<< BACK

CONTACT

SEARCH

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Los Angeles County
Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles
323-857-6000
Broad Contemporary
Art Museum
BCAM at LACMA
The Inaugural Installation
February 16-
September 2008

Filled with some of the most iconic artworks from the last four decades —most from the famed Broad Collections — the newly opened Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA offers visitors "the distilled essence of contemporary American art," in the London Times's recent assessment. Reflecting Eli and Edythe Broad’s practice of collecting particular artists in depth, most of BCAM’s sixty thousand square feet of gallery space is devoted to groupings of works by single artists. BCAM thus provides rich representations of some of the most important artists of the last forty years, including Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Ellsworth Kelly, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Baldessari, Jeff Koons, Chris Burden, Mike Kelley, and Richard Serra.

Reflecting Eli and Edythe Broad’s practice of collecting particular artists in depth, most of BCAM’s gallery space is devoted to groupings of works by single artists. BCAM thus provides rich representations of some of the most important artists of the last 40 years. Visitors begin in the dramatic space of the third floor, which is suffused with natural light via a glass ceiling. Here, they view works by Los Angeles conceptual artist John Baldessari, including his ironic Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell (1967-68); the provocative Jeff Koons, with the artist’s well-known stainless-steel Rabbit (1986), Balloon Dog (Blue) (1994-2000), and, from the Celebration series, Cracked Egg (Red) (1994-2006), which debuts in BCAM’s inaugural installation; Andy Warhol, including Elvis (1963), early works such as Where is your Rupture? (1961), and the 35-foot-long Camouflage (1986); Jasper Johns, with the important Flag (1967) and Watchman (1964); Robert Rauschenberg, including four of the artist’s “combines;" Ed Ruscha, perhaps the epitome of the Southern California artist, with works including his early masterpiece Actual Size (1962), and the painting Norms, La Cienega, on Fire (1964), as well as BLUE COLLAR TECH-CHEM (1992) and an updated version of the same structure, THE OLD TECH-CHEM BUILDING (2003); Cy Twombly, represented by a strong group of works ranging in date from 1955 to 2003; Ellsworth Kelly, with five paintings dating from 1953 to 1972; and, finally, the acclaimed pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, with works including LACMA’s Cold Shoulder (1963) and I … I’m Sorry! (1965-66).

Moving down to the second floor, visitors find galleries containing work by British artist Damien Hirst, including examples from his famous Natural History series, such as Away From the Flock (1994), and recent butterfly works; Cindy Sherman, represented by a rich installation of her multilayered, complex photographs; eight of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat’s graphic, expressionistic paintings from the first half of the 1980s; Chris Burden, whose Hell Gate (1998), a 7 x 28-foot bridge made of Mechano- and Erector-set parts, is owned jointly by LACMA and the Museum of Contemporary Art; five works from 1980 to 1985 by figurative painter Leon Golub; a large-scale multi-media work, Gym Interior date from 1974 to 1996. BCAM’s first floor is entirely devoted to the work of Richard Serra, including two of his newest signature large-scale sculptures, the monumental Band (2006), owned by LACMA, and Sequence (2006), as well as some 30 drawings.

Visitors also encounter artworks in other areas of the building, such as the shaft that contains the glass-fronted elevator, where a three-story-high work by Barbara Kruger is sited, or the gallery connecting the building’s two wings on the south side, which holds Jenny Holzer’s Under a Rock (1986), comprising ten granite benches and three LED signs. In addition, the building’s Wilshire Boulevard façade is adorned with a rotating series of specially commissioned artworks. The inaugural work will be by Mr. Baldessari.

Collaborating with leading artists, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has commissioned or acquired a number of outdoor artworks in conjunction with the launch of the first phase of its ambitious Transformation project. Chris Burden’s street-light installation and the beginnings of Robert Irwin’s palm garden debut in February 2008 with the opening of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM). Additionally, John Baldessari’s graphic work adorns BCAM’s Wilshire Boulevard façade. These works extend the museum’s gallery space beyond its walls and greatly enrich the visitor’s experience.

With the second phase of Transformation, opening in 2010, outdoor artist projects will include a monumental sculptural installation by Michael Heizer to be sited north of LACMA West and two James Turrell sculptures slated for the rooftop of LACMA West. In addition, Jeff Koons’s massive locomotive suspended from a crane, currently undergoing a feasibility study, is planned for 2011. Each of these works will further establish LACMA as Los Angeles’s literal and figurative town square — a place where visitors experience art along every step of their journey.

PHASE I PROJECTS
Chris Burden: Urban Light
Chris Burden’s Urban Light incorporates 202 antique cast-iron lampposts from various cities in and around the Los Angeles area. In the 1920s, each city designed its own streetlamps as a form of public art and civic identity. Over the past seven years, Burden recovered and restored many of these vintage one-and-a-half ton lampposts. When they arrived at the artist’s compound in Topanga Canyon in pieces, they were sandblasted and missing parts, including the hand-blown glass lanterns and globes, were fabricated or salvaged from other lamps. They were then painted a medium grey and electrified. The artist painstakingly catalogued each streetlamp by individual type according to the year of its manufacture, its original location, its height, and the number of lamps it contains. Gathered into a whole, the artist describes the streetlamps as, “a statement about what constitutes a civilized and sophisticated society: safe after dark and beautiful to behold.”

Robert Irwin: Palm Garden
Despite not being native to Southern California, the palm tree is one of Los Angeles’s most enduring icons. LACMA commissioned artist Robert Irwin to work closely with architect Renzo Piano to create an installation of palm trees that repeat the architectural grid of the campus master plan. The work in progress will serve as a living art display and define the park areas of LACMA’s campus. As part of this project, which will continue to be developed over the next few years, Irwin systematically curated a grouping of exotic and tropical palm species from across the globe, to be installed and perceived as a botanical sculpture. For the first stage of the installation a 20 x 20 foot grid of palm trees is established near BCAM and the BP Grand Entrance. Along with the palms, Irwin’s other medium is southern California’s light, and the species of palms have been specially chosen to gather and reflect the interplay of light and shadow native to L.A.

John Baldessari: Banners
On December 15 LACMA introduced its new logo, which was conceived by artist John Baldessari and developed into a custom typeface by the award-winning design firm 2x4. His concept now serves as a key component of the museum’s visual identity. Mr. Baldessari has also created two artworks affixed to specially designed fabric scrims on BCAM’s Wilshire Boulevard façade. These are the first of what will be a rotating series of artworks by contemporary artists.

PHASE II PROJECTS
Michael Heizer: Levitated/Slot Mass — Opening 2011
Michael Heizer’s Levitated/Slot Mass is a boulder weighing more than 400 tons that will be suspended on two concrete rails, enabling visitors to walk through the carved-out earth underneath. The massive rock evokes awareness of the earth’s geologic history, yet, seeming to levitate above an opening in the ground, the work takes on an abstract quality. When it is brought to LACMA, it will be one of the largest monolithic objects moved since ancient times.

James Turrell: Boullée’s Boule and Missed Approach — Opening 2010
James Turrell will create two sculptures for the rooftop of LACMA West. The first is Boullée’s Boule, one of the artist’s signature sky spaces — a spherical room with a portal to the sky, intended to heighten the viewer’s sense of sight and perception and explore the material presence of light. Turrell will also create Missed Approach, a structure that looks as if a flying saucer had crashed into an ancient pyramid — a perfect metaphor for the span of centuries represented by the museum’s collection. Inside this sculpture, an enclosed space, the visitor will be immersed in a field of light.

Jeff Koons: Train
–Tentatively scheduled for 2011
Currently undergoing a feasibility study underwritten by the Annenberg Foundation, Jeff Koons’s Train, a 70-foot replica of a 1940s locomotive, will be suspended from a 161-foot-tall crane, chugging to full speed and releasing steam three times a day. According to the artist, the piece will be so authentic as to “fool an engineer who has worked on a train his whole life.” At such a height, the sculpture would be visible from virtually all corners of L.A., from the 10 freeway to downtown, acting as a landmark akin to Paris’s Eiffel Tower, or the bell tower in any town square.

John Baldessari, Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell, 1966-1968, Acrylic on canvas, 68 x 56-1/2", The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, © John Baldessari.

Roy Lichtenstein, Cold Shoulder, 1963, Oil on canvas, 68-1/2 x 48", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Robert H. Halff through the Modern and Contemporary Art Council, © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA.