The Getty Art Museum Los Angeles.
I went to the Getty Art museum north of Los Angeles with my wife over the weekend. It is a fun place, built by the architect Richard Meier, who proves that you can make something big and complicated, big and complicated. Post Modern architecture can and should be fun in my mind at least in public spaces. Have a look for yourself (snazzy video) available.
Architecture should function in situ and tell the story of the place. You know it when you see it done right. Richard Meier actually did a great art museum section in my home state of Iowa. check it out here. Having taken a minor in art history and travelled a few places, I can say that personally the Des Moines Art center for its size and location is very well done. Meier got it right in Des Moines, less so in L.A. The Getty is huge and busy. It looks a bit like a hospital when you approach it from the 405 interstate.
The idea to have a tram up to the gallery on the hill and the placement makes sense. The choice to break up the galleries and into various sections again makes sense. The buildings are interesting and offer multiple perspectives constantly changing as one wanders around. the space is quiet and calm, with fountains etc. The choice of material a white pocked travertine marble rough in places and polished in others works well. It is a nod to the "temple" of art.
Unfortunately the shapes of the buildings themselves seem a bit charmless. It feels like post modern deconstruction for its own sake. The space is original and calming, but not quite dead on right. Given the scale and importance for the project, it should have been dead on right. Kind of a disappoint considering the Getty Museum's important place on the world stage.
The collection is getting better, the furnished European rooms are done well, the photographic collection second to none. By and large the museum still feels lacking.
The security is omni-present at the Getty. It is a great place to take a picnic and lay about in the hills over L.A. have a look at the gardens here. Unfortunately some things are off, like a huge water feature visible here. People are drawn to water and plants, we naturally are attracted to the edge boundary of a water and land. Seeing a fountain or water feature, we usually approach as close as possible to see and understand it better. The Getty's feature doesn't allow that, it separates people from the element. There is one word for the design of this huge garden feature. Lame!
I want to love the Getty, I really do. L.A. is an asphalt armpit in dire need of an oasis. The Getty squandered its chance. I can honestly say I like it and would take visitors to see it, but it is not a world class building. It is a big marble monument to money triumphing valiantly over taste. Hey wait a minute, maybe it is perfect for L.A. :)
PS. I am sure the research and the scholars are fantastic and the people there were very nice. So I guess I blame Richard Meier and the trustees.
