Smokin’ hot art exhibition
Thousands gather in Golden Gate Park for Judy Chicago’s colorful air sculpture
It was an eclectic crowd that seemed more akin to a music festival than museum event. There were cross-generations of fans decked in rainbows and gold lamé wings, others in T-shirts emblazoned with the work of the groundbreaking feminist artist Judy Chicago.
But it was no concert. The estimated 8,000 people gathered in the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park on Saturday, Oct. 16, were there for a free, site-specific performance of Chicago’s latest “Atmospheres” air sculpture, “Forever de Young.” The event, executed in conjunction with Chicago’s first retrospective, currently on view at the de Young Museum, was a work that elicited very strong reactions from both viewers and neighbors.
“I’ve been counting down today as long as I’ve known about it,” said San Francisco resident Mariana Schiffner, who arrived at the park 2½ hours before the 5:30 p.m. start time so she and her 11-year-old daughter, Jackie, could have the best view of the display. “I wanted to make sure my daughter was here today because Judy has been fighting for women’s rights and social justice.”
The 15-minute event, live-streamed on the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s YouTube channel, included fireworks, pyrotechnics, sparklers and canisters of colored pigment being released into the air to form clouds of colored smoke that drifted from the pyramid-shaped scaffold structure erected in front of the museum.
For the first sequence, sparklers outlined the edges of the pyramid structure and exploded into pink light. It was followed by plumes of yellow and orange smoke, then purple and blue before all the hues drifted toward Fulton Street.
The smoke at times obscured the facade of the museum and enveloped a reserved viewing area in front of the building’s main entrance, causing many to scatter. A statue of a nude male Roman gladiator on the concourse was also eventually engulfed by the colorful smoke, fitting symbolism for an artist who has fought for female representation in museums and against toxic patriarchy for decades.
The spectacle drew gasps, tears and chants of “Judy! Judy! Judy!” from the concourse.
But not everyone was a fan, especially in light of California’s everexpanding wildfire season.
Patty Moddelmog spotted the smoke from her apartment near St. Ignatius Church and told The Chronicle that she ran to the roof to see what was happening.
“We thought something big was on fire in the park or had exploded in the park,” Moddelmog said. “It was pretty freaky.”
Jana Kleemeier said she came across “Forever de Young” as she was walking with her family in the park and wishes she hadn’t.
“I’m sure it looked beautiful from one angle,” Kleemeier said, “but where most people were gathered, we were hit straight up with sulfur and smoke without warning.”
It’s not the first time the 82-year-old artist’s “Atmospheres” installations have brought controversy. While the pigments that create the colored smoke are similar to those used at events like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and are nontoxic, according to Claudia Schmuckli, curator of “Judy Chicago: A Retrospective” at the de Young, in February, the Palm Springs art event “Desert X” was canceled after its venue backed out of hosting because
of environmental concerns raised by an activist.
Chicago has been creating her “Atmospheres” since the ’60s. In 1974, Chicago used fireworks and road flares to create a butterfly shape around the edge of Oakland’s Lake Merritt, after which she took a hiatus from the art form until 2012 because of the expense and logistical challenges associated with the work.
Schmuckli admitted that for all the planning involved in making an event like “Forever de Young” happen — monitoring for outdoor performance-friendly weather, getting permission from the parks and fire departments — there is always the possibility “of the wind completely influencing the direction it will move.”
Chicago told The Chronicle she’s never entirely certain of the outcome of her “Atmospheres” either.
“I wanted to see how many different blends across the spectrum I could get,” she said. “It kept mixing in all these incredible ways.”
Philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer, whose foundation also acquired an archive of more than 300 prints, copper plates and works on paper by Chicago, underwrote the event in honor of his mother, gallerist and longtime Fine Arts Museums trustee Arlene Schnitzer, who died in April 2020.
Of the final outcome, Chicago conceded, “the whole pyro crew and I looked at each other and said, ‘It has a life of its own.’ ”