By Danielle Smith
Staff Writer
The Hammer Museum is a small, contemporary art museum located in downtown Los Angeles that features over three hundred programs yearly and attracts an assortment of different viewers who can experience the art and the architecture of the building itself for free.
The museum, designed by Architect Edward Barnes, not only holds art, but also creates a cohesive modern ambiance carried throughout the lobby, outdoor area and galleries. This offbeat, UCLA affiliated museum is now featuring seven exhibits including “Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957”, “Still Life with Fish” and “Hammer Projects: Kenny Scharf.”
Although the museum has only six galleries, the limited space holds five temporary modern, edgy art exhibits. The last gallery is the permanent home to part of the founder, Dr. Armand Hammer’s private historical collection. Outdoor sculptures and interactive art are placed throughout the museum as well.
The Hammer Museum currently has seven exhibits on display, the most impressive of which is “Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957.” Held in the museum’s largest gallery space, this exhibit is impressive, featuring a over ninety artists’ work and a variety of mediums including two-dimensional, three-dimensional and digital designs.
Multiple rooms in the the “Black Mountain College” gallery focus on certain aspects of the college students’ work. A dance themed room has a video of a dancer performing on a large screen along with other dance related art. Another fascinating room is music themed and displays original sheet music from the college’s music department.
This well organized collection allows viewers to experience what the Black Mountain College had to offer during its twenty-five year period of existence and learn the history of the renowned art school.
Another exceptional aspect of the Hammer Museum is their program that introduces new temporary art installation projects every few months. Extremely talented New York street artist, Kenny Scharf, decorated the Hammer Museum’s lobby walls with his signature spraypainted cartoon character faces as one of these featured projects.
The bright neon colors of the spraypaint contrast with the white walls to create a welcoming and exciting environment the minute one steps foot in the museum. This project conveys a sense of frantic energy, with the characters seeming to almost bounce between the walls and up the lobby’s staircase.
An additional exhibit currently on display is “Still Life with Fish”, an extensive photography collection that focuses on the themes of exploring to find one’s identity and finding a sense of community within the West Coast. Displaying photographs from the 1960s to the present, this engaging chronological collection features many local Los Angeles Artists.
Although numerous striking photographs hang on the gallery walls, “Still Life with Fish” feels disjointed and incohesive at times. The wide range of conceptual and experimental photography on display offered many different artists’ interpretations of West Coast lifestyle, but also made it difficult for the viewer to follow.
Robert Heinecken, the founder of the photography program at UCLA impacted generations of artists through his pictures that pushed the boundaries of mediums, and this exhibit is a tribute to his success in influencing a new era of photographers.
“Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957 ”, “Hammer Projects: Kenny Scharf” and “Still Life with Fish” will be on display until March 15, May 22 and May 15, respectively. The Hammer Museum is closed on Mondays, and opens at 11am on all other days, closing at 8pm weekdays and at 5pm on weekends. Admission is always free.
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