^{This is a terrible reproduction of Jenny Saville's 21 by 9 foot triptych Strategy, but it was the only one I could find quickly. For a better view, go here.}

Weird, though not unexpected, stuff is going on in Los Angeles.

MOCA, the downtown museum with a terrific collection (if not enough room to show it in) and a terrific program of talked-about, serious shows (most recently, WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, now at Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Murakami-Vuitton-bag-store exhibition) is in big financial trouble. The museum may even have to look into some kind of merger.

Meanwhile, less than a year after the opening of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum—an appendage on the side of Los Angeles County Museum of Art supported by LA supercollector Eli Broad—that same supercollector is announcing he's opening his own contemporary art museum. People saw a Broad museum coming, sure, but already? And the timing of the Broad announcement in the New York Times on the same day as the LAT story about the fragility of LA's leading contemporary art museum—well, it's quite a news day.

I can't pretend to know what Los Angeles should or even could do. I can say that I've loved the brainy heft of MOCA, a place that also feels open, accessible, and even playful. On a visit to the private Broad Foundation earlier this year I was also stunned by the strength and secrecy of its collection. The headquarters are in an unmarked, elegant building near the beach in Santa Monica, and access is only granted to people who get permission, usually artists, writers, or academics. I had a tour from the thoroughly marvelous thinker Ed Schad, and I imagine that anyone who's gone through there has the same response: This work should be seen by the public. Which is what the Broads are trying to do by opening a museum of their own.

It wasn't just the slick, headlining stuff they put up at BCAM: The Foundation Collection includes new Gursky giganto-graphs, a room full of Stephan Balkenhol's woodsy figures, a complete set of the Bechers' Typology of Water Towers, an entire Franz Ackermann installation, great Paul Pfeiffers, big Cecily Browns and Jenny Savilles (which are rarely seen, since I think she works pretty slowly—and it is worth plane fare to LA to see Saville's enormous triptych Strategy from 1994), delicate Ellen Gallaghers, some really nice Mark Tansey. Much of the collection is online here.

I'm excited for a Broad museum, but worried for MOCA.