A’s for art: Athletics stadium to feature Fisher art collection
The A’s manager was once Art Howe. Now we’re asking: Art, how?
Apologies for succumbing to mirth. But in what could be grand slam for high culture in Vegas, Athletics owner John Fisher plans to display selections from his family’s acclaimed collection at the A’s stadium on the Strip.
Word from multiple sources familiar with Fisher’s design plans is that the owner has been talking for months of developing an art program in Las Vegas. These pieces would be exhibited in the team’s new home at the Tropicana hotel-casino site.
The program would also showcase art from Southern Nevada artists.
The family collection was developed by Fisher’s late father, Don Fisher; and his mother, Doris F. Fisher; co-founders of The Gap clothing stores.
According to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection is among the world’s greatest collections of contemporary art.
The exhibit has taken over three floors of the museum and is “distinguished by significant concentrations of works by Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, and Andy Warhol, among others,” according to the SFMOMA website.
The collection includes more than 1,100 works, mostly from the 1960s. Las Vegas historians will note Warhol’s iconic 1963 “Triple Elvis” is featured in the collection.
The family had long kept the collection private and rarely spoke publicly about the pieces. But the Fishers opened an exhibit of the collection at SFMOMA in June 2010.
As founders of the Gap apparel company, the couple began buying art pieces a few years after they opened their first store in San Francisco in 1969. They had wanted just to decorate their first office, then located in suburban Burlingame, Calif.
The collection blossomed into one of most famous, mystique-laden art projects in the world. Allan Schwartzman, a veteran Manhattan art adviser and curator, told the New York Times the Fishers Collection is “one of the great collections assembled in our time.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
