Jeff Koons' 'Train' nowhere near its final destination, or even a start date

When the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced plans in 2007 to build Jeff Koons' massive, multimillion-dollar "Train," the news quickly polarized the art community. Some said it would be a monumental and important work of art for L.A. Others decried it as a potential eyesore and a money pit.

Nearly three years on, "Train" appears to be nowhere near completion -- or even a start date for construction. LACMA told The Times that the project is still somewhere between the feasibility and design phases, and that the public won't see the finished artwork until 2014.

"Train" was initially scheduled to be completed in 2011 or 2012. Designs for the quasi-sculpture call for an approximately 70-foot replica of a 1943 Baldwin 2900-series steam locomotive, suspended vertically from a 161-foot-tall construction crane.

"Train" has a rumored price tag of $25 million, but the museum declined to disclose figures except to say that it is budgeted in the "many millions" of dollars. If the rumored cost is true, "Train" would be among the most expensive pieces of art ever commissioned by a museum.

John Bowsher, the museum's director of special art installations, said the next phases for "Train" involve two mock-ups: one involving a full-scale steam component that will test the size of the steam plume, and another dealing with the nose of the train engine that will use real materials to determine how easy it will be to meet the artist's standards.

Neither mock-up has begun yet, according to Bowsher. He also said that there is no start date for the construction of the project.

The museum said it has completed an imaging process that involves taking digital scans of an actual 1943 machine so that the new parts can be manufactured. However, it will take several additional months to put the digital scans together into an overall picture.

So far, the museum has a "small circle of people" working on the project in various capacities, according to Bowsher. It is also partnering with Carlson & Co., a local firm that has worked with Koons on previous projects.

LACMA said that Koons' original conception for "Train" has not changed since it was first announced. The project's feasibility study is being at least partially funded by a $2-million grant from the Annenberg Foundation.

Last week, The Times reported that the museum's investments dropped 23% in the last fiscal year. Donations to the museum also fell from $129.7 million to $29 million.

On Monday, a report from Bloomberg stated that "Train" could be canceled altogether if the museum doesn’t find the necessary funding. The LACMA spokesman did not confirm or deny that assertion. 

Currently, the museum has other projects competing for fund-raising attention, including LACMA West, a 70-year-old part of the campus that is being renovated as part of the museum's multi-year upgrading of its facilities.

-- David Ng

Photo: A design for Jeff Koons' proposed "Train." Credit: Jeff Koons Production Inc. / LACMA

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Comments

[Don]

I'm not necessarily mad at anyone. I just don't see the point of conjuring up a pile of scrap and then fleecing people out of money to pay for it in the name of "art".
We have a sculpture park in suburban St. Louis and one of the larger items is a huge pile of very large red painted cylinders in all directions. It actually looks like a trainload of tank cars derailed and piled up. He could retire on what he made for the scrapyard he inflicted on the countryside.
If it's going to be large and in a public place, the public should have some input because if it is an eyesore, it will be around a long time, like the Serra "sculpture" rusty steel walls in downtown St. Louis. It at least gives the winos a private place to pee.

[Hale Adams]

This is art?

I second Robert Grenader's comment: If I get one of those 500-foot tall construction cranes, hang a replica of the SS Andrea Doria from it, and call it "Ship", maybe I can be called an artist, pull down a million-dollar-a-year salary, and have a multi-million-dollar budget to play with.

Cool!

Where do I sign up?

Hale Adams
Pikesville, People's Democratic Republic of Maryland

[K.E.]

No, No, NO. This is just rip off of a piece they already did at burning man. In fact, the trucks were much cooler.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zarprey/1327377346/

Koons' train is NOT bold - like everything Koons has been doing lately - it's just derivative and BIG. And the scale of it is just a cynical bid to impress: "Look how big it is! It must be important!"

No - it isn't. It's awful. It's lazy. And it's boring.

I love trains, but this is just stupid.

Please, Emperor, put on some clothes.

[William Wray]

I don't think Koons is a rip off of the BM trucks, junkyards have done this for years, but I know the train way more expensive. I totally agree it's a big trick just to make things big. Klaus Oldenburg did it a long time ago, at least he added a distortion/ cleverness factor.
It's the fundamental problem with dominant art today, it's mostly based on clever variations of collage or gathering of found objects. It's just when you do it with BIG found objects it's got the scale wow factor of how the heck did they do that? It's symptomatic of all media and entertainment. 90% of it is just bigger special effects or cleaver combinations of past icons. Where are the original ideas? It's all just satire/ rehash now.

[Woody Tanaka]

"[W]hat does it mean Woody?"

William, I don't know what it means, or even if it means anything at all. But I do understand the aesthetic impact of seeing a locomotive hanging by a crane. And understanding that is really all I need. Your mileage may vary.

[Donald Frazell]

And yet you cant tell the difference between a human and an ape. You want to go by DNA, when the structures are different in that we have 46 to their 48 chromosomes and obvious physical differences in hips, jaws, teeth, hands, cranial capacity, damn near all significant differences from the similarities apes have to one another. But cant tell us why this means anything. Interesting.

There is no aesthetic impact from a train hanging from a crane. You watch far too much TV. It has nothing to do with creative art, and all with spectacle and entertainment, its show biz. Not Art. You really cant see or think for yourself, can you?

art collegia delenda est

[William Wray]

"I don't know what it means, or even if it means anything at all."

Woody if it's means nothing how can you expect to change someone's mind about it? I also wonder why you would say: "It would be a terrible if this project were stopped by people who can't or don't understand it." So in your case it should be supported by people who don't understand it. I guess you can never lose an argument if you don't have a point of view.

But wait, perhaps you do...

"But I do understand the aesthetic impact of seeing a locomotive hanging by a crane."

You simply mean it would look friggin' cool? Would it be cool to give 25 million in grants to 100 artists who can draw? Lets you and me hang ten real trains for the same budget. That would have some freaking impact to any aesthetic, even mine.

Can I ask why wouldn't a real train look cool for 10% of the budget? And let me ask you this: would it look cool for a train museum to do the same thing? Or is in front of LACMA have a more pleasing aesthetic because they don't have an old train wing? Break down the philosophy of it for me. Please I need to understand why I'm so dumb about art.

[Chris Eggerstrof]

The latest word is that Barbara Boxer--yes, THAT Barbara Boxer has petitioned Congress to fund this ridiculous "art" work. We could be putting that money to work restoring real works of art, such as putting REAL steam locomotives back into operation. Barbara Boxer only knows how to waste our tax money. As I understand it, her opponent in the upcoming election, is a member of the Union Pacific Historical Society, the California Railroad Museum and the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society. If you are a steam locomotive enthusiast, put your vote where your heart is and elect Carly Fiorina to Congress.