Museum Day

I've always loved museums; it's an appreciation that was instilled in me by my parents.  They used to take my brother and me to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from the time we were very young  so I've always had an emotional connection to the place.

LACMA recently did a summer promotion where if you bought a ticket before June 30 you can visit the museum as often as you like for 3 months.  My dear friend and favorite  museum buddy treated me to a ticket for my birthday so we met up on Sunday to hang out and to check out the much-anticipated and often derided Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer.  I think it is a delightful addition to the LACMA campus.  They have really transformed the space outside the galleries into a perfect free gathering spot in the middle Miracle Mile.  Levitated Mass also, to my mind, works as a great companion piece to Richard Serra's Band, on view in the Broad building.  Both bring the feeling of the natural world into an urban space.  The Serra installation evokes rocky canyons, its steel walls, covered in a patina of rust,  rise up like canyon walls have the look and feel of rock formations.

The highlight of the day was finally experiencing Chris Burden's Metropolis II.  It's like the play set you fantasized about when you were a kid.  Like the ultimate Hot Wheels track with trains, buildings made of Lego, Lincoln Logs and every other material imaginable.  I loved that the crowd gathered around in anticipation of the control boxes being turned on, and, when the first train started to move, people started cheering and clapping - the adults enjoying it as much as the kids.

I loved this building with its arched windows and little window boxes.

How would you like to be the person standing in the midst of these tracks making sure everything is running smoothly?