While Mr. Forager and I had originally made plans to trek to Big Bear over the weekend, a thick blanket of snow and us sans the CA law required snow chains, along with a sick-with-a-cold Mr. Forager led to a change in plans.  So following our Saturday ritual of breakfast in Joshua Tree ( at Crossroads Cafe— their “piggy pancakes” are my favorite indulgent breakfast ) and stocking up on victuals at the little JT Farmers’ Market, we drove through the wind farms to Palm Springs.

We wandered around the shops and a few galleries in downtown PS ( note: Stark + Kent Gallery— best contemporary selection in PS, including a few artists featured here on Artsy Forager! ).  After doing the requisite touristy photo-op under Anish Kapoor’s Marilyn statue, currently installed in downtown Palm Springs, we decided to make our way over to the Palm Springs Art Museum. Now I normally have pretty low expectations for small town art museums, knowing they don’t usually have the financial support of big city institutions, so we were pleasantly surprised by what we found there.

Palm Springs being a hot bed of modern architecture and design, it was no surprise that one of the current special exhibitions featured the design-art hybrid work of Fernando and Humberto Campana in the exhibition, Antibodies.  Their functional yet incredibly artistic designs take inspired living to an entirely different level.

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But it was the museum’s contemporary collection that delighted us most.  As we walked up the stairs past the giant yellow Isermann installation ( see above pic ), so the magic began.  Marina Abramovic’s The Kitchen V, Carrying the Milk, held us spellbound, as we watched the artist as she stood, she the very subject of the Vermeer-esque vignette, holding a bowl of milk, at times struggling to hold her pose.

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Moving away from the Abramovic video installation, our eyes were caught by what from a side angle looked to be an interesting light sculpture installation, but then I stood in front of it and that’s when something bewitching and delightful happened.. see the video!

Here are a few more of our favorite highlights from the contemporary collection–

Corona 2003 by Anish Kapoor ( above ) with its beautifully disorienting reflective surface and its acoustic properties ( when standing in front of it, as Mr. F is above, someone a few yards behind can hear what is being said into it ), we found it much more interesting than his giant Marilyn Monroe sculpture getting so much attention outside.  I’m glad we took the time to escape the masses huddled around her upended skirt to experience something much more satisfying.

Unless otherwise identified, all images are by Artsy Forager.  Other image sources are linked above.