A new lust for art takes hold in Silicon Valley

When Allison and Dan Rose moved into their historic Palo Alto home, their art was essentially limited to Pottery Barn and Z Gallerie buys.

Four years later, the walls of their 1905 Craftsman are decorated with contemporary works from the likes of John Chiara, Gabriel Orozco, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

“We started buying a few pieces, learning a little bit more and discovering some more artists,” Allison Rose says.

The Roses are just the sort of Silicon Valley denizens that Pace Gallery President Marc Glimcher had in mind when he opened a Palo Alto outpost last year.

Through June 11, the gallery is presenting David Hockney’s “The Yosemite Suite,” focusing on works depicting the national park that the 79-year-old artist created with an iPad.

When an amazing thing comes on the market, (art collectors in the area) can’t always get on a plane and go to New York to see them.

[...] there is certainly evidence of an increasing appetite for contemporary and modern art in the suburbs.

Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco, which highlights postwar and modern works, is returning to San Mateo in October for its fifth annual edition; over the course of its three days, the event has drawn more than 10,000 visitors.

For those new to purchasing art — or who simply want to view it and increase their exposure — smaller galleries can often be less intimidating.

Earlier this year, Katharina Powers, an attorney who previously worked in finance, debuted Art Ventures Gallery in Menlo Park.

“Being an art lover/collector myself, I’ve always had to travel to the big cities to get a good dose of contemporary art,” she says.

San Mateo interior designer Kendra Nash often turns to Bryant Street Gallery for her clients.

For further inspiration and education on contemporary art, a must-visit is the 3-year-old Anderson Collection.

Cave’s life-size sculptures, which can be worn as costumes and performed in, are made of an array of materials — from old buttons to beaded baskets to sequins and even sock monkeys.

“There have been a lot more works by contemporary artists on display,” confirms Matthew Tiews, Stanford’s associate vice president for the arts.

For three days, May 24-26, New York-based Hope Gangloff — the first Diekman Contemporary Commissions Program artist — will be intermittently painting large-scale portraits in the Cantor’s atrium.

Elsewhere on campus, Peter Wegner’s “Monument to Change as It Changes,” located at Cemex Auditorium, comprises constantly in-motion colored cards in its 2,048 flip-digit modules; Alyson Shotz’s large-scale “Three Fold” consists of a trio of latticework sculptures that seems to float overhead in the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge; and Joan Miró’s bronze “Oiseau” can be found in the sunken patio of the Cummings Art Building.

The tours highlight pieces created and donated over the years by those in the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.

According to Pace’s Glimcher, historically, various sectors have emerged as major contemporary art patrons over certain periods.