I went to San Diego Museum of Modern Art yesterday to see the Phenomenal show, part of the current stupendous Pacific Standard Time concurrent exhibitions around Southern California.    The show Phenomenal is about how California artists used California light, space, and new materials in their constructions.  Works by James Turrell, Robert Irwin, and others are there.   But the work that stopped me dead in my tracks was a 1978 sculpture by De Wain Valentine, Diamond Column.  Materials were familiar to me.  As a young surfer, I also went to Hastings Plastics in Santa Monica to buy resin, etc. for surfboard repair.   What Valentine did with these materials left me speechless.

I could have sat looking at this beautiful work for hours.  It’s the green one with the person walking behind its translucent edges). I wanted to share it with you as well.

Here is the link to the images and a short interview (Valentine isn’t giving away any trade secrets!)

http://www.mcasd.org/artists/de-wain-valentine