SF Chronicle

Visual intelligence trumps theory: SFMOMA’s 2019 SECA exhibition

Since 1967, nearly 200 of the brightest lights among Bay Area artists have been honored by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art with its SECA Art Award, which comes with a museum show. Winnowed by an exhaustive process, the art is always worth attention. As an exhibition, this year’s offering has got to be among the best. 

Organized by Linde Lehtinen and Nancy Lim, SFMOMA assistant curators, the show opens Saturday, Nov. 16. It is a concise curatorial argument for art informed by visual intelligence, unbridled by academic theory or polemical posturing. It makes its case quietly, almost surreptitiously — self-confident but never self-satisfied.

The three artists honored this year, chosen from among 16 strong finalists, are Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Sahar Khoury and Marlon Mullen. All take a deeply personal approach to art that nonetheless resonates sympathetically with anyone who engages it...

Charles Desmarais

November 13, 2019