This was originally posted on Nov. 25, 2015 in my old travel blog

Yesterday my friend Trevor and I decided to head over to Downtown LA to take some pictures and see if we could get into the every popular Broad museum. After an hour and half of waiting in the standby line (Pro-tip. Come at least 30 minutes, if not an hour before they open if you weren’t able to make a reservation), we got to go in and see what everyone is making such a large deal about.

As a disclaimer I am not the largest fan of contemporary art; however, with that said I still appreciate art, it’s hard not to when your dad is a professional artist , so I came into the Broad with an open mind. Going in there were many pieces that I was excited to see since they had been popping up on my friends Instagram accounts.

Once you make it to the top of the escalator you are greeted by Jeff Koons’ Ballon Tulips. I am not really sure how I feel about Jeff Koons. I know that as a person I do not like him and I question a lot of his work, he seems narcissistic and embodies everything about commercialism to me. I actually ran into another friend who was also visiting the Broad and he brought the question of Koons being an artistic genius or impostor. We both agreed that the balloon stuff is super cool but some of his other pieces seem gimmicky. Case in point the basketball floating in a fish tank, I do not like that piece but they have it at the Broad if you are a fan of it. Personally I did not like seeing his work as the greeting piece, but that has more to do with my personal hatred of Koons. However Trevor and I did come up with a selfie replacement, which I like to term the “ballon-ie” since you take a picture of yourself in the shiny balloons.

There were many pieces that I loved at the broad such as the larger than life dining set, aptly names Under the Table by Robert Therrien. His giant dishes also greet you right when you enter the Broad. There were works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cindy Sherman, Keith Haring, Barbara Kruger gracing the walls and floor of the Broad as well. I loved seeing Roy Lichtenstein’s work because his name has been popping up in my dreams even though before visiting I hadn’t seen much of his work or even known much about him. My favorite piece in the Broad was Kara Walker’s African’t, which were these larger than life paper cutouts that graced the walls. It seems to portray a happy scene but upon closer examination one sees the hardships of life and slavery, I don’t really know how to describe it, all I can say is that there is shock value even though the work isn’t that shocking if that makes any sense. It is a very moving piece that all should see. Her smaller paper cutouts titled Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynchingis also on display and they are beautiful as well. With her amazing art she is able to tell a story.

Overall the Broad was super cool. Trevor and I unfortunately didn’t get to see Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room but more reason to visit back. The Broad is a cool museum, We both agreed that it wasn’t as large as we had imagined it to be, but the Broad still boasts a sizable and tasteful collection of modern and contemporary art. If you are looking for something fun and free to do in LA I highly recommend seeing the Broad. Plus they have the world’s coolest elevator so what more reason do you need. For more info about the Broad visit their website www.thebroad.org