Cheech Marin: Stick with the herb, lay off the art

The first paragraph of introductory wall text at LACMA's Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.: Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection is unexpectedly revealing. It explains, in strikingly direct terms, why this exhibition is at one of America's major art museums. [Photo]

The paragraph explains that the collector's celebrity is the basis for this exhibit. The wall text has nothing to do with the art on view. For the artists whose work is in the show, it's an insult of the worst kind: 'You're only here because of your association with a Hollywood star,' it says. The exhibition is an embarrassment.