Slog - Comments on The Gates http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates Bill Gates, are you listening? Does this really have to stay at St. Peter's if you say it doesn't? Mimi Gates, the single most powerful person in art in Seattle, announced today that she's retiring at the end of June 2009. By then, she will have been director of Seattle Art Museum for 15 years. This is no surprise. Last year was the mother of all SAM years, and directors habitually depart on a high, usually after a building project. SAM had two: the opening of its brand-new sculpture park and the expansion of its downtown hub. At the... Copyright 2008 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:54:17 -0800 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:23:43 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Fnarf Presumably for family reasons she's still stuck with a CD-ROM of Encarta.

I agree with you, though; she's an engaging speaker, and she knows her stuff.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038168 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038168 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:12:56 -0800 Comment by Cale So many important European artists I would love to see land in this fair city...

]]> Cale http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038171 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038171 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:16:30 -0800 Comment by elenchos Women who are moved to gasp in awe of serious, nerdy scholarship? Hot.

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038179 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038179 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:23:48 -0800 Comment by um i love mimi gates

]]> um http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038180 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038180 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:24:03 -0800 Comment by Jessica Yeah, we'd all love to see the Pieta, but isn't that a Vatican property? Fat fucking chance.

I want a big pre-Raphaelite exhibition, myself, but would definitely be cool with the Gates giving Vermeer or Caravaggio. Tintoretto, even.

]]> Jessica http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038207 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038207 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:49:04 -0800 Comment by Wolf Due to some 'holes I find it better to stay out of art discussions now with poorly-armed critics...but the Pieta in Seattle would be re-flipping-markable. Or any Michelangelo piece.

I'd travel to see them. And I'm 1500 miles away.

(my parents were married in Seattle 56 years ago)

]]> Wolf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038219 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038219 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:59:24 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle I agree, we need a parting gift to SAM.

I'd settle for a decent Rafaela. But a Vermeer would be nice ...

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038242 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038242 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:27:26 -0800 Comment by max solomon bill & melinda own art besides chihulys? we don't need chihulys.

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038257 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038257 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:51:09 -0800 Comment by scary tyler moore ahem, ahem, will. it's 'raphael', or 'raffaele'. yes, it would be nice. howevah, the insurance on babies like that is sky high. i'm predicting an endowed curatorship, or a big ol' wodge o' dosh.

]]> scary tyler moore http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038277 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038277 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:36:52 -0800 Comment by Wolfpussy @6 -- I thought your dead lover was T(intoretto) or T(oulouse-Lautrec)...can't you pull some strings?

]]> Wolfpussy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038284 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038284 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:52:19 -0800 Comment by Cale #5, I was thinking the same thing! We need some Millais up in here.

Renoir, Lautrec, and Degas would also be excellent choices.

]]> Cale http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038299 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038299 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:02:21 -0800 Comment by Wolfisretarded WOlf lives 1500 miles away!? That makes me hate him even worse!

]]> Wolfisretarded http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038328 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038328 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:46:34 -0800 Comment by It's Mark Mitchell I signed on to see how the Wolf controversy was coming along and I'm so pleased to see you're still at it! Such fun!

@8 They wouldn't would they? That little pirate-looking bastard has done enough damage to this city.

]]> It's Mark Mitchell http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038333 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038333 Visual Art Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:08:14 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @9 - no, it depends on whether you're referring to the school or the specific artiste, and in what language.

So long as we don't get more cubists.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038363 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038363 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:17:13 -0800 Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me Hell... If Bill's gonna raid the Vatican, lets go for something really good... why not the Laocoön Group?

]]> You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038454 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038454 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:03:56 -0800 Comment by orangekrush Hey kids, SAM already had a Pre-Raphaelite show.
I find something strangely interesting that Mimi doesn't do the internets, and Bill doesn't do gifting his Step mom's Museum...

]]> orangekrush http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038527 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038527 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:51:58 -0800 Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball @15 -- The Laocoön Group...isn't that Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Hume Cronyn?

]]> Jubilation T. Cornball http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038609 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038609 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:39:11 -0800 Comment by disgruntled angeleno It was a crummy provincial museum when she arrived and its a dressed-up crummy provincial museum when she leaves, with wildy overated sculpture park (containing hardly any sculpture in the don't touch and keep-off-the-grass park) and improved galleries (containing a sparse and weak permanent collection). Her legacy, primarily an edifice which is far from world-class (more Benaroya Hall than Main Library), will of course be celebrated extravagantly. But this city, with its Gates-sized resources, should be ashamed at how inconsequential its culture remains fiften years after Mimi got here.

]]> disgruntled angeleno http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038734 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038734 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:30:55 -0800 Comment by Lazslo I don't discount the accomplishments of Mimi Gates in her involvement with SAM. It cannot be said, though, that the museum has offered quality exhibits over the years. Yes, there have been impressionist exhibits (another goes up this month - yawn), and spanish exhibits, and the Rome exhibit, and Sargent and other stuffy exhibits that tour the country in other museums. These are the tried and true exhibits that lower level galleries show all the time. But give me something relevant! Give me an abstract painting exhibit of Gerhard Richter's work. Give me a Neo Rauch exhibit. Give me an Eakins exhibit, or Philip Guston, or a photorealist exhibit, or a contemporary latin american exhibit. Something beside the standard fair shown year after year. That is not Gates's job per se, it's the curator's job. The director's job in such exhibits is to pay for it, and these types of exhibits cost more and require more work. Let's hope SAM vastly improves the exhibit selection in the coming years.

]]> Lazslo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038843 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038843 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:23:12 -0800 Comment by Lazslo I don't discount the accomplishments of Mimi Gates in her involvement with SAM. It cannot be said, though, that the museum has offered quality exhibits over the years. Yes, there have been impressionist exhibits (another goes up this month - yawn), and spanish exhibits, and the Rome exhibit, and Sargent and other stuffy exhibits that tour the country in other museums. These are the tried and true exhibits that lower level galleries show all the time. But give me something relevant! Give me an abstract painting exhibit of Gerhard Richter's work. Give me a Neo Rauch exhibit. Give me an Eakins exhibit, or Philip Guston, or a photorealist exhibit, or a contemporary latin american exhibit. Something beside the standard fair shown year after year. That is not Gates's job per se, it's the curator's job. The director's job in such exhibits is to pay for it, and these types of exhibits cost more and require more work. Let's hope SAM vastly improves the exhibit selection in the coming years.

]]> Lazslo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038845 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_gates#c1038845 Visual Art Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:23:43 -0800