by Alex Wells
Dear OCMA,
Normally I would write this as a normal article, but in this case I think an open letter might work better. I recently decided to drive 50 or so minutes from my home in Los Angeles down to visit you for the 2025 California Biennial: Desperate, Scared, But Social exhibition.
I had heard about the Biennial from a friend and thought it was worth taking the time to see it for myself (plus I’m a huge supporter of the Linda Linda’s and thought it was intriguing that they would be included as part of a museum exhibition). I hadn’t been to Orange County in quite a while, but driving the 405 south was a reminder why all good things naturally make their way north to the city.
Following google maps, I arrived to the front of your building, drove right past it, turned around at the traffic circle, drove right past it again – and stopped at a red covered curb. Your building? A surprise! A wavy, undulating and weirdly-scifi mix of tile and glass placed squarely in the middle of a pretty boring office park – a delight from the often buttoned-up-conservativeness that is much of Orange County.
But I was at a loss.
Los Angeles and its surrounds, is a car culture. It is difficult and time consuming (although possible) to navigate any distance in Southern California without at least 2 wheels.
So here I was, at this beautiful and relatively new building, stopped in front of it – without a clue of where to park my car. I looked for signs. There were none.
I drove down the street again looking for signs, arrows, wisdom from the gods for where to find OCMA parking. Nothing.
I drove in several circles trying to reach the museum from the back or sides – again nothing. No message on any of the surrounding streets even indicated that the museum existed within the cluster of office buildings. So my question is – do you even want people to visit you? Or is the OCMA some form of circle-jerk for rich patrons and supporters to attach their name to without wanting pelbians to dirty it’s halls?
I parked at a structure somewhat near the museum (again no indication at the parking structure suggested this might be a good place to park for OCMA) and figured that I’d make my way to the museum somehow.
Upon exiting the parking structure – I looked for arrows indicating the right way to walk to access the museum. I know Orange County is capable of informing people where to go–it is the hallowed home of Disneyland which signals its existence in interstate green for miles in every direction–but here, at the OCMA, accessing art means guessing and wandering for tense consecutive minutes at a time to reach your destination.
It actually sounds quite Buddhist now that I’m writing it, but I was not looking for enlightenment this morning–I was looking for the pleasure of aesthetic contemplation. I found it–stayed 10 minutes not even bothering to see the other exhibitions in the building because I was so annoyed—paid my $18 parking fee and headed back to where all reasonable Southern Californians live – Los Angeles. Thanks OC.
Image: Staff
Image Note: I did actually find one sign with an arrow conveniently located directly in front of the OCMA.