I’m A Happy CAMPer, And You Can, Too

So, Donald Fisher, founder of the Gap, a large-scale philanthropist and modern art collector, deeply rooted in San Francisco, and his wife, Doris, plan to build the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio (CAMP) for their Warhols and Calders, Kiefers and Lichtensteins. We are kind of witnessing the main argument in favor of Capitalism over Communism here: a singular billionaire shells out his dough, his priceless (or rather sky-highly priced) art, and his human energy to benefit the you and me—the working people. He promises to pay for the land lease, for the building, for the educational programs and collection maintenance, in other words, to give a huge cultural institution to the city at no cost. How bad could that be? Well, since we are talking San Francisco (little, but widely opinionated) there bound to be more arguments. The ignoramuses ask how many museums do we actually need, the egotists of the Presidio aren’t inclined to share their green pastures, and the small town-minders scream bloody murder over every historical shack obscured by a modern structure. The Maoists aren’t happy with the idea of an individualist who can. The dems wouldn’t forgive Fisher his party preference, and there are also hemp-wearing anti-Gappers, and envious city clans who call themselves green for more than one reason. During a press viewing of the Fisher’s collection in the Gap headquarters on Wednesday, curator Abner Nolan explained the Fishers’ habit of acquiring massive numbers of works produced by the same artist, and their consistent good taste in choosing the best of those contemporary artists. Pablo Picasso, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, Anselm Kiefer, Richard Serra, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Chuck Close, Frank Stella, William Kentridge, Sam Taylor-Wood are just a few for the future museum… People of San Franciso, can we see a bigger picture and gracefully accept the gift? And if we don’t know what to say, how about, thank you. To learn more, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Fisher; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/13/BAF910PUFL.DTL; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/17/DDTB118SA0.DTL; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/MUSEUM.TMP