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Recycling LACMA's Permanent Collection: Destruction or Renewal?

NEW YORK—Deaccessioning has always been an issue of much discussion and debate in the art world, but for months now, ever since the onset of the Rose Art Museum debacle in January, it’s been a hotter topic than usual. The public eye has been focused more closely on museums selling off pieces from their collections, according to guidelines from the Association of Art Museum Directors and not. One institution in the former category is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which earlier this year sold two paintings as well as more than 100 objects from its costumes and textiles collection at auction.

L.A. artist Robert Fontenot was intrigued by this, and by the general lack of artists’ voices in the debate surrounding deaccessioning. So, true to form, he decided to make an art project about it. Thus was born “Recycle LACMA,” for which Fontenot bought more than 60 costume and textile items from the auctions of LACMA material, the first of which was held at Bonhams in February. He set to work transforming them into new, more offbeat pieces with completely different uses: one item, formerly a Claire McCardell dress, has become three witch’s hats; a traditional Korean jacket has been turned into two Barbie outfits; a handwoven Turkish textile, a wastepaper basket; and a multicolored crocheted cap, a Hacky Sack. Click on the photo gallery at left for a small sampling of Fontenot’s transformations so far, all of them clever, thought-provoking, and intended to suggest ways — albeit controversial ones — in which museums can think more creatively about the pieces they want to part with.

Fontenot spoke to ARTINFO about deaccessioning, the sacredness of art objects, and the prospect of turning a Giacometti into a table lamp.

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How did the idea for “Recycle LACMA” come about?

Well, I had read about the deaccessioning, and then I sort of forgot about it for a while. But searching through Bonhams’s Web site and auction catalogs, just to see what was coming up, I came upon all these LACMA items. I was surprised at how low a lot of the estimates were, and it occurred to me that I could actually buy some of these things myself. I’ve been reading so much about museum deaccessioning, and I wanted to do a project about it. Everything sort of came together.

Did you go into the auction planning to buy a certain number of items?

I was mostly going to play it by ear, but once I got there, I was shocked by how little some of the things were going for. I actually would’ve bought a lot more the first time around, but the lots I wanted were toward the end, and I wanted to make sure I had enough money. I was also surprised at how many lots didn’t sell. I ended up buying seven lots total over three auctions, and I was bid against on only two of them. On one of those, the person bid me up to $20.