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\nGeorge Lucas and Mellody Hobson were on hand to greet visitors<\/p>\n
Star Wars superfans and art lovers alike descended on George Lucas’s long-awaited Museum of Narrative Art for its grand opening on Tuesday, lining up to experience the colossal structure that itself recalls a spaceship.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles museum built by the 82-year-old Star Wars franchise creator alongside his wife and business partner Mellody Hobson is intended to be a “people’s temple of art”, according to the couple.<\/p>\n
\nGeorge Lucas and Mellody Hobson were on hand to greet visitors<\/p>\n
The duo stood at the museum’s entrance as its first 100 visitors were invited in, shaking hands with each of them as they entered the biomorphic building.<\/p>\n
Eric Cheung, a dentist and realtor who arrived in a Star Wars X-wing pilot costume – a get-up featuring a bright orange jumpsuit and distinct combat helmet, like that worn by Luke Skywalker himself – said he was quick to become a museum member and even trained as a volunteer.<\/p>\n
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\nThe museum was built on what used to be a parking lot next to the University of Southern California, George Lucas’s alma mater<\/p>\n
“Each art piece tells a story,” he told AFP of the museum’s intentions.<\/p>\n
“Everybody can look at the same thing, and then we can create different stories.”<\/p>\n
The museum was built on what used to be a parking lot next to the University of Southern California, the filmmaker’s alma mater.<\/p>\n
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\nThe Los Angeles museum built by Star Wars franchise creator George Lucas alongside his wife and business partner Mellody Hobson is intended to be a “people’s temple of art”<\/p>\n
For Brenda Chambliss, a resident of the area in south Los Angeles for more than a decade, it “means everything” that Lucas put the museum in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
The area can carry a “stigma” tied to crime or poverty, she said, and the “breathtaking” building filled with art is a positive new attraction, not least for its surrounding park that’s open to the public without a ticket.<\/p>\n
‘Help local artists’<\/p>\n
At the entrance, visitors are greeted by the yellow Naboo N-1 starfighter from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), but with more than 9,300 square metres of exhibition space, the offerings go far beyond the beloved saga.<\/p>\n
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\nStar Wars superfans and art lovers alike descended on the museum on Tuesday<\/p>\n
Its more than 30 galleries feature works by artists including Banksy, Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, and Robert Colescott; comics by Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, and Frank Frazetta; and illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, and NC Wyeth.<\/p>\n
“I really love that Lucas is using his platform to bring other artists together,” Sandi Granados told AFP in the gift shop, where she was purchasing a trippy, colourful print of a Darth Vader flanked by stormtroopers.<\/p>\n
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\nThe museum has more than 9,300 square metres of exhibition space<\/p>\n
“It’s not just for him,” said the 30-year-old cosmetologist who works in the film industry.<\/p>\n
“He’s using his name to help local artists and big artists come together.”<\/p>\n
Source: AFP<\/p>\n