LA's Museum The Broad = Modern Art Mother Lode

The phrase "mother lode" is a mining term tethered to the California gold rush.

Thanks to a family of progressive Los Angeles collectors, contemporary art lovers may now strike it rich with a visit to the state's newest museum, The Broad. 

Just reading about The Broad in 2014 and last year made me state aloud, "I wish Atlanta had its own art loving billionaire supercouple" like Eli and Edythe Broad (rhymes with "road").

The ATL has its share of billionaire couples, mind you, but sadly none of them have a passion for art on par with their love of fish and football. The "Mouth of the South" gives his money to U.N.-centric and other philanthropic projects, which leaves Anne Cox Chambers, John Wieland and a handful of others to try to keep the city's arts scene as close to world class as possible.

To their credit, these Atlanta arts patrons are indeed generous, but I don't think any of them are buying art the way the Broad family did.

A trip to The Broad yields room after room of fantastic contemporary and modern works by brand-name artists. My jaw dropped upon beholding the collection's massive Roy Lichtenstein canvas "Interior with African Mask" and, steps away, an entire room filled with other works spanning the artist's career. 

Need a dose of Andy Warhol? Then feast your eyes on another room full of his works.

And then there's the Jeff Koons sculptures -- remember those? You won't soon forget them once spotting the enormous "Balloon Dog (Blue)" and bokay of flowers titled "Tulips."

Damien Hirst? Check. Jean-Michel Basquiat? Check. Jasper Johns and Keith Haring? Check.

There's nobody in Atlanta who seems to be shopping for this stuff! Obviously, I wish they were.

New-to-my-eyes artist Mark Tansey made an impression with two large monochrome oil on canvas works titled "Achilles and the Tortoise" (a science versus nature statement) and "Forward Retreat."

A 1995 piece my Lari Pittman provided 25 minutes of study time. A case full of three-dimensional steel cutouts by Kara Walker was another fresh artist that left an impression.

Like the blood sought by vampires in "Only Lovers Left Alive," The Broad has the good stuff! They have so much good stuff, they built in a stairwell window enticing visitors to gaze into their cavernous on-site art storage room that teases of other greatness just waiting to dazzle in a future spotlight exhibition.

Hello! They did not just buy a Basquiat. They picked out several. And they are huge canvases, not the notebook leftovers. 

The only collector I've heard of who even comes close to the Broad family in terms of art acquisitions is Alice Walton, who continues to gather glorious works for Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Ark. (more on that collection here). 

The Broad not only presents fantastic contemporary art, but the building itself presents a masterpiece of light and shadow that can actually be seen from the street instead of from the sky like this design hidden from pedestrian view outdoors.

Just driving by or walking up to The Broad -- located in the block south of another head-turning building, the Walt Disney Symphony Hall -- gets visitors minds and hearts racing with an architectural proclamation that "this is going to be an intriguing museum."

Entering the museum from the street, guests are directed to a cavernous escalator that opens up to that Koons work "Tulips." 

I must admit to some agreement with the Washington Post's critical view of The Broad collection -- there are elements that are all over the place, or just not my cup of tea.

But for this writer, the pros far outweigh any cons of contemporary art purchases by Mr. and Mrs. Broad.

Love the room filled with edgy conversation starters by John Currin including "Anna" as well as "Old Couple" "Patch and Pearl" "Maenads" and "The Storm."

A few logistical notes for future visitors:

Tickets are (amazingly) FREE. With that said, tickets require advance reservations, with many dates and time ranges filled weeks in advance. I noticed a handful of walk-up visitors did seem to eventually get in after a patient wait, but planning ahead and playing it safe with a reservation is highly recommended to save time and consternation.

Parking is available beneath The Broad, but like other popular LA destinations, rates ain't cheap. The good news is that other museums and several places to dine are within walking distance, so one may make a day of their downtown visit and benefit from the daily versus hourly parking rate.

I highly recommend the newly reviewed on-site Otium Restaurant, which LA Times critic Jonathan Gold named the city's "most ambitious new restaurant in years."

If the Cultural Olympiad remains a component of the 2024 Olympic bid process, then the LA24 bid committee may benefit from collaboration with The Broad -- this writer can hardly wait for another opportunity to explore the collection on site.

For readers who made it this far in the post, a potential reward: Two VIP Passes to The Broad! With thanks to the museum public relations department for my ticket (and a pair of giveaway tickets) to the museum, I am giving away a free pair of General Admission "no line no waiting" VIP Passes to The Broad.

To win this pair of tickets, simply POST A COMMENT on this blog by Tuesday, May 31, 2016, at midnight Eastern Standard Time. I will put the names of comment providers into a hat and mail the passes to the person whose name is drawn. Thank you for reading about The Broad via Olympic Rings And Other Things!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Mind Blown At Crystal Bridges

During more than a decade working at Edelman, one of the most challenging opportunities arrived when our team -- a small army of P.R. executives from multiple offices -- began work with a new client you may have heard of: Walmart.

At the time (2007-2010), the Atlanta-based team focused on new store openings in the Southeast and rollout of a health initiative (generic Rx launch) in Georgia and Florida. It was rewarding to represent the world's largest retailer.

Media monitoring was a daily task that put me in position among the first to read print and online reports of a new art museum planned for Walmart's home town, Bentonville, Ark.

Sam Walton's daughter, Alice, announced intent to build what was named Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and as our team had recently wrapped up work promoting the expansion of Atlanta's High Museum of Art, I made a note "get CB as a client."

A few years and a lot of water under the bridge later, it was a sad day when -- after forgetting to pursue the opportunity -- I found those first news clips in a "new business tickler file" while packing to exit the big firm to start a freelance business. And in spite of the renewed awareness of the completed museum near my home state Oklahoma, there was not an easy opportunity to visit Crystal Bridges until one day last month.

Thank goodness for finding chances. I'm writing now to strongly recommend that family, friends and anyone with interest in art should drop everything and head to Crystal Bridges, a national treasure that is not to be missed.

On Mother's Day 2015 as I entered Bentonville and the museum grounds, I didn't know what to expect, and my plan was to stay an hour or two plus time for lunch.

Soaking in the breathtaking architecture by Moshe Safdie, I knew a very special treat was in store.

Man, oh, man. It took all afternoon -- six hours plus time for brunch beneath the dazzling, arched ceiling of Eleven (the café named for opening day 11/11/2011) -- to experience Crystal Bridges' expansive galleries, special exhibition space, extensive gardens and outdoor works, and to explore every corner.

 

The collection is so amazing, I stayed until after closing time and went through every indoor space twice for good measure and to savor and enjoy. Like the mountainside Getty Center in Los Angeles or the Chicago Art Institute, Crystal Bridges seems to go on and on and on with no end to the amazing architecture and contents.

Crystal Bridges is a superior, world class museum with an astounding permanent collection worthy of a special trip to Northwest Arkansas.

Get thee to Bentonville for the following visual delights:

• Almost a dozen Georgia O'Keefe canvases, including the recently acquired "Jimson Weed" on view near a large and rare three-dimensional white-lacquered bronze by the artist.
• Works from the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, including more amazing O'Keeffe works representing lower Manhattan skyscrapers, New Mexico landscapes, bones, masks and abstract paintings.
• One of the biggest Andrew Wyeth paintings I've experienced; titled "Airborne" this egg tempera piece features a remote Maine island scene decorated with leaves and feathers in windswept chaos.
• Several monumental works by modern artists of the last 20 years; Northern Wisconsin artist Tom Uttech painted hundreds of soaring birds enjoying a wilderness sunset on a 112-inch canvas.
• Andy Warhol's portrait of Dolly Parton, Gilbert Stuart's version of George Washington (you may have seen this one in your wallet on the $1 bank note) and Norman Rockwell's depiction of Rosie The Riveter.
  
• Works by Jacob Lawrence, Edward Hopper, Frederick Remington, Maxfield Parish, Winslow Homer, Roy Lichtenstein and even a pre-drip Jackson Pollock.
• Roxy Paine's treelike, polished stainless steel "Yield" sculpture and several other outdoor wonders.
• Opening soon, a complete Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Usonian home transplanted, with furnishings, to the museum gardens.

Other showstoppers included a bronze female nude holding aloft "The Bubble," an 1880s painting "The Indian and the Lily" and an explosive Lichtenstein sculpture, as well as a set of hand-drawn interstellar images captured through the eyepiece of historic telescopes.

And in a circular staircase beside the O'Keeffe installation, look up for a magnificent three-dimensional piece consisting of multicolored thread strung across the ceiling a few hundred times.

Be sure to view the Jeff Coons golden heart pendant in the aforementioned café.

The temporary exhibition included a Salvador Dalí canvas, Frida Kahlo self-portrait, a Franz Kline and an enormous Pollock drip canvas (a scale like the one used to dress the set in the film "Ex Machina"). Some current and upcoming exhibitions look great.

In the museum catalog, Alice Walton explained that an acquisition of the painting "Kindred Spirits" at auction was the moment that crystalized her goals for the museum.

"I remember us sitting in the room [at Sotheby's, during spring 2005] when we saw ["Kindred Spirits"]. It was a transformative moment for me in terms of taking this [museum] from what I perceived as a gift to the community to what I now think of as a gift to the nation."

She also explained the property on which Crystal Bridges was built was woodland she crossed en route to school as a youngster.

"My experience in terms of getting to where we are today is really about growth and development," said Walton. "I hope Crystal Bridges gives other people that same opportunity."

Crystal Bridges has a great ticket price: FREE.

If anyone from the museum's P.R. department reads this post, please let the powers that be know my hand remains raised to contribute to the communications team for Crystal Bridges, a new favorite art destination.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Roy Lichtenstein's "Girl With Ball" Bounces to ATL with 163 Other Works at High Museum of Art

During the summer of 2012, the Chicago Art Institute debuted the outstanding "Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective" exhibition set to open at the National Gallery of Art next week.

I'm guessing the curators of that exhibition were slightly miffed the Museum of Modern Art's iconic Lichtenstein canvas "Girl With Ball" was already booked for its High Museum of Art premiere in Midtown Atlanta.

Through some freelance P.R. work at the High these last few days, it was a privilege to experience "Girl With Ball" in the museum's new exhibition "Fast Forward: Modern Moments 1913>>2013" through a media preview event held this week. What a treat!

Curated by Michael Rooks with co-curators Jodi Hauptman and Samantha Friedman of MoMA, "Fast Forward" features 164 works by 105 artists including some of my all-time favorites: Salvador Dali, Lichtenstein, Jenny Holzer among them. And there are some works easily recognized from past treks to MoMA, such as "Chief" by Franz Kline. The works including painting, sculpture, photography, film and other media appear centered around key historic dates of the last 100 years.

But what's to love most about "Fast Forward" are the surprises around several corners of the exhibition space. Upon exiting the museum elevators, the first right turn reveals "Unique Forms In Continuity," a gorgeous three-foot bronze statue of a figure in motion evocative of the lyrics to "Against The Wind" by Bob Seger. I love this Umberto Boccioni sculpture, and it's only made better positioned racing toward about a dozen Soviet propaganda posters that make it seem "the walls have eyes" (be sure to view the feature film from 1929 projected among these framed U.S.S.R. works).

Dali's miniature canvas "Illumined Pleasures" -- complete with a self-portrait of the artist's decapitated head, tiny insects and even tinier cyclists -- is displayed just steps from where Dali's "Persistence Of Memory" dazzled High visitors two years ago (also on loan from MoMA), and facing the currently displayed work is a beautiful canvas by Gerald Murphy showcasing an enormous wasp and sliced pear.

The next corner reveals the large and bug-like Kline work inspired by the artist's childhood memories of a locomotive. Moving fast forward another decade, the next corner brings the "Girl With Ball" into view flanked by an Andy Warhol canvas.

With stops in key years of the last century, wall texts describe how then-current events may have influenced the artists and their contemporaries. Another decade-to-decade action -- the evolution of transportation -- is subtly revealed as more vehicles, including a crushed car, take the stage. A three-dimensional untitled work by Lee Bentecou jumps out of the wall as though a fighter jet engine is backing into the museum. "The Chariot" by Alberto Giacometti is a must-see vehicular piece. Shapshots taken from within cars of the mid-century reveal modern moments of days gone by.

I loved locating two matching Jenny Holzer pieces (rubbings from her carved marble benches?) as "Fast Forward" rolled into the 1980s.

And this was the first time my eyes met a Jeff Koons work, a life-sized porcelain of a topless blond woman embracing the Pink Panther. Interesting.

Then the cavalcade of modern moments moves again, one last time to 2012-13 with an immersive floor-to-ceiling, half-room-sized new commission by artist Sarah Sze that must be seen to be believed (sort of a twist on Damien Hirst's creations featuring hundreds or thousands of the similar items on display in a single work). If you're into seek-and-find, try to locate Sze's plane ticket to Atlanta as part of this space-specific creation.

"Fast Forward" is on display at the High now through January 2013, by which time we will all fast forward to the highly anticipated exhibition "Frida & Diego" bringing together the Mexico artists/spouses Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Until, then, "Fast Forward" is an excellent option for an afternoon of art exploration in Midtown Atlanta.

Photos via the High, MoMA and select exhibition photos by Nicholas Wolaver