Building the Broad: L.A.’s Newest Shrine to the Arts
by Kelby Vera
Los Angeles is welcoming a new art museum to the city family; the Broad Museum opens its doors to the public September 20th.
Located downtown on Grand Avenue, the Broad museum has been highly anticipated since its development began in 2010. The collection features the work of Cindy Sherman, Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and countless other iconic contemporary artists.
Over the past 40 years philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad have carefully curated one of the most comprehensive collections of the world’s contemporary art. The Broad Art Foundation has been an integral part of museum collections internationally. Organized in 1984, the foundation’s central focus is supporting public institutions with its robust lending program. Since its inception, the Broad Foundation has made over 8,000 loans to over 500 museums on every continent.
The inaugural exhibit will feature around 250 artworks from the Broad’s robust collection. The museum will be open to the public free of charge.
“We’re delighted to offer general admission. We didn’t want anyone to be prevented from coming because of an admission price.” said Eli Broad.
The building has been making waves as it’s risen in the downtown skyline. Unlike most other large museums, the Broad houses its entire collection on-site. The 21,000 square foot “vault” stores all but one of the collection’s masterpieces. (Unfortunately, a life-size sculpture of a firetruck by artist Charles Ray must be parked elsewhere.)
The building was envisioned by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a design studio based in New York City. Two of the company’s founders received prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants, the first time it was awarded for architecture.
At a preview hosted for the international press, founding partner of DS+R Liz Diller described some of the unique challenges of the project.
“How do you put a storage facility and an exhibition space on a prominent site on grand avenue, next to Walt Disney Concert Hall and maintain the urban aspirations for the project? Our formulation was the veil and the vault and this was our way to turn a liability into an asset.”
At the event, the Broads were also joined by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The mayor has been a champion for rejuvenating downtown and sees the Broad as a major part of the renaissance of downtown LA.
“You and Edye have invested in LA’s future, you have encouraged our city to be a better version of itself…Los Angeles is the right home for the Broad. Downtown is the right home for the Broad. Not because of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood but because this city is right.”
Highlights from the Collection
The Broad’s inaugural exhibit museum has a back-to-basics philosophy behind it.
“For this very first installation of the collection of the Broad, I took a straightforward, wide-lens, chronological approach,” said the museum’s founding director Joanne Heyler.
The opening is a balanced survey of contemporary art, from pop art to the present. The organization is linear. Each room displays a single artist or several artist from specific movements in art history. Two floors of exhibition space span over 50,000 feet.
Although art aficionados may be familiar with work from previous outings at LACMA and the Hammer, the uninitiated museum patron at the Broad is given a chance to see world-class art free of charge.
From one point in the 3rd floor gallery, you can see a room full of Jeff Koon’s sculptures, Barbara Kruger’s iconic “Your Body is a Battleground” piece, and four of legendary Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled Film Stills”.
Down the hall, a colorful Keith Haring sits besides a wall of Basquiat paintings. A fiberglass sculpture by John Ahearn called ‘Raymond and Toby’ sits in the middle of the room. The sculpture of the man wearing a black hoodie and kneeling beside his dog anchors the room, watching patiently.
Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Can is nestled into an entire room of the artist’s work. On the floor, a linen poster sits almost ready to be stepped upon. The piece called ‘Dance Diagram [3]’ shows the perfect steps to a move called “The Lindy Tuck-In Turn-Man”.
A larger-than-life table and set of chair by Robert Therrien occupies a corner. At close to 10 feet tall, the furniture is more than large enough to walk under and explore and gives visitors a feeling of youthful wonder and curiosity.
One highlight of the collection is Yayoi Kusuma’s ‘Infinity Mirror Room: The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away’. The immersive installation invites viewers onto a narrow platform in a tiny room. Within the chamber the walls are covered in mirrors and colored lights hang like glittering stars around you. But don’t blink: patrons are given one minute to bask in the constellation of lights.
Already over 85,000 tickets have been booked in advance. No matter what your palate for art is like, the Broad Museum is a truly unforgettable experience. Any Angeleno would be foolish to miss out on the city’s newest treasure, but don’t worry - the Broad is here to stay.
You can reserve a free ticket through their website. If you don’t mind a wait, you can drop by the museum at 221 South Grand Avenue anytime after September 20th. The Broad will be open Tuesday through Sunday, hours vary daily.
Reach Contributer Kelby Vera here.
