Saturday, July 16, 2005

Mirkarimi, Suzuki and Maruki Art



Former District 5 Supervisor Matt Gonzalez started a monthly art opening on the third Friday of every month at his City Hall offices, and his wildly popular successor Ross Mirkarimi, above, has decided to carry on the tradition.



His offices, however, are very small in comparison with the other Supervisors, so the 5-8 PM party gets intimate fast and usually spills out into the hallway.



They were serving green tea and red wine...



...which the crazed writer h brown was enjoying profusely.



Usually, the art is overshadowed by all the political schmoozing, and Friday's event was no exception, but this time the art managed to hold its own.



There were a number of large murals created in 1950 by Iri and Toshi Maruki who had gone to Hiroshima three days after the bombing to visit relatives.



The pieces were genuinely disturbing, and a perfect reminder of the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing on August 5, 1945.



There was another artist being honored, the 85-year-old Lewis Suzuki, whose large watercolors couldn't have been more of a contrast.



Suzuki made a late entrance...



...and was the immediate, shy star of the gathering.





It was a lovely evening.



1 comment:

the Witch said...

Wow - as always, wonderful work, Mike.

You've made a fan of this Witch.