LACMA – The Los Angeles County Museum of Art boasts a stunning new exhibition building named in honor of museum benefactors, the Resnicks: The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion is one of the latest ventures designed by prominent architect, Renzo Piano. Scroll down to see architectural details & vignettes.
Resnick Pavilion Irwin Palm Garden © Alice Joyce
[Another of Piano’s recent projects – the new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago appeared here on AGTB in May, 2010.] During my recent Southern California rendevous at the Resnick, the weather couldn’t have been better: A week of mild winter weather and blue skies allowed me to wander at leisure, taking in the expansive landscape comprising artist Robert Irwin’s Palm Garden.
Bromeliads
Deeply mottled, patterned bromeliads provide a sleek counterpoint to the blue hue of fluttering fan palm foliage. I’m most always drawn to the rich rust color of Cor-ten steel, and here Irwin uses the material to emphasize the garden’s minimalist planting beds, and to outline isolated planters, all the while playing off swathes of green lawn, and the bright swords of Furcraea foetida ‘Mediopicta.’
Resnick Pavilion Gardens
Kudos to Irwin for the overall presentation: the landscape’s clean, precise layout, befitting and abetting the brilliant coloration and sculptural qualities of Piano’s emphatic 21st-century structure.
Resnick Pavilion LACMA © Alice Joyce
Years ago Irwin built a reputation on site-specific installations that dealt with light: For someone of my aesthetic persuasion, Irwin’s artworks were sublime; remaining in my mind’s eye to this day.
Resnick Pavilion Irwin Garden Furcraea Grid © Alice Joyce
I plan to return again and again to Los Angeles to observe the subtle ways Irwin may capitalize on light in these outdoor garden spaces surrounding the Resnick Pavilion.
Resnick Pavilion – Architect Renzo Piano © Alice Joyce
Resnick Pavilion Escalator © Alice Joyce
Read more…. Chris Burden Installation – Urban Light
Dear Alice, What a joy that you have introduced me to this garden, about which, as you may imagine I knew nothing. Such brave and bold planting schemes, absolutely at one with the dynamic architecture of the buildings with their flashes of bright colour. I love it!
I enjoyed your photos of the plantings outside the new pavilion. (The shot of the red ventilation equipment reflecting red on the travertine is really striking–a very Irwinesque phenomenon.) Compared to Irwin’s Getty garden (and it’s probably inevitable that they will be held up against each other) the LACMA garden seems remarkably restrained. I visited LACMA a couple times before the official opening, and the plantings were still in progress. The garden has come together nicely.
wonderful extraordinary contemporary architecture. normally i’m not that keen on palms and bromeliads but in that context they’re perfect. really exciting and original design. cheers, c
You have put together tow of my favorites: LACMA and Renzo Piano, a must in my “to visit” list. Thanks, Lula
Gorgeous palms and bromeliad design.