SDSU Opens Downtown Art Gallery
The SDSU Downtown Gallery, opening April 9, will feature a variety of contemporary art.
San Diego State is making art more accessible to the community with a new gallery in downtown San Diego.
Housed in the historic Electra Building, the SDSU Downtown Gallery will serve as an exhibition space for contemporary art and design by artists from around the world. The gallery will open on April 9, with an inaugural exhibition featuring three famous artists and SDSU alumni: John Baldessari, Deborah Butterfield and Andrea Zittel.
Art in an urban venue
Located at the corner of Broadway and Kettner Blvd., in the heart of downtown San Diego, the 2,000-square-foot gallery is positioned to engage the city’s diverse community and vibrant urban landscape. The space and construction of the new gallery was generously donated to the university by Bosa Development Corp.
The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Divergence: The Work of John Baldessari, Deborah Butterfield, and Andrea Zittel, will highlight the work of these three significant contemporary artists, all of whom are alumni of SDSU.
The artists represent different styles and generations within conceptual art, ranging from Baldessari’s famous text paintings to Butterfield’s horse sculptures made of found materials to Zittel’s modernist furniture installations. The exhibition will be on view through January 3, 2011.
In addition to exhibition programming, the Downtown Gallery will also provide a venue for lectures, symposia and a host of interdisciplinary events to add to the exhibitions on view.
From electricity to art
The Electra Building was built in 1911, when it started as a power-generating plant for John D. Spreckels’ San Diego Electric Railway Co. It soon became known as Station B, and over the next 20 years, underwent four architectural additions, as well as numerous upgrades to its power-generating capabilities.
Throughout its 72-year history, Station B remained the primary energy-generating source for the city of San Diego. After closing its doors in 1983, Station B lay abandoned for the next 20 years before being restored through redevelopment and preservation.
Aside from historical significance, the Electra Building also has architectural significance as the product of two renowned local architects: Eugene Maximillian Hoffman (1870–1948) and William Templeton Johnson (1877-1957). The original building was designed by Hoffman, and the gallery is in the building’s north wing, designed by Johnson in 1928. This places the gallery in the middle of San Diego’s architectural history, linking it to significant architectural designs and developments within the city.
Through the two architects, the building reveals both Hoffman's emphasis on classical motifs and Johnson's preference for Spanish Revival designs. However, the building’s emphasis on verticality is a nod to the Art Deco style that followed, and it serves as a complement to the strong classical lines of Hoffman’s design.
About the gallery
The Downtown Gallery is one of two galleries affiliated with the SDSU School of Art, Design and Art History. It is free and open to the public.
The San Diego State University Downtown Gallery exhibitions and related programming are made possible through the support of the School of Art, Design and Art History; the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts; the fund for Instructionally Related Activities; the San Diego State University Art Council; and private donations.
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