The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Announces Major Acquisitions of 2006

Written by Joshua Hecker Friday, 19 November 2010 22:08

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is pleased to announce its major acquisitions for 2006, a successful year which saw a total of over 115 gifts and purchases added to the museum’s permanent collection. Among the artists represented are Francis Alÿs, Matthew Barney, Jennifer Bornstein, Edgar Bryan, Chris Burden, Miles Coolidge, Hanne Darboven, Urs Fischer, Gilbert & George, Hannah Greely, Karl Haendel, Florian Maier-Aichen, Christian Marclay, Wangechi Mutu, Roxy Paine, Manfred Pernice, Elizabeth Peyton, Allen Ruppersberg, David Thorpe, William Wegman, and Fred Tomaselli.

“MOCA is thrilled to enhance its collection with such a remarkable selection of works,” said MOCA Director Jeremy Strick, “MOCA’s Trustees and donors consistently demonstrate their commitment to the institution through their generosity and 2006 was no exception. We are also profoundly grateful to the Acquisition and Collections Committee, the Drawings Committee, and the Photography Committee. Their thoughtful purchases—in conjunction with the considerable gifts from our donors—have significantly augmented and diversified MOCA’s collection.”

In recent years, Los Angeles has gained recognition as one of the major international centers for contemporary art. MOCA has both celebrated and contributed to this exciting development, through survey exhibitions of the Los Angeles art scene, monographic exhibitions of emerging and established Los Angeles–based artists, and an active acquisition program.  In 2006, MOCA reaffirmed its commitment to the Los Angeles art community with several important gifts and purchases.

Of great importance is Chris Burden’s Hell Gate (1998), which was acquired jointly with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), a partial purchase funded by Eli and Edythe Broad and a partial gift from John McEnroe. Since emerging in the 1970s, Los Angeles-based artist Chris Burden has significantly impacted contemporary art through his politically and socially-charged performances, sculptures, and installations. In 1998, Burden translated his longtime fascination with the act and process of building into a 7 ft. model of New York’s famous Hell Gate Bridge using Meccano and Erecto parts. Hell Gate  was the impetus for a decade-long investigation of bridges and is the crowned jewel of that series given its complexity, density, and sturdiness.

The Acquisition and Collections Committee purchased major works by Edgar Bryan, Urs Fischer, David Lamelas, and Fred Tomaselli. Edgar Bryan’s The Love Gang (2006) is a quintessential example of the artist’s infusion of classical idealism and romantic perspicuity into his ongoing dialogue between his preferred medium, traditional painting, and his subject matter, personal and historical themes. Portrait of a Single Rain Drop (2003), a sculptural installation made by Urs Fischer while residing in Los Angeles, engages the viewer through associations induced by both the object and the title while still encouraging their imagination to define a narrative all their own. Los Angeles Friends (Larger than Life) (1976) by David Lamelas, is comprised of forty framed pencil on paper drawings and a slide projector with eighty 35mm slides. The first major painting by Fred Tomaselli, Hangover, which was featured this past year in Ecstasy: In and About Altered States, curated by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel—enters MOCA’s collection.

Through its MOCA Focus Series in 2006, MOCA continued to actively foster and present new work by Southern California emerging artists. Several highlights from these exhibitions were added to the collection through gifts and purchases: MOCA Trustee and Drawings Committee Chair Jennifer Simchowitz and her husband, Manfred, gave Won Scent (2005) by Karl Haendel as a partial and promised gift. The Drawings Committee provided funds for the purchase of Lecia Dole-Recio’s Untitled (2006) and Alexandra Grant’s she taking her space (After Michael Joyce's "he taking the space of," 2004) (2004), which will be included in the artist’s MOCA Focus exhibition this spring (April 26–August 13, 2007). MOCA’s Curatorial Discretionary Fund enabled the purchase of Matthew Monahan’s War Never Ends (2005), which will be included in his MOCA Focus exhibition (July 25–October 22, 2007).

MOCA’s collection of New York–based artists was augmented this past year. The Glenstone Foundation and its Founder, Mitchell P. Rales, generously provided the funds for the committee to purchase MOCA’s first work by Roxy Paine, Weed Choked Garden (2005). In this installation, 13 types of weeds choke tomato plants in a hand-made vegetable garden, thereby allowing nature to inflict its chaos upon the manmade. MOCA Trustees contributed significantly in this area, including Matthew Barney’s Constipator Block (1991)—a sculpture made of cast large-pearl tapioca, Teflon ©, and a thermal gel pack—a gift of MOCA Trustee Ruth Bloom and her husband, Jacob; Elizabeth Peyton’s George (George Sand in the Luxembourg Gardens) (2005–06), a promised gift of MOCA Trustee Beth Swofford; and Rachel Harrison’s I’m No Monkey (2005), a large sculpture made with traditional materials such as wood and more nontraditional materials including a wig and tiara, a gift of MOCA Trustee Carol Appel and her husband, David.

In addition to expanding the global scope of the collection, 2006 was an important year for enhancing MOCA’s photography collection. Robert Harshorn Shimshak and Marion Brenner gave an extraordinary gift of 25 gelatin silver prints by Bill Owens, augmenting MOCA’s collection of the artist’s work, which includes his seminal ‘70s portfolio Suburbia (1972). MOCA Trustee Ruth Bloom and her husband, Jacob, generously supplemented the permanent collection with several works, including Hattingen, Ruhrdistrict, Germany (1989), a black-and-white photograph by Hilla & Bernd Becher; Yasumasa Morimura’s Self-Portrait (Actress) After Shima Iwashita (1996), Ilfochrome/acrylic sheet; and Lucas Samaras’s Photo-Transformation August 19, 1976 (1976), a SX-70 Polaroid photograph internal dye transfusion transfer. The Photography Committee purchased a selection of recent works by emerging photographers, including Anne Collier’s Reflection (2003), Miles Coolidge’s Accident Investigation Site (2005), and Above June Lake (2005) by Florian Maier-Aichen, whose MOCA Focus exhibition opens July 28, 2007.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, (MOCA) is your source of creativity and inspiration in Los Angeles through innovative exhibitions and programs by significant and compelling contemporary artists. MOCA is a private not-for-profit institution supported by its members, corporate and foundation support, government grants, and admission revenues. For 24-hour information on current exhibitions, education programs, and special events, access MOCA online at www.moca.org.

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