Modern Art Museum Gives Public a Look

Former art students Clint Yamaoka and Marada Edelstein drove down from Santa Barbara. An art history class--senior citizens, mostly--came up from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

And one woman who requested anonymity walked over from the skyscraper next door because “I hate my job and this cheers me up.”

They came, they saw, and most of them, it seemed, were conquered. After months of preening and publicity, after a week of previews for true believers (donors, artists, members), Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday faced the general public (including a few Philistines) and survived the fact that everybody, after all, is a critic.

An utterly unscientific survey of the first-day patrons provided a collective thumbs-up for architect Arata Isozaki’s statement in red sandstone and the exhibit titled “Individual: A Selected History of Contemporary Art 1945-1986.”

Yamaoka and Edelstein were enraptured, moving slowly from one painting to the next. Before they had only admired photos of Cy Twombley’s works in art books. Here were the originals. Said Yamaoka: “Now, to come here and see this, it’s great.”