Two Curators Put Gigantic Confederate Monuments in an LA Contemporary Art Museum. How Did They Pull It Off?

In Los Angeles earlier this month, everyone was talking about “ Monuments ,” an exhibition at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary that juxtaposes decommissioned Confederate statues with works by contemporary artists. The show has one other location: The Brick, a Los Angeles arts nonprofit on Western Avenue, wedged between a Buddhist temple and an avant-garde theater. While I was in town for the LACMA Art+Film Gala , I stopped by The Brick. At the entryway to the gallery, a security guard led visitors through a metal detector and patted them down. I’d never seen that in an art space, though it quickly became clear why. At the center of The Brick is Unmanned Drone, a large-scale sculpture by Kara Walker. The sculpture’s medium is a statue of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson that was taken down i