Photos: A first look at the Hammer Museum’s two-decade, $90 million reinvention

Call it the big reveal. The final phase of the $90 million, two-decade expansion and renovation of the Hammer Museum, designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture, debuts Sunday. The museum will now have 60% more gallery space, including the renovated City National Bank. space next door and a terrace of outdoor sculptures.

But the most notable change will be a new entrance at the corner of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards, now much more visible to passersby. Not to mention a reimagined, easier-to-navigate lobby. No more wide-eyed, lost-looking visitors staggering out of the parking lot.

to display the new spaces, the museum features several large-scale installations. The lobby will feature a wraparound wire installation. by the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota; the bank will house a large-scale installation of lasers and fog, “Particulates,” by Rita McBride; and the 25-foot-tall cast bronze sculpture “Oracle” by Sanford Biggers will be located on the terrace at the corner of Wilshire and Glendon Avenues.

The “Together in Time: Selections From the Hammer Contemporary Collection” exhibition, the largest presentation of the museum’s contemporary collection to date, will fill nearly every other gallery space throughout the museum, showcasing acquisitions dating back to 2005.

“Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio,” a a retrospective of the British artist’s work and “Cruel Youth Diary: Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video From the Haudenschild Collection”, which features works from the 1990s and early 2000s by artists such as Cao Fei, Weng Fen and Xu Zhen, will remain on display. the view. .

The Times got a sneak peek of the transformed Hammer Museum ahead of the opening.

A mural next to the entrance to the Hammer Museum.

(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

“The Network” by artist Chiharu Shiota on display in the Hammer’s new lobby.

(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

“Oracle”, a sculpture by Sanford Biggers, is located on the new terrace outside the main building.

(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

“Particulates,” a laser art installation by artist Rita McBride, on display in Hammer Gallery’s new space that was formerly a bank.

(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

The new Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, a resource for works on paper, in the renovated Hammer Museum.

(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)