LACMA’s New Galleries Open With a Pedro Reyes Sculpture Already Under Fire
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries have barely entered public view, and one sculpture is already drawing criticism. Tlali (2026), a large stone work by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes (b. 1972), has become the subject of a renewed dispute over representation, context, and institutional memory.
The controversy intensified after nearly 80 people signed an April 23 letter, published by Cubo Blanco, accusing LACMA of lacking “memory” by giving the work a prominent place. Their objection echoes the backlash that followed Reyes’s 2021 project in Mexico City, where he had been selected to create a sculpture intended to replace a Christopher Columbus monument. That project was ultimately canceled after critics objected that Reyes is not Indigenous and should not have been chosen to depict an Indigenous woman.
LACMA has pushed back, saying the new sculpture is “entirely different in purpose and meaning” from the Mexico City proposal because it now exists in “a new location, context, and opportunity for discussion.” Museum director Michael Govan has also suggested that Tlali may not depict a female figure at all. In a statement, he described the work as “poignant, androgynous, fragmentary, and mask-like,” and linked it to ancient American fragments in the museum’s collection, especially Olmec masks with avian and jaguar motifs.
The dispute arrives at a consequential moment for LACMA, which has spent years preparing the new building as a redefinition of its public identity. The sculpture’s reception suggests that the museum’s ambitions for architectural renewal will continue to be tested by questions about who gets represented, and how.
Elsewhere in the museum world, the Louvre is signaling a different kind of recalibration. In a lengthy interview with Le Monde, Louvre president Christophe Leribault said contemporary art projects at the Paris museum will “undoubtedly become more occasional” in the coming years. He also said the institution will reduce spending on new acquisitions, which had been funded through ticket sales.
Leribault’s comments come as the Louvre continues to absorb the fallout from the October theft of its crown jewels and broader concerns about structural decay. On May 13, a jury will choose an architect for the Louvre-Nouvelle Renaissance renovation project, which is now being adjusted so that safety and security take a more central role.
Taken together, the two museums point to a larger shift: major institutions are not only building and renovating, but also renegotiating the terms on which they present contemporary art, historical memory, and public trust.
