Art in the Streets at MoCA

Three Fragment of a Lost Tale, Sculpture and Story by John Frame, at the Huntington.

God's of Angkor at the Getty Center.

Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley at the Fowler.

The Art in The Streets exhibit at MoCA's Geffen Contemporary is on pace to break all of MoCA's attendence records. It's a massive show with plenty of controversy and a connection to pop culture that draws audiences that don't attend other museum shows.

The cavernous gallery spaces and frenetic installation complement the themes of the exhibit. The scale of the pieces and their display push viewers back. A closer look reveals similarities in the pieces as well as installation that ties this show together. Enjoy.

You know I love scrabble. Well, not enough to have people over to play. Instead, I play the online version "Words with Friends". After seeing this amazing Scrabble board on Fast Company, I had a sudden urge to invite some word smiths over and get it on. Then I realized it was just a concept and thanked Steve Jobs for being a genius. Yes, it would be a lovely decorative object in an interior, but if I can't drop it in my jeans pocket and play it anywhere, it's probably not really worth it.

For the last couple of years there has been what appeared to be a temporary shop in shop concept called House of Hoops inside the Beverly Center's Foot Locker. The massive marketing campaign for the original House of Hoops was just a warmup for the new Los Fearless concept. With the NBA All Star Game in LA, Nike is giving hoop-lovers a destination other than Staples Center. It's a little tough to understand exactly what Los Fearless is. It's a very Nike concept - a visceral connection between the spirit of LA and a select few of Nikes highest paid endorsers. Here's how they put it:

The Getty Trust and LACMA have teamed up to acquire around 2000 photos by Mapplethorpe. Among the group are some of his most important and controversial work. To sweeten the deal, the Getty Research Institute has been gifted the remainder of the Mapplethorpe archive. The huge collection includes: 200 unique artworks, 120,000 negatives and 3,500 polaroids along with personal and professional correspondence.

As part of the build-up to the first-of-it's-kind street art exhibit at MoCA, Jeffery Deitch, a longtime supporter of street artists, commissioned Blu to paint a massive mural that would cover the entirety of Moca's Geffen Contemporary's north-facing facade. But there's a problem. Apparently, Deitch never saw a sketch or approved the piece, and found the content insensitive to the neighbors. So, it was painted over the next day. The piece depicted rows of wooden coffins draped with dollar bills. According to a MoCA spokeswoman, the huge piece is in plain view from the VA hospital on Temple Street and is adjacent to a WWII Japanese American memorial. To read the full story according to the LA Downtown news, click here. Mat Gleason, art critic and contributor to the Huffington post has this to say.

Back in May of last year, the Galleries of Modern London opened at the Museum of London. Over 7000 objects help to tell the story of London's long cultural history from 1666 to present. WilkonsonEyre was responsible for the gallery renovations and although I have not seen the space in person, it photographs very well. Click here to see more images on the Guardian online. The space featuring "Booth's Poverty Maps" is a highlight. The content rich color coding of streets by relative wealth, makes these maps a great example of timeless information design. Read all about it at this NY Times article. The display of the maps is impressive too. The walls, ceilings and floors are covered with maps. The framed maps are hung so they appear to be tiles of the maps covering the entire room. 

Last Sunday, the popular HBO show, Big Love, featured the interior of the Homelands exhibit at the Autry Museum. A main character, Barbara Henrickson, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn visits her mother, who volunteers as a docent at a museum in Utah. Two long scenes show several views of the gallery exterior and interior. The rich textures in the galleries make it very difficult for anyone who has seen the exhibit to think this could possibly be anywhere but the Autry.