Meet Me At The Center of the Earth

I took a trip to free day at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA, if you're nasty) to see Nick Cave's Soundsuits! Wowzers! Never have I seen such a comprehensive collection of textures historically associated with queerness in one place at the same time! Mylar, sequins, beads, doilies, buttons, crocheted rounds, Gods eyes, quilts, thrifted sweaters, psychedelic grandma afghans all fashioned into sculptural costumes for humans reminiscent of Leigh Bowery. Not only that, it was even Bear and Beaver inclusive! See below, my slyly shot picture taken from the second level of the museum as the security guy's back is turned.

Along with the costumes, the show features 8 Las Vegas thrift stores worth of sequin appliqué draq queen blouses and gowns repurposed into giant sphere and circle shapes, suspended among and flanking the walls of the exhibition space. In relation to the 20 or so costumes, the appliqué circles don't receive the adequate attention they deserve, but these pieces alone would give Leslie Hall's Gem Sweater Museum a run for its money.

After the Soundsuits, I wandered into the "Under A Full Moon: 30 Years of Perpetual Indulgence" show in the YBCA's Room For Big Ideas. That show runs concurrently with the more historical-artifact oriented exhibit at the SF Public Library, which is also more-or-less interesting (may as well see it. it's free, but soon cuz it runs 'til May 7th).

Speaking of free, after YBCA I walzed on over to the Museum of Craft and Folk Art (where every Tuesday is free!) to see the "Inside/Outside: Artist Environments" show, which mostly consists of pictures and text about some of California's quirky "outsider" art houses/spaces, their creators, and their varying states of non/existence. I have to admit I am a sucker for this type of art and always imagined that I'd live in a house, of my own creation, mosaic-ed in bottle caps, broken mirrors, and Li'l Homies figurines. I already have a pretty impressive collection of the later.