One thing I really like about Los Angeles is the abundance of museums and art galleries within the city. In Malaysia, ‘art’ is not as appreciated as it is in the United States, and there are not many large art galleries around.
Whereas in America, a lot of money is pumped into preserving old art pieces and turning these places into tourist attractions. It drives a culture of promoting self expression. At least people can hang out at these galleries in their spare time, whereas back in KL, the only spot to go to is usually just the shopping mall.
We visited one of the largest art galleries in the American west coast – the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Just outside is an art installation dubbed ‘Urban Light’ – comprising 202 restored street lamps from the 1920s and 30s. They were collected by an artist called Chris Burden, who salvaged them from various places in South California.
The rows of uniform gray street lamps form a ‘forest’ of sorts. I was told that they look pretty at night, but unfortunately we did not manage to come back to the spot after dark.
Food trucks lining the opposite side of the road.
With a whopping 120,000 art pieces from various eras, LACMA was established in 1961 and is divided into three buildings. They later added on a building exclusively for Japanese art.
We managed to get free tickets thanks to a hippie guy behind the counter, who kindly gave them to us after I asked him if I could use my international press card. Perks of working for the media!
Another art installation within the compound. This was very popular with the kids! And that big kid over there 😛
The museum is massive. I can’t claim to know much about art, but it was nice to look at the beautiful paintings and their interpretations. Apart from paintings there were also sculptures and other ‘contemporary’ art pieces.
Art I do not understand.
We actually didn’t stay long because I developed a massive headache and slight fever so we went back early. It was a pity since the entrance fee wasn’t cheap and I would have liked to spend more time exploring all the different sections.
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles,
CA 90036, United States
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 11 am–5 pm
Friday: 11 am–8 pm
Saturday, Sunday: 10 am–7 pm
Closed Wednesdays
Entry : 15$
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