After riding his bicycle 30 miles to discover that Rhino Records had closed, a 21-year-old college student at UC Riverside made an unlikely detour, stopping for water at the Benton Museum of Art. He joined a lawyer, an MFA student, a professor, two Pomona College students and curatorial intern Skye Tausig PZ ’24, as they made their way to the basement of the museum for the unveiling of art previously unseen.
Solomon Salim Moore has been the Assistant Curator of Collections at the Benton Museum of Art since 2020. He has since become the host for Benton’s monthly “Salon Series.” Moore describes a salon as “a convening of scientists, philosophers, perhaps inventors, artists, people of letters as you might say, to share ideas.”
On Friday, Jan. 27, Moore hosted the fourth salon of the academic year, titled “Cut for Time: Curating and Other Editorial Processes.” Inspired by the Saturday Night Live segment of the same name, “Cut for Time” is a selection of artwork that had previously never made it to an exhibition. The artwork had been housed in Pomona’s permanent art collection.
From light paintings to nautical sculptures, a wide assortment of artistic mediums were on display. Moore’s favorite piece in the collection is an image by photographer Richard Ross of a rave in an underground Russian bunker. Other standpoint pieces include a photograph of French factories that was cut from Benton’s “Parisian Ecologies” exhibit last fall.
After a thorough look around the room, Moore invited the guests to interpret the artwork. He rarely ventured into analysis, offering brief historical anecdotes before opening up the floor for discussion. The ensuing discussion lasted for an hour, with each person bringing their own interpretation of the importance of curation.
“It was really interesting to discuss the process of curation through various lenses of different people and how the concept of curating can go beyond art and become a more universal way of living,” Kimseng Suon PO ’26 said.
“It was really interesting to discuss the process of curation through various lenses of different people and how the concept of curating can go beyond art and become a more universal way of living.”
In describing his motivation for starting the “Salon Series” this fall, Moore said he was looking to highlight art that might otherwise never be put on display.
“It’s allowing art to be seen in a different context than the gallery context,” he said.
In a reversal of typical curatorial practices, Moore started by pulling the artwork, then applied a theme.
“We are finding artwork that can speak to this idea of selectivity, curating, editing — even if the artwork itself may be about something else or from different time periods.”
Moore also curates artwork for Benton’s rotating exhibitions. “Night Contains Multitudes,” one of Moore’s exhibits, will open on Feb. 8. When curating for a museum exhibit, Moore begins with the object and builds a theme around the collection he has amassed.
“I kind of assemble a group of objects, items, artifacts, whatever they are,” he said. “I kind of look at them and see how they relate to one another. And then I let the idea for the show come out of that.”
The final three salons of the academic year will occur on Feb. 24, March 24, and April 21.