; Nathan Oliveira’s painting Imi I (1985); and a trompe l’oeil ceramic work by Richard Shaw. Works by Peter Alexander, Robert Arneson, Chester Arnold, David Bates, John Buck, Dale Chihuly, Lucy Gaylord, David Gilhooly, George Herms, Robert Hudson, Tom Lieber, Don Nice, Ed Paschke, Maria Porges, Donald Roller Wilson, Raymond Saunders, Peter Shelton, Inez Storer, and James Weeks will also be on view.

The Gibson have also given the Museum a large group of photographs by David Levinthal, part of an archive assembled in close collaboration with the artist. The collection of works by Levinthal will be the focus of an exhibition at SJMA in the spring of 2014.

Drew Gibson is a former trustee and board president of SJMA. He was president of the building foundation from 1983 to 1991, and was a driving force behind the Museum’s 1991 wing. Both he and Mrs. Gibson served on the Museum’s collections committee.

“The Gibsons’ cumulative gifts of artwork go a long way to the realization of their vision of a collection of national prominence and distinction in San Jose,” said Krane.

DOUG HALL

Chrysopylae (2012) by Doug Hall is a dual-screen, high-definition video with Dolby surround sound. The critically acclaimed work, a portrait of the Golden Gate Bridge over the course of the day, was made for the exhibition International Orange at Fort Point, San Francisco (organized by FOR-SITE Foundation in honor of the bridge’s 75th anniversary). SJMA purchased the work with funds contributed by the Lipman Family Foundation and the Acquisitions Committee.

“Hall’s binocular images and deep, resonant sound create a multisensory experience that is as much felt kinesthetically as it is seen,” said Krane.

Timelapse will also include ten photographs of people in iconic locations in the American West, such as Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park and Monument Valley in Utah.

Doug Hall formed the San Francisco-based media art collective T.R. Uthco (1970-79) in collaboration with Jody Procter and Diane Andrews Hall. Following the dissolution of the group in 1979, Hall continued to work in video, performance, and installation. In the late 1980s his primary focus shifted from time based media to include large format photography. His work in diverse media has been exhibited in museums in the United States and Europe and is included in numerous private and public collections, including: the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Calif.; Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; the Contemporary Art Museum, Chicago; the Mildred Kemper Lane Art Museum, St. Louis; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Vienna; Tate Modern, London; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He has received grants and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Arts Council, The Fulbright Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and The Guggenheim Foundation, as well as The Gilmore D. Clarke & Michael Rapuano Rome Prize in Visual Arts from The American Academy in Rome. He is Professor Emeritus at the San Francisco Art Institute and Visiting Artist at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco/Oakland.

SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART

The San Jose Museum of Art celebrates new ideas, stimulates creativity, and inspires connection with every visit. Welcoming and thought-provoking, the Museum rejects stuffiness and delights visitors with its surprising and playful perspective on the art and artists of our time.

The Museum’s burgeoning permanent collection includes over 2,000 modern and contemporary works of art: paintings, sculpture, installation, new media, photography, drawings, prints, and artists’ books. Widely known for supporting California artists, SJMA has earned a reputation for acquiring pivotal artists early in their careers. As San Jose has grown from an agricultural community into the capital of Silicon Valley, SJMA has expanded the focus of its collection to reflect the high-tech interests, dynamic cultural diversity, and international scope of its communities. The Museum remains committed to the work of California artists, yet now also strives to bring greater national and international context to the collection for the future. The collection includes works by Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, Jim Campbell, Enrique Chagoya, Andy Goldsworthy, Bari Kumar, Markus Linnenbrink, Louise Nevelson, Catherine Opie, Tony Oursler, Tino Rodriquez, Ben Rubin and Mark Hanson, Allison Saar, Jennifer Steinkamp, Masami Teraoka, and William T. Wiley.

The San Jose Museum of Art added nearly 100 works to its collection in 2012. Among the year’s additions are new-media works by Leo Villareal and Ranu Mukherjee (both commissioned by SJMA) and photographs by Katy Grannan. The Museum also received 29 works from the collection of Barbara and Dixon Farley—including works by Jay DeFeo, Red Grooms, Frank Lobdell, and Brice Marden.

The San Jose Museum of Art is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 PM to 5 PM and until 8 PM or later on the third Thursday of each month. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, and free to members and children under 6. For more information, call 408-271-6840 or visit www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.