The assistant curator of painting and sculpture at the SFMOMA, Aspara DiQuinzio, organized Abstract Rhythms to be part of a continuing rendition in Matisse and Beyond, an ongoing exhibition showing works by some of the most popular 20th and 21st centuries’ artists, emphasizing the high points of the museum’s painting and sculpture collection. The exhibition stems from Dr. Carl Djessari’s donation of his extensive 150+ collection of Klee’s works. Djessari, a Vienna-born inventor of the first birth-control pill, began his collection in 1966 and donated it to the SFMOMA in 1984.
Klee’s work covers a wide range of styles that makes it difficult to categorize him into a specific faction. In a variety of mediums — painting, drawing, and printmaking — he took representational and abstract paths, with inspiration derived from his interest in music and literature. Klee, an accomplished violinist, is considered one of the outstanding humorists of 20th-century art because of the sense of irony his works emitted.
Banhart, a “freak-folk” musician known for his fanciful song lyrics, will present thirteen drawings along with Klee’s creations. His art was created in collaboration with his September 2007 album release, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (XL Recordings). The pieces come from a personal narrative evolved over a fictional main character named Smokey, who is a prototype of a person Banhart claims to experience while on tour. Smokey takes on traits from a multitude of mythological and ethnic references in the drawings.
Banhart’s imaginative work often involves eccentric characters that are comparable to the surrealist pieces of Klee. Both Banhart and Klee’s passion for music is parallel to their visionary art talents.
“I sing what I can’t draw and draw what I can’t sing,” explains Banhart.
Banhart will hold a musical performance along with the Abstract Rhythms exhibition at the SFMOMA on January 17, 2008. Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, along with a booklet that includes duplicates of his drawings, are available at the SFMOMA Museum Store.
“Banded King Snake and Thunder Maiden” (shown above) by Devendra Banhart, courtesy of SFMOMA
Abstract Rhythms
on view through February 24, 2008
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third St
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 357-4000
SFMOMA: www.sfmoma.org
Museum Store: www.sfmoma.org/museumstore/shop.html
Devendra Banhart: www.devendrabanhart.com