—Dr. Johnson gets hammered at the National Portrait Gallery, London. NOW they’ve decided to check visitors’ bags.
—The LA Museum of Contemporary Art decides to allow the SALE of bags—big-ticket designer handbags—by a commercial boutique setting up shop within the museum, in connection with its upcoming Takashi Murakami retrospective.
Diane Haithman of the LA Times reports:
MOCA Director Jeremy Strick said the idea of a boutique is in keeping with the 45-year-old Murakami’s commitment to breaking down the boundaries between low and high art.
…not to mention art and commerce. What’s next? Will the Met install a taxidermy shop beside the Damien Hirst shark tank? How about a Gagosian branch gallery?
LA MOCA is going to catch plenty of flak for this. Don’t say Tyler didn’t warn them last week. And he hammers them today here.
Question for Mr. Art Law Blog: Does ceding museum space to an outside commercial entity conform with a museum’s nonprofit public purpose?
Question for LA MOCA: Is this boutique a new form of community outreach…to the over-privileged?
CultureGrrl
Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary
an ArtsJournal blog