Michael Majerus, MoM-Block II, 1996, acrylic on canvas, 141 x 315 x 3/4 in. (358.14 x 800.1 x 1.91 cm). The Museum of Contemporary Art, gift of Thea Westreich and Ethan Wagner. Photo by Brian Forrest.
Beginning in spring 2019, MOCA will dedicate its downtown locations to multiple exhibitions honoring the museum’s 40th anniversary and permanent collection. Each location will feature special exhibitions highlighting different themes and stories found within the institution’s permanent collection of more than 7,000 objects. As part of this celebration, MOCA debuts a new ongoing series of exhibitions titled Open House. For the first time in its history, MOCA invites Los Angeles-based artists to organize exhibitions drawn from the museum’s extensive collection of objects. The artists selected will work with MOCA curators to explore how the museum’s permanent collection can continue to serve, educate, inform, represent, and delight the diverse and extensive community of artists in Southern California. Open House will give visitors a chance to see the depth and breadth of MOCA’s collection focused through the unique lens provided by the community of artists that it serves.
MOCA will begin this new exhibition series with Open House: Elliott Hundley. Multimedia artist Elliott Hundley (b. 1975) focuses on the architecture and origins of collage and assemblage, analyzing how the visual and material logic of this format has informed a variety of artists in MOCA’s collection, as well as his own practice. In doing so Hundley expands our understanding and perception of collage and assemblage by including painting and video in addition to more traditional sculptural examples. The exhibition will include work by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Betye Saar, Noah Purifoy, Barbara T. Smith, and Richard Hawkins, alongside artists like Martin Kippenberger, Lari Pittman, Rachel Harrison, Corita Kent, and Bruce Conner.
Also on view at Grand Avenue this spring, MOCA presents 40 for LA which celebrates the forty-year history of MOCA. Offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into MOCA’s past, this multimedia exhibition features archival materials from the museum’s vault, including rare photographs and lithographs, limited-edition objects, a detailed exhibition and programming timeline, excerpts from the museum’s YouTube video project MOCAtv, and a special homage to all of the artists to whom the museum is indebted. Visitors get an in-depth look at some of the key elements that define the institution: the Grand Avenue location designed by famed Pritzker Prize winning architect Arata Isozaki, a celebrated permanent collection, a groundbreaking history of temporary exhibitions, and the museum’s dedicated board members and patrons. Together, these elements tell the story of MOCA’s beginnings, explore the museum’s vital role in shaping the Southern California art community, and take stock of MOCA’s achievements as a pioneering contemporary art institution in Los Angeles. 40 for LA outlines MOCA’s vibrant history and honors the people who have shaped a museum founded by artists that continues to welcome visitors to experience the art of our time.
Open House: Elliott Hundley is organized by Elliott Hundley and Bryan Barcena, Assistant Curator and Manager of Publications, with Karlyn Olvido, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
