Michael Govan

Rita Gonzalez: LACMA Curator and Defender of Subtlety

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. Five months after a 340-ton rock officially became part of Michael Heizer's massive Levitated Mass sculpture on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, curator Rita ... More >>

A Diary of the Getty's Big, New Exploration of L.A. Architecture

"The San Andreas is not Los Angeles' only fault," cracked architectural historian Thomas Hines at the kickoff to Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.. Hines didn't really mean it -- he was quoting a joke that people from, say, San Francisco might make -- but the quip hit just ... More >>

Is This 500-Year-Old African Sculpture Worth $1 Million? LACMA's Collectors Committee Gets to Decide

See also: *LACMA Collectors Committee's Battle Royale *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week The Resnick Pavilion, the newest building and the only single-story one on the Los Angeles County Museum's campus, was closed to the public this weekend. But if you looked in the window, you would have see ... More >>

MOCA to Merge With Pinterest

Beset by financial troubles and a series of staff departures, the Museum of Contemporary Art has announced a surprise move: It will merge with the social networking site Pinterest. Effective today, MOCA is closing its brick and mortar locations, including its Grand Avenue headquarters, Geffen Conte ... More >>

MOCA Says No To LACMA Takeover

Updated at the bottom: MOCA says no. First posted at 5:25 p.m on March 7. Headline has changed. The L.A. County Museum of Art is proposing to takeover the struggling Museum of Contemporary Art downtown. LACMA CEO Michael Govan confirmed the proposal in a statement today. He calls it a possible "me ... More >>

LACMA and MOCA's Possible Merger: The Internet Reacts

See also: *LACMA Proposes To Take Over MOCA The art world is abuzz with news about the possible merging of art museum titans Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Basically, LACMA would help MOCA financially sustain itself while keeping its name. Sounds like a good de ... More >>

At the LACMA Collectors Committee, Art Acquisitions Become a Battle Royale

American Idol Meets the Museum

The Hammer's Mohn Award is a grand experiment in art-world democracy

LACMA Rock Finally Opens to the Public. But Does It Live Up to Expectations?

"When the rock is installed, will I stand under it and experience its massive weight?" wondered artist Dai Toyofuku, when I spoke with him him back in March. "Will I feel like it might crush me?" The 340-ton granite boulder, soon to be the centerpiece of Michael Heizer's sculpture Levitated Mass, ha ... More >>

LACMA Rock: Will We Ever Get Past Its Journey and Focus on the Finished Sculpture?

5 Most Influential L.A. Architectural Shifts in 2011

What were the five most influential shifts in Los Angeles' architectural realm this year? It turns out they're not about pretty pictures. Or at least that's the feedback we got when we took a poll to come up with this LA Weekly best of 2011 list. Instead of touting singular designs, the answers o ... More >>

LACMA Is Having Boulder Problems

The New York Times finally made a correct assumption about Los Angeles today, in the scathing "340-Ton Sculpture Versus Immovable Bureaucracy." Writer Adam NaGourney blames the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's delay in moving the centerpiece of a new installation from Riverside to its West L.A. c ... More >>

The Matter With Kids Today

LACMA Goes Hollywood With Elvis Mitchell

Museum scrapped its film program for a star-studded partnership aimed at courting showbiz bucks — helmed by the nation's most controversial critic

Pacific Standard Time: Don't Be Overwhelmed. Just Take it Slow.

If you're like me, you tend to remember the moment when you fall in love. Perhaps it's the moment when the object of your attention tells a story from his or her childhood that perfectly reveals what a goofy, smart, and devil-may-care kind of person they are. Suddenly, you find yourself deeply hooke ... More >>

Ten Revelations from Pacific Standard Time's Opening Press Event at the Getty

Copyright Billy Al Bengston, Billy Al Bengston studio holdings, photo by Brian Forrest Billy Al Bengston's painting Sonny, now at the Getty as part of Pacific Standard Time​ Pacific Standard Time has arrived! Sort of. At least for the press. This morning the Getty held the opening press confe ... More >>

Pacific Standard Time Fall Art Preview Celebrates L.A., a Great and Shitty Place to be an Artist

Institute for Arts & Media, California State University, NorthridgeRoland Charles' Portrait with Veil (1978) from the PST exhibit at California State University Northridge​ Our awesome fall art preview issue, which landed on newsstands this week, delves into Pacific Standard Time, this ridicu ... More >>

Michael Govan: To Understand L.A. Art, I Went to Italy

Pacific Standard Time: Celebrating the Freaks and Weirdos of L.A. Art

John Lautner's 100th Birthday Celebration

Jane's Addiction at Tim Burton's LACMA Bash, plus Some of Burton's Best Movie Music

Lina Lecaro LACMA CEO Michael Govan, Tim Burton and Slash​ There is seemingly no rest for the wicked mind of Tim Burton. With current/recent projects ranging from the film version of Dark Shadows to a reworking of his stop-motion short Frankenweenie to Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (sadly, ... More >>

Film at LACMA is Dead. Long Live LACMA Film?

Not a portrait of Michael Govan, but a still from Edward Scissorhands, from LACMA's upcoming Tim Burton series.​ BY RICHARD NATALE Two years ago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan proposed suspending the then-41-year-old weekend film program because it was losing money ... More >>

LACMA Art Talk

LACMA Film: Back on the endangered list?

​ La Chienne (The Bitch), by Jean Renoir, screened at LACMA last month. For a month last summer, it looked like the venerable film program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was going to disappear. Then, in late August, thanks to the grassroots efforts of activists like Save Film at LACM ... More >>

LACMA Selling Select Works Even As It Buys Others

​Even as it has been buying works of art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been selling paintings from its permanent collection as it wraps up a series of moves museum director Michael Govan describes as a clarifying process. The New York Times on Thursday reported that a number of LA ... More >>

FRIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, PART 2

THE AGONY AND THE ELEVATOR

John Baldessari Discussion

The Long, Hot Summer of L.A. Film

L.A., world movie capital, may indeed suffer from having too much of a good thing

LACMA to Shutter Film Program, Rethink It

Revolution it will be.

LACMA to Shutter Film Program, Rethink It

By Tom ChristieWikipedia LACMA ​​Michael Govan and Ian Birnie sat on the patio at the L.A. County Museum of Art today and explained the dismantling of their film department. Which is to say, Govan planted an IED and Birnie did his best to throw his body over it. The fact that the bomb won't ac ... More >>

In Surprise Move, Moca Board to Turn Over Operation of Museum to Machine Project Gallery

In Surprise Move, MOCA Board to Turn Over Operation of Museum to Machine Project Gallery

An unconfirmed report suggests that the Museum of Contemporary Art's board of trustees is ready to turn control of the embattled institution over to a small non-profit art space, Machine Project. "Basically, the board doesn't know what to do," said a source with inside information. "This is a Hai ... More >>

Another Piano for LACMA: $45 Million Donation from Stewart and Lynda Resnick

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced this morning (well, if you don't count the New York Times and L.A. Times, both of which got the story last week for publication today) a $45 million donation from Stewart and Lynda Resnick. The gift will fund the building of a large new Renzo Piano exh ... More >>

Elsa Longhauser

Collector of ideas

Cracked Egg: BCAM's Inaugural Show

Hello ... Wrong

LACMA Raided! Updated with Search Warrants

County Museum board members busted in illegal art sting The L.A. County Museum of Art got some unexpected visitors this morning, when federal agents arrived en masse with search warrants. The raid, the result of a five-year investigation into illegal dealing of Asian artifacts, according to federa ... More >>

LACMA + BCAM = A FUTURE

The not-so-little engine that could

Steeling Beauty

Richard Serra’s advance party

The Encyclopedic City

Michael Govan wants to change the face of L.A. What are you going to do to help him?

Feb. 9, 2007

L.A.’s 20 Best Italian Restaurants by Jonathan Gold, Separated at Birth by Steven Leigh Morris and The Bastard Question by Ernest Hardy

This Is Not a Very Large Train Engine Hanging From a Crane at LACMA

Not yet, anyway

The Contemporizer

Kelly Carney-Sicat