LACMA

LACMA has a new building which is fantastic for LACMA and just sort of OK for the rest of us. It is a large box shaped structure, hilariously sheathed in what appears to be rock dug from the same hole in the ground as that wrapping the Getty. The lighting is mostly from a sun harnessing system of one type or another which even at dusk works very well and seamlessly switches over to regular lights as we spin away from the sun each evening.

The stairway/escalator is placed on the outside of the building and there is a giant elevator in the center of the building, the shaft of which is visible and sheathed in a Barbra Kruger installation (Remember her? Nazi colors, pseudo propaganda that has been recycled by the graffiti artists/criminals du jour like Shepard Fairey and Spazzmat) the installation again challenges the “less is more” ideology, asking if less concept is actually more concept? The art and subsequent viewing experience at BCAM is so much better than anything LACMA had to offer before, but the structure’s content and it’s inception made me contemplate the nature of contemporary art collecting and the role of the wealthy in taste making and declarations of an artist’s importance. But that’s a topic for another lengthy and thoroughly researched review.

Let’s talk about art: I had seen almost all the work few years ago at Broad’s private stash in Santa Monica, and I must say that that it all looks much better in the new space. Unfortunately a Koons is still a Koons no matter how you light it. The work is a virtual who’s who, and a, who gives a crap of contemporary art, giving musty old LACMA some much needed relevancy. That having been said, seeing the work is like visiting old friends that have been telling the same jokes for the last 20 years.

Richard Serra owns the first floor with his giant rusty metal intestine/vagina/whatever sculptures. They definitely have the scale to impress, though I have enjoyed interacting with his other works outdoors a bit more where they have the feel of remnants of some ancient civilization with slightly questionable taste. The placard on the wall stated something to the effect that the sculpture is specific in it’s tolerances and measure down to the millimeter, but you will notice it doesn’t sit flat on the floor, so either it’s not really that exact or the building is off slightly (Ok, I’m nit-picking, but this is the type of stuff I notice) also enjoyed an oil stick piece of his hanging at a slight angle on the back side of the elevator shaft. (Wish I had taken a picture). I couldn’t figure out if it was created on a giant slightly angled piece of fabric or if it was hung incorrectly, or was perhaps even working it’s way off the wall and onto the floor.

John Baldessari’s work is still the most poignant; his blank-except-words paintings did the most for me. One is is emblazoned with the text: “Everything is purged from this painting, but art; no ideas have entered this work”. This acutely sums up my feelings of BCAM and most contemporary art yes, all of my feelings.

After 5pm they have a “pay what you want entrance fee” or lack there of, which I think is fantastic, the cost of admission for myself and a friend wound up being a buck, but only because we were feeling generous. I think they should alter the entire admission fee system to be “pay what you want-as you leave.” If a show was particularly interesting a person might be moved to pay more, not such a good show, you could walk right by the arrogant looking cashiers.

--Snowflake