See what’s in the gleaming
ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART
The Orange County Museum of Art is sleek, bright and ready for us at last. The museum, once housed in Newport Beach and long delayed in its plans to move and grow, opened in late 2022 as the first visual arts institution in Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It’s free. Designed by L.A. architect Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis, it’s slinky like Disney Hall, white like the Getty Center and has half as much exhibition space (25,000 square feet) as the Broad in Los Angeles.
Do not look for Impressionists here. Or pleasant California landscapes. OCMA’s mission is to confront us with challenging contemporary work — a bracing contrast to the surrounding suburban landscape. Through June 4, an exhibition by Daniel Arsham plays with the idea of how our current culture (including our phones) will look as ruins in the future. Atop the building (until Aug. 13) rises “Of Many Waters...” — a 16-foot-high sequined metallic sculpture by artist (and L.A. native) Sanford Biggers. Closed Monday.
The rest of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts includes venues for music, drama and ballet. Traveling productions like “Tootsie” and “Come From Away” play the largest venue, 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall — not to be confused with the 1,954-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (where the Pacific Symphony often plays). South Coast Repertory, also on campus, offers several productions yearly in its theaters.
BONUS TIP: South Coast Plaza, mother of all California malls, is just a few blocks away (and donated the land that the new museum sits upon). Since its 1967 opening (on a former lima bean field), South Coast Plaza has grown into one of the largest shopping centers in North America, with about 250 retailers and 30 restaurants, including enough luxury brands to raise a Kardashian’s eyebrows. Wandering through, you may be tempted to buy a blazer (as I did). Or, if you’re remembering Daniel Arsham’s work, you might wonder what future archaeologists will learn here.