MOCA

MOCA, the Museum of Comtemporary Art Museum is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's original space, initially intended as a "temporary" exhibit space while the main facility was built, is now known as the Geffen Contemporary, in the Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles. The Pacific Design Center facility is in nearby West Hollywood.  The museum's exhibits consist primarily of American and European contemporary art created since 1940. Since the museum’s inception, MOCA’s programming has been defined by its multi-disciplinary approach to contemporary art.

In a 1979 political fund raising event at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Councilman Joel Wachs, and local philanthropist Marcia Simon Weisman happened to be seated at the same table. Throughout the evening, Weisman passionately discussed the city’s need for a contemporary art museum. In the following weeks, the Mayor’s Museum Advisory Committee was organized. The committee, led by William A. Norris, set about creating a museum from scratch, including locating funds, trustees, directors, curators, a gallery, and most importantly an art collection.  The following year, the fledgling Museum of Contemporary Art was operating out of an office on Boyd Street. The city’s most prominent philanthropists and collectors had been assembled into a Board of Trustees in 1980, and set a goal of raising $10 million in their first year. A working staff was brought together; Richard Koshalek was appointed chief curator; relationships were made with artists and galleries; and negotiations were begun to secure artwork and an exhibition space. Following Weisman's initiative, $1-million contributions from Eli Broad, Max Palevsky, and Atlantic Richfield Co. helped securing the construction of a the new museum.

We visited the museum (grand ave and Geffen) on Thursday's after 5pm, which it free. The exhibits were interesting however we did not attend any events or tours. Like the Getty museums, its worth it to stop by especially on a free night and indulge in the great art.  Check the calendar to see if you can catch a special show or event.

History Curtosey of Wikipedia

UCLA Hammer Museum

I think I'm starting to like Art Museums. I'm still not one to spend all day there and analyze the art but at least I'm now enthused to be there which is a huge change from when I started this blog.  So, I was excited to visit the UCLA Hammer Museum.  Especially because it is free with a student ID!  I, like normal had not looked at the website ahead of time so was not familiar with the exhibits, however the front desk attendant was very helpful when we arrived.  She gave us multiple booklets on the museum and walked us through the exhibits on the map.  I was impressed with her enthusiasm and helpfulness.  Unfortunately, as she went though the exhibits she mentioned quite a few were closed for renovations and installations.

But something was going on that I had never seen at a museum!  An artist was doing an exhibit installation. Linn Meyers creates murals of lines which exhibit a matrix of predetermined circles.  She draws consecutive lines of color, creating rhythmic, repetitive patterns.  The end result is spectacular and we got to witness her work in progress.  After watching her for awhile we continued on our journey.

As I said before a few galleries were closed which included galleries 1 and 2.  We saw an exhibit by Roberto Cuoghi which was a series of self-portraits depicting himself as if he had been a different type of person or led a different life.  There was also a video exhibit from Danica Dakic which shows residents from a psychiatric hospital who put on Victorian masks and tell makeshift theater set against wallpaper depicting an oasis.  This is interesting but doesn't make sense unless you see it from the beginning, and even then you'll probably wonder what's going on. 

All in all, the visit left me filling unfulfilled.  If you make the trip to this museum I would make sure all of the galleries are open before going.  Check their calendar and go for a specific event to make it worth the trip.  Again, you can get in for free if you're a student and it's free for everyone on Thursdays.