OFF TO THE RACES

The races? What races? Well, how about the Los Angeles museum races?

And in this ring: THE BROAD CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM.

Some insiders call B-CAM, "G-CAM," bowing to the "G" in the eponymous Gagosian Gallery, from whom it is speculated Eli Broad bought 80% of his great art.

LACMA'S B-CAM cost $50M to build, paid for by Mr. Broad (so I guess he would get to call all the shots, ?though director Michael Govan, fresh in from New York, vehemently denies that Mr. B.'s the boss man). Furthermore, Mr. Broad has elected not to bequeath his 2,000-piece art collection to a public facility. Rather he's chosen to lend his pictures ad museum, I mean nauseum, to other collecting institutions, rather than suffer the dire specter of his art cupidity relegated to a museum broom closet (i.e., permanent collection). Makes sense to me.

But, even for poor billionaires like Mr. Broad and his trend-setting private-public museum, nothing is ever easy. For, boys and girls, trouble is brewing at B-CAM.

B-CAM'S BATTLE OF THE SEXES

On the right: Did you know that the two curators of the exhibition were "actual" females, and that Cindy Sherman has more individual pieces on exhibit than any other artist, male or female? Now that's important.

On the left: Did you know that B-CAM's 30 artists are 97% white and 87% male? Or that the entire Broad Foundation's 194 artists are 96% white and 83% male?

Oh, but there's more:

"Actual" female Barbara Kruger had the incalculable distinction (just think of the museum's courage) of being allowed to design the elevator. Now this is not just any old elevator: This elevator actually goes all the way to the top! If this is not the quintessence of feminism, I give up.

Naturally, there will always be naysayers and sourpusses contending that Eli Broad diminishes the contributions of women.

Ladies and gentlemen, I leave it to you to decide.

If you think you have anything to add to this conversation, contact: curator@broadartfoundation.org.

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