Geffen Interiors Will Be Tinted Red, Blue, Black
 |
| David Geffen Galleries. Photo: Iwan Baan |
The Los Angeles Times reports that LACMA has begun installing art in its David Geffen Galleries. Architect Peter Zumthor has settled on a plan to tint some of the gray concrete walls in glazes of red, blue, and black. The tinting will affect the interior walls of the 27 enclosed "core" galleries (nicknamed "houses") for light-sensitive work.
The colors are described as reddish black, Renaissance ultramarine blue, and blackish burgundy. They use the same pigments as traditional artist's colors: lapis lazuli (ultramarine blue) and hematite (Venetian red). Ground to nanoparticles, pigments will be mixed with silica and applied to the walls quickly, to avoid visible brushstrokes. The glazes do not hide the concrete's texture and imperfections, but the colors are pronounced. The Times' Jessica Gelt describes one room, partly installed with early 20-century American art, as "blushing in a deep wine color." (There are no photos, however.)
The nine northernmost rooms will get the black glaze; the nine middle rooms will be blue, and the nine southernmost rooms will be red.
This is a new technique that's never been used before.
 |
| Old rendering of a core gallery showing gray walls. Rooms like this will be tinted |
Comments
*
Will the art be hung by wires? Screwed onto the wall? Hung on hooks?
Regardless whether the physical aspects of Geffen Galleries are lousy or not, the programming of them is already making me slightly annoyed.
An artwork by Todd Gray that really should be in the Broad building (for contemporary art) or in the Resnick gallery (for special temporary exhibits) is going to be inserted into the Geffen: I wouldn't even mind that if the square footage of Zumthor's building were much larger---not even factoring in all the loss of wall space due to the windows.
> Gray’s photo sculpture,
> for example, will be
> adjacent to a gallery
> featuring African art and
> near another with Latin
> American art.
^ Okay, Gray is a black guy, so therefore his artwork just has to be near African art---presumably older and non-contemporary. In turn, black and Latino people are sort of culturally-politically aligned (or not?---but, hey, there are ghettos and barrios!). So being near Latin American art makes sense too?
My hunch is that just as William Pereira's design in 1965 had plenty of qualities of "is this the best they could do?!," Peter Zumthor's design in 2026 (as influenced by Michael Govan) will be a variation of the same thing. Or history repeating itself.
Still, LACMA pre-2020 (in a maze of 1965-1986 structures) was admittedly starting to feel more and more like yesterday's news.
The last major cultural building with "David Geffen" on its name, a concert hall in NYC, apparently landed with sort of a thud. Will another cultural building with the same name on it - but on the other coast - turn out the same way in 2026?
Never mind that Gray's work is of a contemporary look or style too, so if any piece should go better with a gray concrete wall (as compared with older art) it should be "Octavia's Gaze."
Not sure if this is an early warning sign about the Geffen---tinted concrete walls or not. So if Pereira's 1965 building was a "tract house," Zumthor's 2026 building may be a "freeway" or "Public Storage."