LACMA broadens its reach

The image is catchy: a shiny red sculpture of a cracked egg by Jeff Koons that reflects the saw-toothed roof of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, opening Feb. 16 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

And the message, emblazoned on streetlight banners all over town, is clear: LACMA has a hip new attraction and you need to see it.

But the public emergence of the $56-million building designed by architect Renzo Piano and financed by philanthropist and LACMA trustee Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe, is far from the whole story. Much more than a new edifice, BCAM is the centerpiece of a multifaceted initiative to create a bold presence for contemporary art at LACMA and the keystone of a three-phase effort to transform the Wilshire Boulevard institution's 20-acre campus.

It's worth keeping in mind that LACMA has a history of off-again, on-again plans for greatness and gaps in leadership. But right now, there's a frenzy of preparation at the museum and a palpable excitement in the air.

Phase 1, now sprinting to the finish, includes BCAM, a three-story building filled with loans of postwar art; the BP Grand Entrance, an airy pavilion, bankrolled by the British oil company, that shifts LACMA's primary point of entry to the west; and an underground parking structure that replaces its ugly predecessor. Large contemporary artworks have popped up on the grounds and several permanent collection galleries have been renovated and reinstalled.

"You have to show people what you can do before you can take the next step," said LACMA Director Michael Govan. Although he arrived less than two years ago -- after the Broad building was underway -- he has his eye on the future.

"This is more than just opening a building," he said. "You are going to see the beginning of a whole new frame for the museum and something that's a 'best of' " -- shorthand for what he sees as "the best space to see contemporary art in an encyclopedic museum."

Recent news that the Broads have decided to keep their personal holdings and the 2,000-piece collection amassed by the Broad Art Foundation -- which functions as a lending library -- rather than give the art to museums as planned, knocked some of the wind out of the opening celebration. Although the Broads never promised specific gifts to LACMA, and the staff and trustees say the new strategy is not a surprise, the rise of the facility bearing their names fueled hopes of art donations.