He said: “Each art piece tells a story. Everybody can look at the same thing, and then we can create different stories.”
The museum was built on what used to be a parking lot next to the University of Southern California, the film-maker’s alma mater.
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.
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.
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 9300 square meters of exhibition space, the offerings go far beyond the beloved saga.
A visitor takes a photo of scale models of the podracers from The Phantom Menace. Photo / AFP
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.
Sandi Granados, who was in the gift shop buying a trippy colourful print of Darth Vader flanked by Stormtroopers, said: “I really love that Lucas is using his platform to bring other artists together.
“It’s not just for him. He’s using his name to help local artists and big artists come together.”
– AFP