Michael Govan

THE CURATOR

MICHAEL GOVAN

Director, L.A. County Museum of Art

photographed by STEFANIE KEENAN at LACMA

AFTER GOVAN took over LACMA in 2006, two epic, Instagram-friendly installations defined the new regime: Chris Burden’s Urban Light, comprising 202 vintage L.A. streetlamps; and Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass, a 340-ton granite boulder balanced above a concrete trench. But Govan’s most ambitious endeavor is his most controversial: the shocking (for many) razing of four museum buildings to make way for architect Peter Zumthor’s $750 million boomerang-shaped structure spanning Wilshire Boulevard. Critics charge that it o ers 33 percent less gallery space than the original buildings. Reactions split the art world and caused the exit of one major donor, the Ahmanson Foundation. For now, Govan maintains support from LACMA’s board as he remakes the museum in his image. —S.A.