NICOLE ALBERTSON
Life Editor
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) introduced the newest artistic addition to Los Angeles on Feb. 16 with the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM). BCAM is the first part of LACMA’s transformation project, an expansion program focusing on renovating and reinventing the LACMA community.
As more than 80 percent of the museum wall space is dedicated to displaying artwork, the building’s architecture on its own is an overwhelming display. The BCAM entrance also shows off the new entrance to the LACMA with a display of 202 cast-iron lamp posts and a 46-foot-long fire truck sculpted and designed by Chris Burden. Maximizing the space available, a three-story escalator transports viewers through the red spider framework outlining the marble building.
The three-story, 60,000 square-foot exhibition space was designed by Renzo Piano specifically for the featured artists. BCAM was made possible by a $60 million donation from Eli and Edythe Broad. More than 160 works are displayed from The Broad Art Foundation and Broad’s personal collection, as well as 40 works from LACMA’s holds and generous lenders.
With more than 200 works within the walls, BCAM has one of the largest collections of contemporary art in L.A. BCAM displays the contrast between old and new world art within the contemporary community. As each room focuses on a specific artist and a collection of his/her work, the audience is engulfed by the overwhelming message of each artist.
Beginning with the top floor, art aficionados will be stunned with a collection of Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein and Ellsworth Kelly, among many more. Donated from the Broad Foundation’s collection, more than 10 Warhol silkscreen and spray paint collections are displayed, including 1963’s “Elvis.”
But new superstar artist Koons steals the floor with 1994’s “Cracked Egg,” a high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating standing more than four feet high in the middle of the room and 1988’s “Michael Jackson and Bubbles,” a ceramic sculpture. His unique take on reality and interpretations of ordinary shapes and outrageous people has already spread his name through the art world as a new voice in contemporary art.
Venturing down to the second level, viewers are once again transported into a surreal reality with artists such as Damien Hirst, Robert Therrien, Cindy Sherman and Jenny Holzer. Some of Hirst’s displayed work includes 2002’s “The Collector,” a mixed-media installation with animatronic figure, and 1994’s “Away from the Flock,” a lamb submerged in formaldehyde within a steel glass box. His outrageous and mind-altering work is a political message for Hirst. He uses animals, in this case a lamb – in others a shark or sliced cow – to express his opinion on animals being brutally slaughtered.
Robert Therrien delivers an unusual experience with his creation, 1994’s “Under the Table,” a wood, metal and enamel sculpture replicating a table and chairs. The enlarged kitchen set stands more than 25 feet high and allows viewers to walk around and underneath the sculpture.
The final bottom floor holds only two pieces by Richard Serra, one being 2006 “Band,” a steel spiral maze more than 50 feet high. Viewers can wind through each creation and get lost in the curving steel towering overhead.
BCAM’s is a mind-altering experience through the history of contemporary art. With old-school staples like Warhol and new superstar artists like Hirst and Koons, BCAM is an educational trip showing all the highlights. Like it or hate it, the extraordinary creations are a welcome addition to the LACMA family and the L.A. community.
02-21-2008