If you’ve been reading my blog, you already know I was stoked to see the Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose Exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum. Aside from a bevy of sentimental reasons to attend, I've followed a fifth of the exhibiting artists since their actual features in Hi-Fructose and another three are on my list of very favorite visual artists (Yoshitomo Nara, James Jean, Audrey Kawasaki). I was also excited to see the work of artists I’ve read about in Hi-Fructose but only recently began to enjoy (namely Mark Ryden, Kris Kuksi and Kehinde Wiley).

The exhibit was immediately engulfing (as you'll see if you attend) and did not disappoint.

I was floored by:

• Nicola Verlato’s Carravio-esque chairoscuro and cinematic content in “Off the Grid.”
• all the manic eyes in Todd Schorr’s “The Last Polar Expedition of Commander Peary”.
• how my husband got lost in the chaos of Kris Kuksi's "Eros at Play" and the fog of Jeremy Geddes’ "The Street."
• the personified loss in Beth Cavener’s “Unrequited (Variation in Pink)." It made me choke on my tears.
• how reminiscent of Northern European Renaissance Dutch oil paintings the details in Femke Hiemstra’s "Hypnos” were.

I savored:

• the magnitude of Kehinde Wiley’s "Philip the Fair”.
• the clown's doll-like hands in Ron English’s “Combrat Rising”.
• the sassy kitschy play in Mark Ryden’s “Rosie's Tea Party”. I found it ridiculously fun remaining entranced in Rosie's eyes and the details of her tea party. While Ryden’s technical skill is stunning, yes, “fun” is the word I’d use to describe experiencing this painting. I have fallen into his world fully and happily and now fully understand why Ryden is such a huge player in the pop surrealist world. 

I keep forgetting how marvelously thrilling it is to see a piece in person rather than on a computer or in print where it loses a bit of it's luster. It truly is in the experiencing of a piece in person that one can really understand what makes art.

If you are in the area and are interested in the exhibit, take note that it runs at the Crocker Art Museum through September 17, this year.