An Artful Life: A Tribute to Matthew C. Strauss at MCASD

by Patricia Frischer

Anthony Gormley

 An Artful Life: A Tribute to Matthew C. Strauss at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
March 20 – August 3, 2025

Mathew Strauss passed away in August 2024 at the age of 91, but he left a legacy of art that will live well past our lifetimes. His wife Iris was the art major, but Strauss got the bug in 1980 and together they built a 300-piece collection based on their view of what was the best  works of the best artists of our time starting in the 1970’s. 

Steven Strauss, their son who took his father’s place as the board chair of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, said that his father likes edgier work and his mother tended toward the beautiful. But no work entered the collection without the approval of both.

On view in An Artful Life are just 22 works of art that span the world.  But they are large in format and occupy fully 5 rooms including the Iris and Mathew Strauss Gallery. The show was curated by Kathryn Kanjo, CEO of MCASD. The works are very representative of the entire collection of the museum, probably not a surprise as Hugh Davies, past director of the Museum, was an advisor to the Strausses.

Iris Strauss was a participant in an Art Collectors round table, held for the now defunct COVA organization more than 15 years ago. When asked what a collector does when all the walls in their home are filled, she replied, “Buy the house next door.” That is exactly what they did and formed a foundation to house a part of their collection.  That house will now be sold to finance The Strauss, an alumni building in the new Triton Center on the campus of UCSD. The Strauss will house the foundation collection and is planned to open in 2026 and geared especially to the student population. Strauss felt that every major university should have a major art museum.  It was also Mathew Strauss who helped with the expansion project of MCASD, which is now able to show its permanent collection.

Making art available to the public was so important to Strauss family. This exhibition is small but mighty. That might be because Mathew Strauss believed that a work of art was important if it “moved your molecules.” It is the hope of the museum, that this exhibition encourages collectors to get their molecules moving. 

Steven Strauss, son of Iris and Mathew, current Board Chairman of MCASD

Takashi Murakami

Al Held

Sigmar Polke

Sigmar Polke, detail

Robert Rauschenberg

Nancy Graves

Frank Stella

George Baselitz

Cecily Brown 

Alex Katz

Nick Cave

Nick Cave, detail

Kehinde Wiley

Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene Thomas, detail

Mickalene Thomas, video

Ed Ruscha

 An Artful Life: A Tribute to Matthew C. Strauss at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
March 20 – August 3, 2025

Framing Identity at Level of Service Not Required
March 8 to April 11

Also in La Jolla, Framing Identity is a lose phrase to encompass the works of four women during Women’s History Month. Caleb Cain Marcus selected collaborative artists Katie Hargrave and Meredith Laura Lynn from Tennessee and Florida , and both Boston based photographer Hannah Altman and painter Jennifer Ruth Evans. This is a starting place to think about who, how, and why we are.  Altman’s tense photo and  Evan’s figure drawings  were especially personal views. The installation by Hargrave  and Lynn was a parody of a reality TV survival program.  

Hannah Altman

Jennifer Ruth Evans

Jennifer Ruth Evans

Jennifer Ruth Evans

Katie Hargrave and Meredith Laura Lynn 

San Diego Museum of Art Roundup: american minimal, Ruud van Empel: Theatre, For the People: Modern Printmaking in Mexico

 by Patricia Frischer

Gisela Colon 

american minimal  On view through June 1

I am sure I am not the only one that has noticed the world is crazy right now. On the Sunday I visited the San Diego Museum of Art and Balboa Park was seething with people. But when I stepped into the American Minimal exhibition, quiet settled over me like a soothing balm. One can understand why the chaos of abstract expressionism with the seemingly out of control color and brush strokes, was followed by the balance and simplicity of minimalism. Sometimes, one needs an absence of reality. The object is the object is the object. In addition, there are experiments with new mediums, plastics, light itself, even early computer-generated art.

Jennifer Findley and John Digesare are responsible for the curation, and the  works are simply placed to allow them to speak fully. Most of the works are familiar, but the joy of this kind of exhibition is that not only do you visit old friends, but new discoveries are there to delight you. 

The shadow of a guard on duty, a simply yellow wall and the stunning obelisk by Grisela Colon (above)  is so seductive with it swirling purple surface. Gary Lang circular works from 1998 were minimal even though they owe a lot to op art. Larry Bell's experiments bring the light and space. Friank Stella is a highlight, of course, as is Josef Albers, but I as really intrigued with the wall work by David Lasry.  It is just black lines oil painted lines on a white wood background. But it is so much more than that. It is endlessly confusing and that makes it sort of magic. 

Gary Lang

Larry Bell

Installation view including Frank Stella

David Lasry

Josef Albers

 Ruud van Empel: Theatre  On view through July 27

A quick look at these large composition and you might wonder where Rud van Empel found such amazing landscapes to photograph. But these are not just collaged works that make up the fantasy spaces. Every single element is separately placed which must take mindless amounts of time and effort, even using digital reproduction.  And the originals images all come from photographs this Dutch artist takes himself, some even from our own Joshua Tree National Park.  Since you have slowed down in the museum already, take the time to watch the video to see more of his work and how it is compiled. 

Ruud van Empel

Ruud van Empel

Ruud van Empel

Ruud van Empel

For the People: Modern Printmaking in Mexico  On view through August 10

The prints in this small show were all made by members of Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP) founded in 1937. The subject was generally anti-fascism and social justice and in honor of Women’s History Month, I chose images of women with rifles, women who looks like they are immigrants, but they are actually just going to market, and one work by a women Elizabeth Catlett of children playing in masks.  More than any other multiple produced images, lino and wood cuts seem to show the hand of the artist. 

 

 

Elizabeth Catlett

Leopoldo Mendez

Fernando Castro Pacheco

A little reminder, The Art of Americas exhibition has a work by Becky Guttin and you pass it on the the way the Rudd van Emel exhibition.

Women in Focus at MOPA@SDMA

 by Patricia Frischer

Loretta Lux

Since the 1830’s, women have made huge contributions to the development of photography across a variety of genres. By 1890, women were 11% of professional photographers in the USA, 20% in Britain and 30% in Scandinavian countries.  These genres are grouped together in the exhibition Women in Focus that shines lights on these female accomplishments.  This was partly because no formal training was needed to start, it was inexpensive, could be done at home. Once equipment became more mobile, we see the rise of Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, and Imogen Cunningham are all familiar names.  But you can discover  in this show a new range of artists, and see their work all taken from the permanent collection of the Museum of Photographic arts now merged with the collection of SDMA showing until July 13.

Natural Still lifes including nude studies, flowers and fauna, and advertising images including machine-made objects from the industrial revolution to contemporary furniture are included.  Portraits (both traditional studio portraits and experimental) especially of other women were in abundance in a variety of locations. Although women were not war correspondents during the heyday of picture magazines like Life (Margaret Burke-White was the first female staffer on Life) or agencies like Magnum Photos, they covered all social issues all over the world.

The images shown here are a tiny part of this immense show and are hopefully enough to wet your appetite for a more in-depth look. 

Anne Brigman

Margarete Bourke-White

Grace Robertson

Alma Lavanson

Julia Blackmon

Susan Ressler

Women in Focus On view through July 13, 2025 at MOPA@SDMA in Balboa Park

By the way, In celebration of March as Women's History & Arts Month Meyer Fine Art, Inc. is highlighting a group of accomplished women artists. From iconic to lesser-known, they have all established a niche for themselves in the visual arts creativity, the diversity and  richness of artistic expression. Works at a museum are not for sale, but this is your chance to own one. 

San Diego Mesa College Fine Art Faculty & Staff Exhibition - 2025

 by Patricia Frischer

Closing Reception and Gallery Walk-Through: Wednesday, March 5, 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Alessandra Moctezuma

San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery is featuring the art made by its own 2025 art faculty and staff until March 6.  A faculty exhibition at a college or university has a number of roles.  It is good for the students to see the art of their professors. It is a way for potential students to start to judge if this is the right program for them in higher education. It gives the teaching artist a showcase for their work. It might even give them an incentive to be personally creative on an ongoing basis. Whether the works are chosen by the artist themselves, curated into the display or juried in, the exhibition does not usually have an imposed theme except, hopefully to show the best art possible. 

Obviously, the space is fill by an array of contemporary media, including painting, photography, installation, sculpture, ceramics, digital art, and more.  The selection below is only a small representation.  The work above is by the Gallery Director Alessandra Moctezuma, and does set a tone for some of the works that are reflecting present day politics. But the painted metal sculpture by Kraig Cavanaugh of flowers, puts a conceptual twist on that most common of subjects. The other piece on display by Cavanaugh is an installation from his own collection of the 6-sided Roto Reliefs of Marcel Duchamp. The originals are from 1933 and these were acquired after they were reproduced in 1987. The variety of photographed and the raised disc display (the reliefs have no central holes) are all Cavanaugh's choices. Brian Benfer distressed paper wall work has to be observed closely to see that the marks are made by a tennis ball, probably also causing the tears when it slammed into the surface. 

Jacqueline Ramirez produces a remembrance of things past as she display some of her early work which she declares has a raw power of the musicians, which rises above some technical flaws she might see now. Both of the Misty Hawkins' works continue that self reflective view with two portraits of herself with variation on color value and hue. Her intimate image of her dog in recovery calls out for our empathy. Juan Carlos Toth defines himself when he presents 20 averages Joes in a work titled There but for the grace...

The exquisite ceramic vessels of Nathan Betschart in their elegant simplicity show just how wide a range this faculty has. But take a closer look. The surface has a host of other worldly shapes with a whole other story to tell. 

Chris Lahti large steam-rollers prints are a hallmark of Mesa College Fine Art department. Several are on display including another by Moctezuma. This one that is on display in the front window of the gallery of a hand, a wrench and a pen makes one wonder if the pen is mightier.  On a much smaller scale are Lisa Hutton's ongoing series of individual hand drawings over pages from the Encyclopedia of Real Estate Advertising of 1977. Together the 96 images have an impact. Yes, it is a fun fact that the book was found in the free box at Mesa College Library. 

Kraig Cavanaugh

Kraig Cavanaugh

Brian Benfer

Jacqueline Ramirez

Misty Hawkins

Misty Hawkins

Juan Carlos Toth

Nathan Betschart

Nathan Betschart - detail

Chris Lahti

Lisa Hutton

Lisa Hutton, detail

SAN DIEGO MESA COLLEGE FINE ART FACULTY & STAFF EXHIBITION - 2025
San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery

Closing Reception and Gallery Walk-Through: Wednesday, March 5, 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Artists included: Trevor Amery, Jenny Armer, Brian Benfer, Nathan Betschart, Kraig Cavanaugh, Patricio Chavez, Christopher Ferreria, Misty Hawkins, Gosia Herc, Lisa Hutton, Wendell Kling, Chris Lahti, Georgia K. Laris, Alessandra Moctezuma, Amy Paul, Jacqueline Ramirez, Robyko, Chelsea Ruwe, Juan Carlos Toth, Sandra Wascher.
Feb 12 to March 6
FA103, 7250 Mesa College Drive, SD 92111
Gallery Hours: 12 – 5 pm, M-Th or by appointment. Closed Fridays, Weekends & Holidays.(closed Monday, February 17). Park in visitor spots or purchase a parking permit by the yellow machines
Alessandra Moctezuma  619.388.2829