The iPhone Arts: Pier 24 Gallery - Hauntingly Beautiful

The Pier 24 exhibit About Face is hauntingly beautiful and totally overwhelming. After entering into the main room, the largest of the 20 rooms, I turned clock-wise, then counter clock-wise and back, only to begin to cry.

It was not the first time I cried publicly in a gallery or a museum, it probably will not be the last. Less than an hour later, when confronted by the photograph of the ‘fab four,’ tears flowed once more and I found myself in need of sitting down.

Hendrick Kerstens, Hairnet, 2000

Pier 24 About Face catalogue cover with additional post production work by Egmont

A good number of the photographs on display I have seen in books and even a few previously in a museum, now I found myself standing in front of them, in a room shared maybe by one or two other people.

No more than 20 people are permitted in at a time and we are given two hours for our visit, providing one with a very unique experience. My last 30-40 minutes were shared with a very small staff, one other guest and my son.

The exhibit was to end last February but was extended till the end of April. The gallery will be closed for 8-10 weeks before opening up again in July, with an exhibit on the environment. So if you live or are visiting San Francisco, I would like to urge you to make plans and visit Pier 24 Gallery. You will not regret your visit but you will if you pass it up.

The exhibit is made possible by The Pilara Foundation, who’s collection consists of more than 2000 photographs, most from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The collection mostly focuses on American photographers, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented.

One of the rooms is totally dedicated to the German photographer August Sanders, who’s work was denounced by Hitler during the Nazi years, because he photographed gypsies, tradesmen, business men and mentally insane. To be able to see more than 100 original prints of Sanders work from 1920’s to the thirties is an experience one should not miss.

One of the earliest examples on display is Lewis Hine’s Breaker Boys, from 1911. There is also entire room dedicated to Diane Arbus, featuring some very iconic and memorable photographs, including Avedon’s larger than life portraits, his last major work before his death in October 2004.

During my first visit I was overcome by emotions, for one cannot help but feel the impact of history surrounding one, as the faces look back at you and pierce through your very existence with their eyes.