KEEPING UP WITH CONTEMPORARY ART
Stimulate your creative mind and check out some of our favorite contemporary art exhibitions:
San Francisco
Olafur Eliasson lightly merges art, science, and natural phenomena to create extraordinary multi-sensory experiences at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 Third St., San Francisco, (415) 357-4000) until Feb. 24. Prepare for tangible elements like temperature, moisture, aroma, and light to generate physical sensations.
Olafur Eliasson's One-way colour tunnel photographed above.
New York
American sculptor David Smith’s Sprays is up until Feb. 23 at Gagosian Gallery (980 Madison Ave., New York, (212) 744-2313). The exhibition includes more than 70 works on paper and canvas, which evoke objects and atmospheres, realities and illusions, and presences and absences.
Houston
Design Life Now opens Jan. 26 at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (5216 Montrose Blvd., Houston, (713) 284-8250). The collected works highlight experimental projects and emerging ideas that were at the center of contemporary culture from 2003 to 2006. Projects put on view come from leading designers like Apple and Nike to emerging designers like Joshua Davis and David Wiseman. Work by Nike displayed above.
Chicago
See how photography captures the fleeting presence of shadows in The Other Side of Light, on display until Feb. 24 at The Art Institute of Chicago (111 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, (312) 443-3600). Photos by Lee Friedlander, André Kertész, and Paul Strand are included in the collection.

Los Angeles
The City of Angels shines the spotlight on its modern artists this weekend (Jan. 25–27) for ART LA. Galleries including Cherry and Martin, 1301PE, and The Happy Lion will flood the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (1855 Main St., Santa Monica, (323) 937-4659) to display and sell their progressive works. David Rathman's “I'm Holding On For That Teenage Feeling” photograph displayed above.