We re not a museum that has Rembrandts and Monets. We re focusing on art from the 1980s forward. So the task is to create an identity that explains the art here is new and fresh, but also that we are a collecting institution, so eventually we ll have things that have age on them. We will continue to pay some attention to the art that s made in the Bay Area. But realize that the good art in the Bay Area is good not because it s Bay Area but because it holds its own in the greater national and international art scene.
Contemporary art can be a little off-putting at times, and a little unsettling.
It is a problem. It s on our shoulders to show the community that we re not just doing edgy, ugly sorts of things, and show them why there is much more to experience here. We re not going to dumb it down to make it relevant, as in popular. But I believe that, no matter what we show, the challenge is on us to make it relevant. And this is a subtle twist in the thinking.