Radioactivity

Two 1964 Warhol silkscreens had emerged from SFMOMA's vaults again, for a little while, and were hanging side by side on the museum's second floor when I walked through on Friday. Small in scale, they emitted more radioactivity than any of their larger, flashier neighbors. At top, Double Jackie. And below it, Untitled (Silver Electric Chair). Both came to the museum in 1997 as full or partial gifts from the large collection of Pop and post-Pop art assembled by Vicki and Kent Logan.
  

Two other works from the Logan Collection have seldom appeared publicly before. Jeff Koons's Self-Portrait (exuding ironic nobility) was carved from white marble in 1991. Jenny Saville's Hem dates from 1999, the product of insanely dexterous brushwork (something like John Singer Sargent's) on a rather enormous scale, painted when the artist was still in her twenties. Both works echo the Grand Manner traditionally assumed by Great Artists in the past, but turn this lofty posturing upside down with their subversive attitudes toward their subjects.

On the floor in the photo immediately above is a partial view of Damien Hirst's Philip (The Twelve Disciples) – one of twelve similar assemblages (representing the famous New Testament dozen) dating from 1994. Its components are listed on the informative wall card as: steel, glass, formaldehyde solution, and bull's head.