Zoe Ng 

LACMA July Exhibit Review 

LACMA is the largest art museum of western United States and located in the heart of Los Angeles. In 1961 LACMA was founded but four years later, it moved to the Wilshire Boulevard complex designed by William Pereira. Opened on Saturday, modern painting and sculpture galleries, which range from the impressionists to the present, were now installed in a splendor of sight and that seems as though these works had never before been really visible. 

Bird in Space is the first showing work by Constantin Brancusi: it was a nice welcome in my first five iconic sculptures. Everything here appeared to be so new and fresh that it looked like a new art collection. Pop and sculpture paintings are brilliant. 

Other buildings of LACMA were under construction and the third floor closed. This museum will be renovated until 2024 so a good portion of artwork they could present was limited. Parking was costly for $16 a day. You’d be better off finding a nearby 2 hour street parking spot because you’ll only need an hour or so at the museum and another 15 minutes at the adjacent Tar Pits. 

In another gallery, the museum has several new acquérements, and one stands out for me. In pools of water, Calida Rawls paints subjects; some float, some appear to sink. The Space in Which We Travel’, an acrylic on canvas in 2019, is an enormous tour of power in the viewer. Two figures hold hands in the water; their arms are formed by a helix. 

Now, I think most of the visitors go to the show Nara. It’s a very comprehensive visit: it was a weekend earlier for me. It comprises many of the well-known images of children who look at and see the viewer. 

For me, the drawings were perhaps even more interesting because I finally saw pieces that were not shown online and seeing the pieces in person was much different than my expectations. I’ve been wanting to visit LACMA with my friend Paul just to see Yoshitomo Nara’s paintings. His paintings are so captivating to viewers yet the art style is so simplistic. It’s distinctive how he has created these child-like manga inspired characters into his own original, recognizable style. Paintings such as ‘After the Acid Rain ‘ have such calming blurred neutral toned colors with added pop of details in the girl’s reflected eyes to represent the glimmering appearance of rain. In contrast, his other displayed pieces such as his framed sketches are more loose in active figures. A couple are also comedic with the written captions and Nara surely does not hold back on usage of English profanity. I see the purpose of Nara’s use of cuss words as a total juxtaposition to his seemingly kids cartoon style in his art. Some of them are funny, disruptive, and others are obscene. His works may in some places tweak your perspective and appreciation. Having made so much for a magnificent visit here.