Sasha's Doll Blog: August 3, 2012: A Rock by Another Name

I'm here at the Farmer's Market at a blue-topped table having a hot chocolate with just the tiniest bit of whipped cream, thinking about the rock. By that I mean the 340 ton boulder that now resides at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

 You may have heard about how it cost LACMA ten million or so dollars for the rock, the construction of the site at LACMA and cost to transport it from a Riverside, California rock quarry, all the way to Los Angeles, and how people got up in the middle of the night and lined the streets to track it's progress, kind of like the Olympic torch. And how it arrived at LACMA at 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, with a crowdout to greet it. I wish I had been there, but I did the next best thing: I went to see it.

Like other works of art, it's attracting a lot of people. Many of the rock viewers like to have their picture taken while standing under it with their hands in the air positioned as if they are holding it. I chose the alternate pose - standing next to it, pushing it into place. (The dolls are anxious to see it too, and I foresee a photo shoot in the offing!)

While it's not the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, or Stonehenge, it is a giant rock and is at the center of a larger work by artist Michael Heizer entitled "Levitated Mass." What makes it an experience is that it is suspended above a little road that was made especially for it that dips down into a valley under it. LACMA also devoted a parking-lot sized lawn, covered in sand, to it. If you go on a Friday night, you can hear a free live jazz band starting at 6:00 p.m. On Saturdays at 5:00, it's live salsa, and on Sundays, classical in the Bing Auditorium.

We went last Saturday night and were drawn to it and to all the people who were also drawn to it. In the near distance, we heard the salsa band and later joined the revelers on the nearby museum lawn, where people were camped out with their kids, their camp chairs, coolers, strollers and picnics. We joined the dancers for the last few songs and then topped off the evening at the nearby Farmer's Market for more free music.

So if you live in L.A. or anywhere nearby, go experience a levitated mass!

See you next week.

Sasha