Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Contemporary art museum in Downtown Los Angeles, United States.
The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum in Downtown Los Angeles that operates across two locations. The main site sits on Grand Avenue in a red sandstone building with geometric forms, while the Geffen Contemporary occupies a converted warehouse in Little Tokyo.
The museum began after talks between Mayor Tom Bradley and collector Marcia Simon Weisman in 1979, when several collectors pledged their works. The main building was designed by Arata Isozaki and opened in 1986, while the second location was added later.
The collection includes works by artists such as Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock, whose paintings fill the gallery walls. Visitors can also see pieces by Robert Rauschenberg and Claes Oldenburg, which document the shift in post-war art.
A ticket covers both locations, which are open Tuesday through Sunday and offer longer hours on Thursday evenings. The Grand Avenue site sits downtown and is easy to reach on foot, while the Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo stands just a few blocks away.
Frank Gehry designed the Geffen Contemporary by converting an old warehouse, whose high ceilings and open rooms allow large-scale installations. The pyramid-shaped skylights in the main building were built to direct natural light into the galleries.
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