The David Geffen Galleries, designed by Peter Zumthor, are alive with sound and activity at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Voices echo through the vast, concrete space and the cacophony of drills and electric lifts, beeping, buzzing and clattering. A unique, colorful glaze is applied to the gallery walls, and paintings and photographs are installed throughout.
That passionate whir? It’s a Hilti TE 4-22 cordless rotary hammer drill. “A very fine product,” says senior art preparer Michael Price with a sly smile. He’s been drilling holes in concrete walls with the big red contraption, which comes with a small attached vacuum that sucks up concrete dust as it enters the wall. The job is simple and done in seconds.
Senior art preparator Michael Price drills into concrete walls to hang art in the new David Geffen galleries at Lacma. He jokingly calls the Hilti TE 4-22 cordless rotary hammer drill a “very fine product.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Some of the first holes were drilled a little over a week ago to install a photo sculpture at LACMA, whose entrance was by Los Angeles-born artist Todd Gray titled “Octavia Butler’s Gaze.” Last Wednesday, Gray, along with LACMA director and executive director Michael Gowan and curator Britt Salvesen, watched as the final panel of the 27-foot-long installation was lifted onto the wall and placed in place using wooden shards that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
“That’s another thing that concrete makes possible,” says Salvesen, head of the photography, as well as prints and drawings, departments, noting with satisfaction how washed out the photographs are against the wall. “Traditional sheetrock drywall, which is used in many museums, has been painted and repainted so many times, they’re not exactly pristine when it comes to smoothing.”
Gray steps back and looks at the finished product, nodding with quiet pride. The LA native attended Hamilton High School and Calarts and was deeply honored to be assigned to the permanent commission. That’s why he was one of the first people to walk around the building in a hard hat when it was being built so he could get a feel for the space. The new building opens in April 2026.
“I was kind of shocked,” Gray says. “I’d never been in an architectural space like this, so I was just really curious. But I have to admit, I was much more worried about this wall.”
The wall is large—a blank, concrete slate—and Gray’s piece will be the first artwork visitors see as they walk up the wide staircase leading to the new galleries. In the portrait of Butler, which Gray took in the 1990s, the influential writer looks thoughtfully into the distance—either near or far, one cannot be sure. Her expression is unreadable, at once thoughtful, curious, interested, and detached.
A portrait of Octavia Butler, taken in the 1990s by Todd Gray, anchors the 27-foot-tall photo sculpture commissioned by Lacma for the entrance to its new David Geffen Galleries.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Viņas seja ir zeltā, ovāls rāmis, un skatītāja acis seko viņu uz citiem skaņdarba aspektiem – lielu un mazu fotoattēlu komplektu, ko pelēks uzņemts vietās visā pasaulē, ieskaitot Versaļu, Norvēģiju un Ganu. Tas ietver idilliska izskata ceļa attēlu caur spilgti zaļiem zaļumiem, kas ved uz vergu pils Keipas krastā, Ganā. Kosmosā ir arī pārsteidzošs zvaigžņu attēls, jauks freska no Romas baznīcas, tradicionālās skulptūras attēls, kas atrodas Africamuseum Beļģijā un virkne stoisko grieķu kolonnu.
“Liela daļa mana darba ir mākslas vēstures apstrīdēšana vai runāšana par mākslas vēsturi vai fotogrāfijas vietu vēsturē, mans Vēsture, dažādas vēstures kulturāli, ”sacīja Grejs, paskaidrojot, kāpēc viņam patīk, ka Lacma kolekcija netiks demonstrēta hronoloģiski, vai ar vidēju vai reģionu, bet drīzāk virknē savstarpēji saistītu eksponātu, kas dialogā savieno ļoti atšķirīgu mākslu.“ Tātad tā patiešām bija komisija, kas izgatavota debesīs. ”
Jaunās galerijas, paskaidroja Govan, koncentrēsies uz “migrāciju un krustojumu, nevis amerikāņu mākslu vienā muzeja un Eiropas mākslas pusē citā spārnā”.
Piemēram, Greja foto skulptūra atradīsies blakus galerijai, kurā būs Āfrikas māksla un netālu no citas ar Latīņamerikas mākslu.
Tas būs arī tieši pretī no loga no grīdas līdz griestiem. Šie milzu logi ir galvenā Zumthor dizaina sastāvdaļa – un strīdu zibspuldzes punkts, kritiķi apgalvojot, ka pārāk daudz saules gaismas var kaitēt trauslajai mākslai.
Caurspīdīgi aizkari tiek veidoti dažiem logiem, bet tie netiks izmantoti visā, nevis ieejā pretī “Octavia’s Gaze”. Šī iemesla dēļ Grejs sacīja, ka izmanto salīdzinoši jaunu paņēmienu ar nosaukumu UV tiešā drukāšana, kas tika izstrādāta āra apzīmējumiem. Process ietver intensīvas ultravioletās gaismas, kas izārstē un sacietē tinti, galu galā to ieslēdzot drukāšanas materiālā. Šīs izdrukas neizbalst, sacīja Greja.
Tods Grejs, pa kreisi, pārrauga savas foto skulptūras “Octavia Butler’s Gaze” uzstādīšanu. Gabalā tika izmantota jauna UV drukāšanas tehnoloģija, lai pārliecinātos, ka tā neizbalst saules gaismā, kas nāk caur logiem no grīdas līdz griestiem.
(Džeisons Armonds / Los Angeles Times)
Delikāto un veco mākslu nepakļauj risks gaisma, sacīja Govana. Zumthor ēkas interjers ir punktēts ar boksātām, bez logiem galerijām, kuras Govan un Zumthor sauc par “mājām”. Un tāpat kā mājas, galeriju interjers tiek apstrādāts ar krāsu – tomēr nav krāsas formā.
Zumthor iecerēja trīs krāsas, kuras viņš vēlējās izmantot galerijās, skaidroja Diāna Magaloni, vecākā direktora vietniece saglabāšanas, kuratora un izstādēs, kura sajauc stiklus un strādāja ar četru apmācītu mākslinieku komandu, lai tos piemērotu. Krāsas ir sarkanīgi melna, renesanses ultramarīna zila un melna bordo, kuru Zumthor cerēja uzburt alai līdzīgu blāvumu. Kopumā Magaloni sacīja, ka Zumthor vēlējās, lai krāsa izskatās tā, it kā tā parādītos no tumsas.
There are 27 galleries, and the colors will be divided by section: The nine on the south side are red, the nine on the north side are black, and the nine in the middle are blue.
The glazing technique was conceived by a friend of Zumthor’s who lives in Switzerland, and Lacma is currently the only organization using it, Magaloni said.
Pigments made from minerals including hematite and rocks like lapis lazuli are ground into nanoparticles and suspended in silica, which resembles “molten glass,” as Magaloni describes it. The glaze is then applied to the walls—a process that must be done immediately to prevent any brushstrokes and because the glaze hardens quickly. Once that’s dry, the team applies a second coat of glaze pigment infused with black carbon nanoparticles. The effect is dark and mottled—it looks as if the concrete has swallowed the paint.
“Concrete has this whole life of its own,” Magaloni said. “You can walk around the building and see that these surfaces are not really uniform. The material expresses itself without art, and we wanted to preserve that.”
Painting concrete will erase that life, she added.
The gallery, a deep burgundy, is almost complete, themed “Leisure and Work in the American Metropolis.” Works by George Bellow, James van der Zee, Marie Caste, and Robert Henri adorn the walls, and there’s a table ready to receive a Tiffany lamp. Govan notes that such paintings would not have been originally displayed on white walls, but rather on walls of richly colored fabric.
“She’s asking you something,” Todd Gray said of his portrait of Octavia Butler.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Gray’s piece will also be in dialogue with this room, inviting it from another time and place – asking viewers to turn their gaze to history, slavery, transcendence, redemption, power, and much more.
At a time when art institutions are grappling with the fallout from the Trump administration’s claim that the Smithsonian Institution promotes a “divisive, race-based ideology” and promises to monitor what other museums across the country exhibit, Gray’s piece feels like a small piece of resistance.
“She’s asking you something,” Gray says of Butler.
The answer is yours to announce.
