The Brutalists
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| Ye's Malibu beach house, originally by Tadao Ando |
Aaron Betsky's Architect magazine review of the David Geffen Galleries includes this burn: "I somehow kept thinking of the ruin Ye left behind when he tried to renovate the Tadao Ando-designed designed beach house in Malibu."
There are some similarities. Both buildings are starchitect-designed exercises in brutalism with interesting back stories. Here's a quick compare-and-contrast.
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| Iwan Baan photo of David Geffen Galleries |
Architect
Geffen: Peter Zumthor (2009 Pritzker Prize)
Beach House: Tadao Ando (1995 Pritzker), as reimagined by Ye (24 Grammys)
Concrete
Geffen: "Chances are you've never seen so much concrete in one place"—Christopher Knight
Beach House: Ye "wants to have no doors, no windows, no fixtures, just concrete"—property manager Tony Saxon
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| Still from video by real estate influencer Arvin Haddad. Ye (then known as Kanye West) bought the home for $57.3 million in 2021 and sold it three years later, renovation incomplete, for $21 million |
Metaphors
Geffen: Blob, amoeba, freeway overpass, Bullwinkle antler, "a collection of Tik Tok Houses nestled into a McMansion"
Beach House: Bunker, Bat Cave, "bomb shelter from the 1910s"
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| Geffen staircase |
Stairs
Geffen: Yes
Beach House: Ye began converting Ando's concrete staircases to ramps by filling the risers with foam
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| Worker demos Tadeo Ando's windows for Ye |
Windows
Geffen: Lots of them
Beach House: Nope. "I had sea gulls flying in"—Tony Saxon
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| Luis Ortega Govela photo of David Geffen Galleries |
Quirky Omissions as Virtue Signal
Geffen: Govan's affection for single-story, industrial-vibe museums is traced to his stint as founding director of Dia: Beacon. He says the Geffen's single-floor layout avoids the "hierarchies" of encyclopedic museums
Beach House: Ye was inspired by James Turrell's Skyspaces. He explained the beach house's lack of kitchen, bathrooms, air conditioning, and light fixtures as a way to escape being a "slave" to modern technology and "accessible" to the government and the Kardashians
Comments
LACMA is extraordinary. I went with my son and we both were so proud of how well the museum represents Los Angeles and our place in the world. The museum is curated like none other on the planet...
What is especially stunning about the collection is that much like the diversity of the city each piece seems in conversation with the one next to it even though one might not think that a Mesoamerican piece, for example, would have much to say to a Japanese one....
The museum is simply a triumph and a celebration of all that art can teach us about ourselves and our place in the world.... [End quote]
LACMA makes me think of a movie (etc) that other people give high marks to, that I also want to give high marks to, but I notice too many things are off. Or various reviews are more positive than mines would be.
The Geffen and LACMA have too many (or what I would describe as) unprofessional or non-aesthetic qualities, However, I'm now willing to overlook most of them if Geffen and his staff at least install more artworks.
So all the gray concrete is fine, the un-tinted walls are fine, the color of wall brackets and wall labels is fine, the benefactor list that groups donations based upon dollar amount is fine, lots of windows is fine, and too much contemporary art in the Geffen instead of BCAM or the Resnick is fine too.
I just now want fewer artworks treated like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre (ie, Diego Rivera's or Matisse's work is good, but it ain't no da Vinci). I want fewer walls and floor space that give the impression LACMA has more space than artworks to display on them.
And if Govan and his people don't develop a new bond with the Ahmanson Foundation, the Geffen Galleries might just as well be stripped of their artworks and turned into a concrete playground for skateboard and bicycle riding.
I think damp basement wall in the most parvenu sections of the Poconos.
Except to feed the trolls and the rubes.
If this continues, just change the name of the blog to MAGAonFire.
--- J. Garcin