Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night
March 13–August 23, 2026
Solo Exhibition
Curated by Eungie Joo
Image: Diedrick Brackens. through the unburnt and blameless, 2020. YBCA, San Francisco.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
701 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
+1-415-978-2787
YBCA Website
YBCA Instagram
YBCA Hours
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday | 11:00 am – 8:00 pm |
| Thursday | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm |
| Friday | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm |
| Saturday | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm |
| Sunday | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm |
Overview
Today’s LOVE LETTER TO ART focuses on Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night at YBCA. Brackens’ first Bay Area solo exhibition features handwoven works exploring tenderness, migration, and the natural world. Created with hand-dyed cotton and acrylic yarn, Diedrick Brackens’ richly layered textiles depict intimate scenes of figures in lush landscapes, reflecting on queer presence, desire, and belonging. Organized by guest curator Eungie Joo, the exhibition also debuts new works centered on ideas of home, rest, and care.
As someone with a nervous nervous system, highly affected by my environment (some call us HSPs—highly sensitive persons—and other neurodivergent terms), I had an aha moment the minute I sat down to write this. After a busy few months filled with summer trips and exhibitions—fun as they were—along with doctor’s appointments and family obligations, I felt the desperate need to be at home and to rest. It then occurred to me that Brackens’ work embodies a kind of nurture that you wouldn’t necessarily expect to encounter in textile art. Brackens’ installation clearing (2026), a bed set within the open wooden frame of a room with a tipped basket of soap resting on top, speaks to this through the rituals of cleansing and sleep. Amen to that.
Preview Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night. YBCA, San Francisco.
Shown here:
1) Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night at YBCA is the artist’s first Bay Area solo exhibition, organized by guest curator Eungie Joo.
2) Brackens’ handwoven textiles explore tenderness, migration, queer presence, desire, and the natural world.
3) Using hand-dyed cotton and acrylic yarn, Brackens creates richly layered compositions filled with color and detail.
4) The scale of Brackens’ work is impressive, with several of his tapestries standing nearly 16 feet tall.
5) Pastel yarns, lush landscapes, and intimate portrayals of the body give Brackens’ compositions a frozen-in-time quality.
6) Powerful yet tender, Brackens’ extraordinary tapestries make this an exhibition not to miss.
Though many of Brackens’ tapestries unfold through complex allegorical narratives, some portraying scenes that could be read as violent—the last labor (2023) shows a man in a tree attempting to escape an attacking dog, while ceremonies (2024) features a figure with a knife through the chest—their woven forms somehow remain soft and delicate. Their immense scale makes this softness even more striking, as some of the tapestries are nearly 16 feet tall, yet none have an imposing presence, much like Brackens himself.
Brackens’ compositions feel frozen in time, hinting at Maxfield Parrish’s classically inspired paintings—here, rendered through tapestry and a queer lens. (Parrish’s The Pied Piper can be seen at the historic Palace Hotel, also one of A LOVE LETTER TO ART’s Romantic Dining Picks below.) undergrowth, understory (2025), one of the smaller tapestries, is a stunning example of this and perhaps my favorite work in the show. It features a man surrounded by phallic-shaped plants, one with arms stretched out toward him. The pastel yarns Brackens hand-dyes with his team are reminiscent of Parrish’s dreamy washes of color, then woven into his massive tapestries.
Did I forget to mention that the show is incredible? You’ll feel like a mere mortal walking through Brackens’ gentle, glorious giants. Don’t miss it.
🗓 Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night runs alongside the fantastic Conjuring Power: Roots & Futures of Queer & Trans Movements at YBCA in San Francisco’s San Francisco’s Yerba Buena arts district. Both exhibitions close August 23, 2026.
💌 Did you see the show(s) or try any of our recommendations? What did you think? Let us know in the comments (in the Reviews section located on the second tab at the top of the page).
Currently On View at YBCA
Coming Soon to YBCA
QUICK GUIDE: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
⭐ EXHIBITIONS:
- ON VIEW: Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night is the Bay Area solo debut of Diedrick Brackens, presenting luminous handwoven tapestries that explore tenderness, migration, and queer connection to the natural world through richly dyed cotton and acrylic fiber. Runs March 13–Aug. 23, 2026
- ON VIEW: Conjuring Power: Roots & Futures of Queer & Trans Movements is a multimedia exhibition celebrating the resilience, creativity, and resistance of Bay Area queer and trans communities through murals, rare archival photography, and contemporary video—featuring artists including Ester Hernández and materials from the GLBT Historical Society. | Runs March 13–Aug. 23, 2026
- ON VIEW: Creativity Explored at YBCA is a FREE presentation of artwork by Creativity Explored artists, with opportunities to see artists at work, purchase art, and create alongside them. | Runs Aug. 5–Nov. 25, 2026
- ON VIEW: GaHee Park: Behind the Curtain explores fantasy, sexuality, and mortality through surreal paintings of intimate moments, uncanny still lifes, and dreamlike landscapes. | Runs Aug. 7, 2026–Jan. 3, 2027
- UPCOMING: Dread Scott: The Body Politic confronts American patriotism, power, and politics through provocative new works spanning printmaking, installation, and performance. | Runs Sept. 25, 2026–Jan. 31, 2027
- UPCOMING: Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations surveys two decades of innovative architecture and design exploring housing, the U.S.–Mexico border, social practice, and sustainable building. | Runs Sept. 25, 2026–Jan. 31, 2027
⭐ HOURS: Open Thursday–Sunday 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesday 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Closed Monday–Tuesday.
⭐ ADMISSION: General Admission Tickets Adults $10; Seniors 65+, Students, Educator $5; Accessibility caregiver and 17 & Under FREE. Membership starts at $165.
- FREE ON WEDNESDAYS
- Museums for All (show your EBT or Medi-Cal card/ID)
- FREE Admission for Military Personnel
- FREE Admission for Museum employees + 1 guest w/current valid staff ID
- PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE ($15): And Life Goes On film screening Co-Presented by GaHee Park, Michael Vass & YBCA on Aug. 22, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
- FREE WITH ONLINE TICKET: We Can Love It Together: Creativity Explored Short Film Fest Co-presented by Creativity Explored & YBCA on Aug. 26, 2026, 6:00 p.m.
- FREE ART WORKSHOP: Watercolor Flower Paintings inspired by GaHee Park’s Behind the Curtain on Aug. 25, 2026 from 2:00–4:00 p.m.
- PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE ($15): Goodbye, Dragon Inn film screening Co-Presented by GaHee Park, Michael Vass & YBCA on Aug. 29, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
⭐NEARBY ART:
- PUBLIC ART: Revelation, the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial fountain and several others at Yerba Buena Gardens (see LINK for additional works at Yerba Buena Gardens) | 1-min walk
- MUSEUM: SFMOMA ON VIEW: Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal traces the story of one of the museum’s most iconic works and its influence on artists and audiences since its controversial 1905 debut. Runs May 16, 2026–Sept. 13, 2026. Graciela Iturbide: Between Two Worlds is a retrospective spanning more than five decades of the celebrated photographer’s poetic black-and-white images of everyday life, culture, and tradition in Mexico and beyond. Runs July 11–Nov. 29, 2026. UPCOMING: RM x SFMOMA | This landmark exhibition curated by RM of BTS with SFMOMA curators, brings together 200 rarely seen works from RM’s personal collection and SFMOMA to place modern Korean art in dialogue with contemporary art from around the world. | Runs Oct. 2026–Feb. 2027 | 1-min walk
- MUSEUM: MoAD: UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe presents Blackness as infinite and cosmically expansive, featuring global artists including Lorna Simpson and Rashaad Newsome across painting, sculpture, installation, and video. | Runs Oct. 1, 2025–Oct. 16, 2026. UPCOMING: Dorian Reid: Calling All Cats (MoAD Emerging Artist Series) is a multidisciplinary exhibition of ceramics, paintings, prints, textiles, and installations that celebrates Black history, community, civil rights, and animal welfare through the artist’s whimsical world of cats. | Sept. 30–Dec. 6, 2026 | Dewey Crumpler: Sonic Lineages is the first major museum exhibition spanning more than five decades of the Bay Area artist’s career, bringing together paintings and newly commissioned kinetic works that explore Black consciousness, memory, spirituality, time, and African cosmologies. | Sept. 30–May 30, 2027 | Tahirah Rasheed: The Light We Carry Forward (MoAD Emerging Artist Series) explores Black womanhood through glass, print, and photography, examining survival, care, healing, and resistance in the face of medical and institutional harm. | Dec. 16, 2026–March 7, 2027 | 2-min walk
- GALLERY: Berggruen Gallery ON VIEW: Summer Highlights | Runs July 9–Aug. 27, 2026. UPCOMING: Defining the Century: Modern Visionaries from Picasso to Calder | Runs Sept. 10–Oct. 22, 2026. UPCOMING: Liam Everett: the passenger | Runs Sept. 10–Oct. 29, 2026. | 6-min walk
- GALLERY: *Root Division ON VIEW: Introductions 2026 is Root Division’s annual juried exhibition featuring work by kaory santillán bueno, Robert Canali, Vincent Chong, Éamon McGivern, Camila Michaliszyn, Khadijah Morley, Morgann Nieto, evan pettiglio, Alieh Rezaei, Manuel Rodriguez, Jasmine Narkita Wiley, and Seongmin Yoo. Curated by PJ Policarpio, this year’s exhibition was juried by Diedrick Brackens (artist and educator—don’t miss his phenomenal solo exhibition gather tender night, on view at YBCA through Aug. 23, 2026), Candace Huey (re.riddle and Edge on the Square), and Harriet Salmon (Creativity Explored, also featued in Creativity Explored at YBCA through Nov. 25, 2026). Runs Aug. 5–Sept. 19, 2026. *Opening Reception on Sept. 12, 2026 from 5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. | UPCOMING EVENTS: *Root Division’s Annual Benefit & Art Auction on Oct. 22, 2026 from 6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. | 18-min walk • 4-min drive
⭐ NEARBY DINING
- Tropisueño | Casual taqueria vibes by day and a full-service restaurant and bar by night. | 2-min walk
- Delarosa | Pizza and pasta. BOOK DELAROSA ON OPEN TABLE HERE | 2-min walk
- Amber India | Upscale Indian food w/ *Mon–Fri LUNCH SPECIALS starting at $18 & $32 Lunch Buffet! BOOK AMBER INDIA ON OPEN TABLE HERE | 4-min walk
- Metreon Food Hall | Budget-friendly assortment of food vendors i.e. burgers, salads, poke bowls, wraps, ramen. | 4-min walk
- The Harlequin | Cocktail bar w/Brooklyn vibes serving lunch (Thurs., Sat., Sun.) and dinner. *Check out their FABULOUS HAPPY HOUR 4:00–6:00 p.m. daily featuring $2 oysters and $11 cocktails. BOOK THE HARLEQUIN ON OPEN TABLE HERE | 4-min walk
A LOVE LETTER TO ART’S CASUAL DINING PICKS
- Jane on Third at SFMOMA | Amanda Michael’s local café chain named for her daughter, serves housemade baked goods, breakfast, sandwiches, and salads—perfect for a quick snack or leisurely lunch. Open to the public, MUSEUM ADMISSION NOT REQUIRED. | 1-min walk
- Ippudo | Cozy, modern ramen restaurant with a full bar. *Check out their DAILY HAPPY HOUR from 3:00–6:00 p.m. | 3-min walk
- Oren’s Hummus | Delicious Israeli food in a casual friendly setting. *Check out their AMAZING HAPPY HOUR Mon–Thurs 3:00–5:00 p.m. | 3-min walk
- Fang | Cantonese cuisine from the Fang family of House of Nanking. As seen on Chef Dynasty: House of Fang (oh, I like that Peter Fang!), chefs Kathy and Peter Fang blend tradition with charm. BOOK FANG ON OPEN TABLE HERE | 4-min walk
💖 A LOVE LETTER TO ART’S ROMANTIC DINING PICKS
- The Pied Piper | Old world bar + food + Maxfield Parrish’s Pied Piper painting in SF’s historic Palace Hotel. BOOK THE PIED PIPER ON OPEN TABLE HERE | 6-min walk
- The Cavalier | I love the English hunting lodge meets chic gastropub vibes, thanks to the vision of designer extraordinaire Ken Fulk. *CHECK OUT THEIR FANTASTIC HAPPY HOURS: Mon–Sat 4:00–6:00 p.m.; Fri & Sat 9:00–10:00 p.m. Includes $10 Cocktails & Apps under $20! The MARLOWE BURGER is a SF classic. BOOK THE CAVALIER ON OPEN TABLE HERE | 7-min walk
More nearby suggestions are always welcome. Feel free to add in the comments!
A LOVE LETTER TO ART RECOMMENDS
SEE MORE ART AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS
🦋 FREE: There also are quite a few public artworks on display at Yerba Buena Gardens (750 Howard Street | map | 2 min walk), including the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial fountain, Revelation, a powerful work by sculptor Houston Conwill, poet Estella Conwill Majoza (great interview with her in the link), and architect Joseph DePace.
DINING AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS
🌳TIP: I really enjoy just chilling out and having a bite to eat in Yerba Buena Gardens, where you can either sit on the benches, grass, or on the Metreon’s Dining Terrace (tables and chairs available seasonally). *For kids, I would recommend grabbing takeout from one of inexpensive restaurants in the Metreon (the steps from Yerba Buena Gardens lead right into the food court). The park hosts FREE LIVE MUSIC AND PERFORMANCES on many weekends of the year, which is really FANTASTIC in the spring and summer. Such great vibes!!
ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS
Activities for kids at Yerba Buena Gardens include: Yerba Buena Gardens, Yerba Buena Gardens Children’s Creativity Museum and the LeRoy King Carousel, the Yerba Buena Children’s Garden playground, and the Yerba Buena Ice Skating and Bowling Center.
NEARYBY ART
NEARBY DINING
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Author: ALoveLettertoArt
