Kleefeld Art Museum to re-open with queer, gay artists’ exhibits
09.02.2022 - 02:01
/ qvoicenews.com
Kleefeld Art Museum at Cal State Long Beach, which has undergone an ambitious renovation and expansion, will open next month with exhibits by two important and influential abstract artists: Linda Besemer, who identifies as queer, and Mark Bradford, who identifies as gay.
The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, formerly the University Art Museum, will feature a major retrospective of Besemer, and two lithographs from Bradford when it re-opens Feb. 12.
Expanded museum
Visitors to the Kleefeld Art Museum, university students and the public, will experience more art, more programming, and more resources.
The facade and roof — with its triangular points — is influenced by The Walter Pyramid, the university’s indoor sports arena.
The Kleefeld Art Museum renovations add 4,000 square feet, more than doubling the exhibit space.
Most of that space, 3,000 square feet, is dedicated to the museum’s Main Gallery, which has moveable walls, allowing multiple shows at a time.
In total, the art museum is 11,000 square feet and includes several new features: outdoor gardens and seating areas, a state-of-the-art education laboratory, a reading and archives room, office spaces, a retail shop, a temperature-controlled storage vault, and three permanent gallery spaces.
Artist Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld donated $10 million to help fund the art museum’s expansion and renovation and gifted 160 of her works to the museum’s permanent collection.
“Bugaboo” by Linda Besemer will be displayed in the retrospective “Linda Besemer: StrokeRollFoldSheetSlabGlitch” at Cal State Long Beach’s Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, when it reopens Feb. 12. Photo: Brica Wilcox
Linda Besemer exhibit
“Linda Besemer: