New Resnick Pavilion at LACMA

There's been so much new construction at LACMA lately, and they aren't quite done yet.  The latest new building is the Resnick Pavilion which will be opening officially in October with 3 shows. I first noticed the building when I came to see the Renoir show.  A collection of varied palm trees had been planted and this new structure had appeared where there was a construction site.  Looking through the window we could see a huge empty space, high ceilings with clerestory windows on the roof and something spread out in the center of the space.  It looked like miniature parking lot bumpers but they were clearly positioned in a distinct pattern.

Well it turns out it's a sculpture by Walter de Maria called The 2000 Sculpture.  It's installed as a 'test' of the space as they fine tune the building.  LACMA has also started doing 'flash viewings' of the space and the sculpture.  Once the formal art shows are installed, the space will be broken up by partitions to accommodate those, so it's a rare chance to see the space in all it's wide open glory.  I went yesterday to take a look and the sculpture is really amazing.  What I thought were parking bumpers are plaster rods with various cross sections, either 5, 7, or 9 sided polygons.  Depending on where you stand in relation to the sculpture, they form various patterns across the floor.  The late afternoon light streaming from the roof-top windows was beautiful. 

I took a few pictures with my Droid phone. There is another flash viewing tonight and the museum is free after 5p.  Park on the meters on 6th street if you're cheap like me, otherwise the underground structure is $8 or free after 7p.