The new UMMA

Scott and I went to the University of Michigan Museum of Art today, excited to see the new building and the new layout. It's truly beautiful. With its blond wood, wide windows, and open spaces, it reminds me of nothing so much as the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark: you stumble upon paintings or sculptures in the same happy, accidental-feeling way, in beautiful places, and you can look across several levels of rooms at one time from any number of viewing spots. I will be revisiting often.
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Right now, I have to urge you all to go see the exhibit running there right now called History Painting: Painting and Public Life in the 21st Century. It's amazing how art can make you see universally-known events in a completely new way. There is a huge canvas of the cascading streaks we all remember from the terrible Challenger disaster. There are architecturally perfect paintings of Iraqi detention camps. There's Patty Hearst, wielding her gun like an electric guitar.
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There's a three-minute animation of the O.J. Simpson verdict by artist Kota Ezawa, which I found particularly fascinating: I found myself breathlessly waiting for O.J.'s tiny, triumphant smile!
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It's great stuff. Go check it out. Don't worry -- you have plenty of time. It's there till mid-September.