{"id":411895,"date":"2026-04-22T14:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/411895\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T14:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:50:20","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-readers-give-their-initial-reviews-of-lacmas-david-geffen-galleries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/411895\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the Editor: Readers give their initial reviews of LACMA\u2019s David Geffen Galleries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To the editor: Sunday was my first visit to the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA with the art installed (\u201cInside LACMA\u2019s lavish opening gala for the David Geffen Galleries with George Lucas, Ed Ruscha and Jeff Koons,\u201d<\/a> April 17). My initial impressions: gorgeous building, inside and outside. I somehow felt more in touch with the art, both the pieces mounted on those concrete walls and the smaller items of sculpture that were right out on tables without any glass case in the way.<\/p>\n

But I did not appreciate the way the art was presented. I found it very disconcerting to be looking at 17th-century Dutch paintings and to turn a corner and see a South Asian sculpture, modern photography or whatever else was installed in the next space. There just isn\u2019t enough context because of the way it is presented. To me, this concept of presenting the art in a \u201cnon-hierarchical\u201d manner is just ivory tower academic nonsense.<\/p>\n

I also really disliked the gallery layout. The way the gallery spaces flow into each other makes it near impossible to keep track of where you are, where you\u2019ve been and where you might want to go next. It was both maddening and exhausting. I don\u2019t want to go through a museum holding a map or with an app open on my phone. I want to be able to walk from gallery to gallery, following some discernible theme. Instead, the art seemed to be presented in an almost random order.<\/p>\n

Stephen Greenberg, Santa Monica<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: Having visited the new David Geffen Galleries recently, I came away with a desire to return soon \u2014 to find a new \u201cpath\u201d and to see all the art that I missed. You can\u2019t see it all in one visit. There is no one route. \u201cWander\u201d is the name of the catalog and is the perfect term for the experience. Wonder is what I experienced. \u201cWhat is this? Where is this from? Who made this? Why is this grouped with these other objects? What\u2019s in this niche over here? Look at this view!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trip. I found it delightful. The concrete provides a non-intrusive setting for a fascinating collection. I\u2019m no critic, but as a native Angeleno, I am proud of this new cultural addition to our unique, creative city.<\/p>\n

Laura Owen, Marina del Rey<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: We should all be grateful to the many donors, including taxpayers, for the generous contributions to the new LACMA building. But the exterior signage honoring David Geffen is an eyesore. It distorts the unity of the facade, misleads tourists by not announcing LACMA and makes the building a temple to one person.<\/p>\n

Patrick Frank, Venice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the editor: Sunday was my first visit to the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA with the art…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2273,307,304,305,306,180817,175467,308,177958,26409,93,180818,180814,180816,61,180815,60,30925,30924,31766,5399,36215,15722],"class_list":{"0":"post-411895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-concrete-wall","14":"tag-david-geffen-galleries","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-ed-ruscha","17":"tag-editor","18":"tag-entertainment","19":"tag-first-visit","20":"tag-gallery-layout","21":"tag-gorgeous-building","22":"tag-ie","23":"tag-initial-review","24":"tag-ireland","25":"tag-jeff-koons","26":"tag-lacma","27":"tag-letter","28":"tag-los-angeles-times","29":"tag-reader","30":"tag-way"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}