First Person Magazine Best Coast Art

“The Manitoba Mooseum of Finds Art”

I was having lunch with Kenneth Baker last week, and I told him that I am “inspired” by the new space We Are Will Brown. And I don’t use that word often. We Are Will Brown is a new experiemental project space in San Francisco. Its curatorial dives go deep and flip inside out the intentions of “showing”. Whenever I go there, I feel like I have no idea what will happen, where, or how. I love this. Comparable in LA, is the new space Human Resources. Feels more like a place for artists to gather and push boundaries, perform and do whatever feels necessary to create new ground.

The show up now at We Are Will Brown is an historical remaking and reviewing of the complete works from the “Manitoba Mooseum of Finds Art”. Curated and collected by Alberta Mayo, the assistant to the late SFMOMA Director, Henry Hopkins. While there, she wanted to put up art in room 305 of the Veteran’s building. Mounting small exhibitions for artists in the area of the museum not usually seen by the public, she built an unsanctioned platform for artists to have a show there. The first one was a photography exhibit in 1975, and continued for years. On view at We Are Will Brown is the ephemera, correspondence, art, and “delightfully delinquent treasures” that make up her curious collection. Finds include: Henry Hopkin’s rolodexes, a Clyfford Still drawing, Bruce Conner lookalike contest and bake sale announcement, cotton balls used to clean a Jean Arp sculpture, pencil used by Sol Lewitt to make MMOFA drawings… and much more. 

Alberta Mayo came to install the exhibition and SFMOMA and MMOFA members came and celebrated the opening. Come sign the guestbook which also serves as part of the archives of past “Mooseum” shows. Did I mention there are a lot of Bullwinkles thrown in? Manitoba Museum of Finds Art up until June 2, 2012. More about the curators and space here.