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Arts & Entertainment

LACMA Says Farewell To 'Penetrable'

Penetrable_LACMA.jpg
LACMA holds a special photo op for 'Penetrable' on Sunday. The work closes on Feb. 12. (Photo by Michael Locke via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)

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The “yellow spaghetti” piece in front of LACMA’s Ahmanson Building—formally known as Jesús Rafael Soto’s installation Penetrable—closes for good on Feb. 12. Often overshadowed by the museum’s other outdoor installations nearby, including Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass and Chris Burden’s Urban Light, Soto’s whimsical work beckons visitors to play among the yellow hoses suspended from a grid.

From LACMA’s UnFramed blog:

Although Soto’s work is conceived as a geometric sculpture, it lacks a solid surface or plane; its shape is easily altered by human contact, or even natural elements such as wind and rain. In other words, it is a work in constant flux. This playful and profoundly sensorial aspect of Soto’s Penetrable has made it one of the most popular works in the museum—an object that invites the viewer to become one with the work of art.

Penetrable has been on long-term loan from the New York City and Caracas-based Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and on view at LACMA since 2011. Today (Sunday, Jan. 8), the museum holds a special farewell event for Soto’s spaghetti piece. From noon to 4 pm on the plaza, a professional photographer will be available at the artwork to take pictures of you, friends and family playing and posing with the piece. The photographer is available on a first-come, first-served basis. All photos will be emailed to participants within a week of the event (pending a signed release).

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