Greetings from Los Angeles
Michael5000 thought of you during his travels.
Last weekend, Mrs.5000 and I flew to Los Angeles County, my 38th county in the State of California and my 1024th county overall.
It is home to a large and tremendously expansive city, with streets and neighborhoods with names that are so familiar from movies, songs, and books that visiting the place for the first time feels like a return to someplace barely remembered from childhood, or a dream. It has the same kind of time-layered architecture that make European cities so interesting, except here all the layers have been laid down, scraped away, and interwoven within the last 100 years.
It was sunny and, in January, had the extravagant temperatures that I am used to experiencing in July. There were lots of interesting things to see and do. It was really quite wonderful.
Artwise, the Getty Center gets all the attention, and ain't at all bad. But, the scale, accessibility, and stellar collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art won my heart. Between the two, we must have seen pieces by well over half the artists in tournament competition. I will also insert a little shout-out for the Long Beach Museum of Art, which is not quite in the same league but which treated Mrs.5000 awfully well for her talk there, the raison d'etre of our junket. They had a Jim Dine exhibit up, which didn't exactly convert me as a fan but at least gave me an idea of what folks like about him.
We saw a mariachi show. I ran on the beach to establish a California record. It was really quite a weekend.
4 comments:
Nice! 0x400 is a super nice round number.
It's like I'm all ready for the county tournament...
Anonymous sisterjen said...
Awesome! Kudos to s-i-law5000!
I went to said city as a tender 19-year-old and stayed with a guy (friend of the guy I was with) who worked at LACMA at the time. I still have the posters he gave me, one of a Bosschaert (this one: http://www.casa-in-italia.com/artpx/dut/Bosschaert/Bosschaert_LA_Bouquet_flowers_ledge_1619.jpg) and one of a Sanford Robinson Gifford painting that I have become very fond of but can't find posted anywhere!
This is by way of proving that I have looked at art, even if I don't usually vote on it. : )
The word "County" in "County Museum of Art" suggests to me a collection heavy on adorable children and clumsy landscapes that is open from 2-4 p.m. on alternate Thursdays if Myrtle's hip isn't acting up. Needless to say, LACMA was a dazzling surprise.
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