Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Although I’ve been in LA for over two months now I have not made it to half of the galleries and museums I want to see. However, I have a list of over 30 Culver City galleries on the line-up this week and have the downtown art walk (link) on my to-do list. Also on my list is the Hammer and the always-press-worthy MOCA.

One institution I have been to on several occasions is LACMA – mostly due to its geographical attractiveness (walking distance from my apartment). Clearly, I’ve already posted videos of Chris Burden’s “Metropolis II” – a complex, large and seriously fun sculptural piece. The work was made with a small army of gallery assistants and only “runs” at select times just a few days a week. I was also really excited to see Bruce Nauman’s video work “For Beginners” which debuted a few years ago at New York's Sperone Westwater (link) I am sure most people do not stay in the gallery long to watch the different combinations, but I find the movement and vocals calming and almost memorizing. 

The Broad has some other fabulous exhibitions including Sharon Lockhart’s video works which are also calming mostly due to the choreography of dance movements timed to repetitive music that seems almost eerily at times. Walking through the different galleries the works not only pull you in but also push you away. With life-size scale and the same music throughout made the video pieces feel more like a live performance.

I also very much appreciated the small but powerful photographs in the “Figure and Form in Contemporary Photography” exhibition. Many old friends were in this group exhibition including Catherine Opie and David LaChapelle alongside  a new favorite – Slater Bradley (link).

Of course, no trip to LACMA is complete now without a trip under the Levitated Mass. It was actually a really beautiful rock and although you may just walk by it if you were in the desert, in the middle of LA this work is brilliantly exhibited and it is a transporting experience. I’m excited to get back at an off-hour to hopefully spend some time alone with the Mass – I imagine it’s even more powerful without the crowds.

images from lacma.org and slaterbradley.com