The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announced today that it has acquired, through purchase and gift, 63 works this winter for its expansive collection of modern and contemporary art. The works capture a vast spectrum of conceptual, aesthetic and material innovations and are made by a diverse range of artists from across the United States and the world. Among the acquisitions are works by 18 artists whose practices are represented in the museum’s collection for the first time, including paintings and works on paper by Troy Lamarr Chew II, Derek Fordjour, Toyin Ojih Odutola and Maja Ruznic; photographs by Yolanda Andrade, Emi Anrakuji, Anthony Lepore and Tokuko Ushioda; design works by Pentatonic and Peter Saville; an installation by Amalia Mesa-Bains; sculpture by Iman Issa, Suki Seokyeong Kang and Minouk Lim; and media arts installations by Rosa Barba, Richard Mosse, New Red Order (NRO) and Wu Tsang.
Additionally, SFMOMA has for the first time added an NFT to its collection, becoming among the initial institutions in the country to collect this new digital art form. Final Transformation #2, 2022 is created by Lynn Hershman Leeson, a Bay Area artist who has been making works that address the interplay between technology, identity and the physical body since the 1960s. The piece is one of Hershman Leeson’s first NFTs and is based on her feminist feature film Conceiving Ada, 1997. It includes an excerpt of the 35mm film along with a text-based still image that nods to her installation Room #8, 2006–18, recently highlighted in the 2022 exhibition Speculative Portraits. SFMOMA has had a long-standing relationship with the artist since the 1970s. Twenty years ago, SFMOMA launched the online commission Agent Ruby, 1998–2002 on the museum’s website—a pioneering project about AI and among the first online works to become represented in the collection. The NFT gift furthers SFMOMA’s commitment to collecting and presenting evolving artistic practices and the art of the future.
Among these outstanding new acquisitions are more works by Bay Area artists, including artist and activist Yolanda López; painter and musician Mike Henderson; photographer Alice Wong; and mixed media artists Sergio De La Torre and Chris Treggiari of the Sanctuary City Project and Susan O’Malley. Additional acquisitions include paintings and works on paper by Ewan Gibbs, Ellsworth Kelly, Marilyn Minter and Wayne Thiebaud; sculpture and mixed-media installations by Maren Hassinger, Amalia Mesa-Bains and Gay Outlaw; video work by Sky Hopinka; photographs by Kikuji Kawada, Zora J Murff, Catherine Opie and Cindy Sherman; and design works by Constantin Boym and Trenton Doyle Hancock.
“These recent acquisitions represent an incredible range of artistic vision and capture SFMOMA’s commitment to collecting works by artists from the region and across the globe. Several of the new acquisitions have already been installed, including the real-time video and multichannel sound installation Of Whales, 2022 by Wu Tsang in the museum’s atrium, as well as works by Susan O’Malley on the exterior of the museum. The presentations of these works are free to the public as part of our effort to create more welcoming and inclusive spaces across the museum,” said Christopher Bedford, Helen and Charles Schwab Director of SFMOMA. “I am grateful to SFMOMA’s curatorial team for their vision and ongoing dedication to expanding the voices and narratives represented in our collection.”