BP Grand Entrance

Does LACMA want to make this the center of the museum replacing the upper level piazza? I hope not. It makes a good entrance but we prefer the old and grander piazza, the LA Times Central Court, that joins the main buildings of the museum.

The island state of Venice has it's entrance at the boat docks but the center and heart of Venice is St. Marks Square. We feel the same way about the BP Grand Entrance. It makes a good entrance from the underground parking and from Wilshire Blvd but it's not the center of the museum.

The museum calls the two ends of the BP Grand Entrance the North and South Plaza. We want to divide the BP Entrance into three parts: The Street Lamps Plaza, the Concourse, and the Fire Truck Plaza.

From this BP Grand Entrance visitors can travel to any of the museum's buildings. Be it the Broad building that's completed or through the Ahmanson to the LA Times Central Court and the center of the museum. In later posts we will discuss what's needed in the LA Times Square to make it a more inviting center for the museum.

The photos show the Fire Truck Plaza with it's Fire Truck and also the entrance elevator from the below ground garage.

This Is To You Mr Serra. Maybe Next Time

The Ahmanson Is Open!

The big plus with the opening of the Broad Building was the reopening of the Ahmanson building in January. Why is the Ahmanson a building and the Broad a museum? Ego? You think?

With the reopening of the Ahmanson the entire first floor is dedicated to modern art. Real art. Name an artist from the 20th century and you'll probably see an example of their work. It took us longer to visit the entire first floor of the Ahmanson than it did for all the Broad building.

I agree you should visit the Broad building once. When you're through then head over to the Admanson for a real treat. I promise you'll enjoy the tour.

So all this 20th century art at the Admanson why no photography? Oh, you of little faith. It's there you just didn't look in the alcove. This little, bitty gallery is the first place we visit. Last year we saw our first Bressons there. Only a few but worth it.

The photography department does put on shows during the year but no real gallery rooms to show the permanent works. Why? The Getty on the hill has half of one building for photography and they haven't reached the 18th century yet. Only kidding. The Photography department said it will be another 2 years before they have their own space. By then still photography will be dead.

Mixed Feelings For LACMA Additions

The new Broad building is fine especially the upper floor with the mutted sky lights. The rooms are large and well lit. Even with large crowds moving about the rooms the art was still accessable. The problem is the art on the second floor. Except for the Cindy Sherman works, which fills one large room, the remainder is boring.

Then we come to the first floor. Two large steel sculptures by Richard Serra fill the entire floor. That's from floor to ceiling. The result is very little light gets into the work. The postcard they hand out at the entrance to the Broad has a picture of one of the sculptures. Keep the card. It's the best view you're ever going to get of the work.

Overall the new additions are a plus. The outdoor art is terrific. The lamps, balloons, and the fire truck are fun pieces. To bad the kids can't play on the fire truck. The minus is the covered concourse of the BP Entrance. For an open space it's awfull dark and closed in.

I think the BP Entrance will really shine at night. We look forward to returning a dusk to capture the lamps in all their glory.

We will report more in later posts. For now here are the same two views that we showed in our previous post.

Going To Visit The New LACMA Thursday

Visiting the new Broad building on Thursday, Valintine's Day. Here's what it looked like back in September '07. I have some earlier ones but they're on film and I just don't feel like searching for them. Considering I get maybe two visitors a week I don't think they'll be missed.

I'm not that interested in what's inside the building as how the Broad fits with the rest of the museum. I'll hold my judgement until I see the entire remodel. Isn't that what you're suppose to do?