Gay artists integral to MOCA retrospective
MOCA, The Museum of Modern Art in downtown Los Angeles celebrates Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years, a retrospective on view until May 3, 2010. The show is the largest ever showing of the museum’s world-renowned permanent collection, which numbers nearly 6,000 artworks dating from 1939 to the present day.
Organized by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel, this retrospective is a comprehensive survey of the past 70 years of contemporary art history and redefines the importance of Los Angeles as one of the world’s premier centers for modern art. Over 200 different artists are represented and the roster of known GLBT artists is strong, visible and controversial.
Museum turn-around
What a difference one year can make. In the past year, EDGE published several articles concerning the possible collapse of MOCA. As we know, the arts have been most affected by the recent economical struggles, but EDGE reported how the mismanagement by the museum’s director was the reason for the collapse. However, the management of the museum has been replaced and because of the generous assistance of the city’s most visible philanthropists, Mr. and Mrs. Eli Broad, MOCA has made a complete turn around. The galleries are polished and all dressed-up with the vision of continuing to carry the torch for contemporary art.
Organized chronologically, the installation at MOCA is displayed in both of the museum’s two separate buildings. MOCA Grand Avenue covers a full range of art movements and styles since World War II: abstract expressionism of the late 1940s-50s, to pop, minimal and conceptual art of the 1960s and ’70s. The installation at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA features a variety of artwork made during the last three decades by a wide range of artists. There is a mix of well-established and lesser-known artists featured here.
