Old But Not Expired

Yue, Pearl "Guitar Solo" 12 x 16, $350

Old people are pretty great. I like being in the locker room at the gym listening to saggy old ladies chat with each other about their kids, their illnesses, their plans for yet another carefree day of retirement. Not that being old is particularly carefree. So it always makes me happy to see happy old people. And it sort of makes me laugh to see grumpy old people, even though I sense that underneath the crankypants, that person is wearing a lifetime of sadness.

This art exhibit is on display at my gym. The exhibit features 90 works by elderly students of Art for Elders, an art program offered to residents of long-term care facilities in the Bay Area, through the nonprofit Eldergivers.

Many of the pieces are quite spectacular. I can't locate any artist bios on the website -- I think you have to attend the exhibit to see those -- so it's not clear exactly how functional many of the artists are. But our world is so focused only on what we can see, on these deteriorating minds and bodies mumbling on MUNI, heaving through a crosswalk with a walker, staring off into space because they can't hear what people are saying around them, that most of the time we forget all the quiet, hidden away places where beauty and talent linger on, refusing to let go just yet.