Event 3: LACMA

In 1961, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was established as a separate, art-focused institution. With 100,000 objects dating from ancient times to the present, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the western United States. 

When I first got to the museum, the first thing that caught my eye was the urban lights sculpture built in 2008 outside, by Chris Burden. The sculpture has two-hundred and two restored cast iron antique street lamps. There are seven remarkable architectural building, which encompass the geographic world and virtually the entire history of art. The most impressing part I visited that day is Latin American art, ranging from pre-columbian masterpieces to works by leading modern and contemporary artists including Diego Rivera, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, and Gego, who launch the rise of geometric abstraction.

Geometric abstraction, which reminds me of the topic of art and math, emphasizes on clear and distilled forms, became the dominant visual language that reflected a move toward modernization and industrialization. The following painting is created by Joaquin Torres Garcia. This art work may be hard for us to understand, when I saw the painting for the first time, the only word came up to my mind is religion and my guess is close to the answer. The painting integrates symbols into his abstract compositions to create what he called a universal constructivist art.

This art work is created by Gego. Although these weblike constellations made with joined wire segments may let you feel dizzy, they allowed the artists to draw in space. 

This art work named “Space ”is created by Lee Mullican to express the opening of the a new world, opening of the mind into a kind of cosmic thought. Lee is a example of artists who have drawn their inspiration from the beauty of space.

The following art work is my favorite during the visit. I am not an art major student and have no knowledge of contemporary art. However, when I first saw the painting, I thought it was about music and my feeling is correct. If I could describe the painting in one world, it would have to be “active”. A harmonious arrangement of geometric shapes floats in space, suggesting the joy of musical tempo. Furthermore, the bright color makes it no longer a painting but a music.