The Broad Museum

When in LA do what the locals do...

That is go to the most popular museum to see and be seen. Ever since The Broad opened back in September, I've seen news articles and instagrams pop up everywhere featuring some of the most iconic contemporary art (I'm talking Warhol, Koons, Lichtenstein, and Kruger to name a few).

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And as you may know, I am a HUGE museum buff. I love the atmosphere, the wandering, the learning, the interpreting, the analyzing...I LOVE IT ALL. If I could, I would just museum hop around the world for the rest of my life. Alas, I cannot (at this point in time) so I'll settle for spontaneous museum trips.

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Gina, probably the greatest sister ever, happened to reserve tickets far in advance and coincidentally was the same weekend my mom and I were visiting. I was jazzed. The timing was just too perfect. We spent the afternoon at our favorite spots in downtown LA which is both lovely and nightmarish (the good: Grand Central Market, The Last Bookstore; the bad: parking, parking, parking). Our ticket reservation was for 3:30 pm and we headed on over to the white, abstract, geometric building and waited in line to be shuttled into the museum.

Upon entering, you immediately encounter curved gray walls with Urs Fischer's "Untitled, 2012" cast aluminum lamp lights juxtaposed against them.

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The museum features two floors of amazing art, and we decided to go upstairs first to see the well-known pieces. As you enter the top floor, the space opens up with large ceilings  and white walls adorned with some of the finest pieces of art. As we stepped off the escalator, we immediately spotted Jeff Koons' "Tulips". This may sound stupid, but is a monumental moment; Gina, especially, and I have loved the work of Koons' for quite some time, and have been eager to see his work in person. It's an incredible experience to see something you have always seen in pictures or dreamed about with your own eyes.

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As we were just getting started, we had to go back down stairs to meet my Aunt Caroline and her friends Brad and Joe. Lucky for us, though, we managed to get in line for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room. Walking into the room, for only 45 seconds, is probably in my top ten moments in life.

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The room is quite smaller than you would think, it's only as big as a room in your house. You walk out onto a platform which is surrounded by water. All around you are mirrored walls and hanging lights flashing on and off. It felt like infinity. To infinity and beyond.

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Afterwords, we returned to the upstairs to find Koons' "Balloon Dog [Blue]". Gina and I with Joe!

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a room full of Lichtenstein's, like "Non-Obejective 1" and "I...I'm Sorry!"

a room full of Andy Warhol's with "Most Wanted Men No. 6, Thomas Francis C." and his classic campbell noodle soup cans.

a few of Damien Hirst's works, "Chlorpropamide [PFS]"

(yes this is a fermented lamb)

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Barbara Kruger's bold feminist art

Glenn Ligon's "Double America 2"

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and an oversized dining room table and chairs set called "Under the Table" by Robert Therrien.

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Brad and Aunt Caroline in miniature form.

Plus this woman....

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It was fun to explore the art, and take funny pictures. I think the most rewarding part for me was seeing all of the art I had been studying that quarter. It's one thing to learn it, but to experience it is a whole other ball game.

After spending nearly a solid two hours we decided to leave. We weren't quite yet done though and did a little photoshoot with the rad building.

I'm lucky enough to have great genes.

Overall an AMAZING experience. It was quite a fun day. I highly recommend you reserve tickets (now) if you're planning on going to Los Angeles any time soon. Or maybe even reserving tickets and then plan a trip to LA! Thanks Gina for getting the tickets!

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