The International Art Museum of America Opens Tomorrow Near 6th and Market, and We Still Don't Understand What It Is
One of the stranger developments on the mid-Market scene of recent years -- and that is saying a lot! -- is this mysterious museum project at 1023-1025 Market Street (between 6th and 7th), which we first noted over a year ago when some embossed signage went up calling it The Superb Art Museum of America. Well, it softly opens tomorrow (!), March 29, but is now being called The International Art Museum of America — equally vague but slightly less goofy and ESL than calling it "superb." SF Citizen got the press release (where was ours?), and we've been seeing activity at the space for several weeks. Today we bring you a couple of pictures, including one shot over the paper on the windows revealing the Disney-ride-like gazebo, bridge, fake rock outcroppings, plants, and water feature that are apparently part of the space's indoor "Chinese garden," as well as what looks like a neo-classically styled painting gallery with archways at the rear.
The project first caught Curbed's attention about two years ago, and we went on to draw what we believed was an ownership connection to a Chinese Buddhist temple in the Mission called Hua Zang Si and their spiritual leader H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. They're now saying that the full museum, with attached conference center and meeting rooms, won't be fully open until September, at which point one will find "changing exhibitions of international art," only some of which we can probably assume will be of a Buddhist nature?
During the soft opening period, starting tomorrow, people will only be able to access a second-floor gallery -- no Chinese garden for you! -- where they "can visit our architectural tile and art glass display, which showcases the materials used in the design of the museum." That doesn't sound terribly exciting, but at least we are going to get a glimpse of the place. During this period, admission is $8 for adults, and the hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
We tried reaching the place by phone for comment and so far have succeeded only in speaking to a security guard who said she had not been given any information whatsoever about the nature of the museum, but possibly someone would call us back.
We can only hope that the museum will have on display such magical objects as described here, on the temple's website, among the "holy treasures" owned and kept on display at the temple.
The eighth treasure is the Buddha statue that emitted bright light. On the holy birthday of Sakyamuni Buddha in 2004, a Bathing the Buddha Dharma Assembly was held by Sanger Mission in Los Angeles. The statue of the young prince Siddhartha (Sakyamuni Buddha) was placed on the center of the Bathing the Buddha tub. After the ritual of bathing the Buddha was completed, it was then covered with a red dharma robe and placed in front of the Amitabha Buddha statue in the Three Holy Beings Hall. Soon thereafter, the prince statue began to emit golden light which became so dazzling that the face and the dharma robe of the prince statue could no longer be seen. The upper half of the statue was covered by a ring of light for a long time. The holy feat was recorded in high resolution video. This extraordinary holy object is now kept by Hua Zang Si for public worship and veneration.
Wow, rad!