American Idol Meets the Museum

He's happier around the corner at Glynn's: "I like the tunnel. I read it's about the Egyptian revolution — I get a sense of that. The opening."

Two girls in their 20s, Melani, from Koreatown, who works in human resources, and Gabrielle, a fashion wholesale rep from Orange County, agree. Vogt's is "a little alienating," Melani says. "This one is a little more welcoming. It's more tactile."

PHOTO BY BRIAN FORREST

A series of paintings by Meleko Mokgosi depicting Africa's colonial legacy.

PHOTO BY BRIAN FORREST

Jarl Mohn (left) and his wife Pamela with Triton, a John McCracken sculpture from their collection.

Location Info

Map

Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Westwood, CA 90024

Category: Museums

Region: West L.A.

Photos

2 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

Related Content

• Staring contest
  March 14, 2013
• Five Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week, Including 'The Happiness Show'
  March 13, 2013
• Meleko Mokgosi Wins Hammer Museum's Mohn Award
  August 16, 2012
• Hammer Museum's 'Made in L.A.,' the City's First Biennial, Is a Winner, Despite its Vastness
  June 13, 2012
• 5 Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week Including a New Festival, Awakenings and Beginnings
  January 17, 2013

More About

• Liz Glynn
• Jarl Mohn
• Ann Philbin
• Visual Arts
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

"I like woodwork," Gabrielle says.

Vogt isn't worried that visitors might not understand the thinking behind her piece. "It just reminds me of this question of what does it mean to 'get' art," she says. "Can you ever?"

By the time voting closes on Aug. 12, around 4,000 people have registered to vote, and 2,051 voted, both smaller numbers than the museum had hoped. Given the initial controversy, the Hammer plans to re-evaluate the process for future Mohn Awards, to see if the public will vote on future prizes.

But by some measures, the grand experiment was a success. Some 50,000 people came to the Hammer in the two and a half months the show was open, compared with 32,000 for the entire summer last year. Barnsdall Art Center's attendance was 20 to 30 percent higher than usual, and LAXART also saw a jump in visitors.

Last week, Meleko Mokgosi was buying a stew pot in Marshall's in New York City, where he's a temporary artist-in-residence at Harlem's Studio Museum, when he got the call that he had won the Mohn Award. "I had no idea," he says. "You can't anticipate these things."

His Hammer display is just one section of a series of 50-plus paintings on post- colonial Africa, which he'll use the $100,000 (minus taxes) to complete. "It's conveying the messages that are very important to me and need to be said."

No one picked him as the likely winner in the Mohn Games — those funds will be given to charity or folded into another pool.

After the call, Mokgosi did a dance, discreetly, in the aisle at Marshall's. He then took the pot home and made stew.

Reach the writer at zpincusroth@laweekly.com.