As one of the first to arrive at the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Saturday, 3-year-old Claire Paul of Beverly Hills rode up in the elevator clutching a balloon animal in one hand, a section of which exploded with a loud pop along the way.
Little did Claire or her family know that, as they stepped off the elevator and onto the museum's third floor, they would be confronted with a giant version of the balloon pet: Jeff Koons' 10-foot "Balloon Dog (Blue)" in the middle of a veritable toy store of the artist's artwork including "String of Puppies" -- which looks just like it sounds -- and a fish tank containing three basketballs floating in water.
Like many of the 5,000 visitors who were holding tickets to BCAM on the first day it opened to the public, the entire Paul family, adults included, seemed like kids in a toy shop as they explored the often whimsical artworks by Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari displayed in the light, bright galleries.
The $56-million Renzo Piano-designed BCAM, the county art museum's first home for contemporary art, mainly contains pieces from the massive holdings of LACMA trustee and donor Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe, who funded BCAM's construction.
Unfortunately for the first wave of visitors at 11 a.m., BCAM's open-air escalator, which provides a spectacular view of the Hollywood Hills, stopped working midway to the top, causing them to huff and puff the rest of the way to the third floor, though it began working again within the hour.
Staffers quickly directed the next group of entrants to an elevator inside the building -- and they were not disappointed. The main lift is 21 feet wide, 16 feet high and 9 feet deep, with windows that also provide a city view. And, in the elevator, visitors are literally inside an artwork: A dramatic piece by Barbara Kruger lines the elevator shaft with red, white and black.
Visitors seemed tickled by the whimsy of many of the contemporary artworks inside the building as well as those stationed on the plaza as part of the $156-million first phase of a massive, multiyear redesign of the LACMA campus. And they hailed both the new focus on contemporary art as well as the ongoing reinvention of the 20-acre campus as a much-needed change, transforming a staid county museum of mismatched buildings into a more open, user-friendly facility.
