In 2023, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) added one hundred works by sixty-three artists to its acclaimed collection, now numbering nearly eight thousand objects. The acquisitions reflect a diverse group of artists, including many based in Los Angeles and several that have been featured in the museum’s renowned exhibitions. MOCA’s dedication to expanding and redefining contemporary art through its collection reflects the museum’s DEI&A goals of supporting BIPOC, women, and gender non-conforming artists, as well as the extraordinary generosity and continued engagement of the museum’s Trustees and supporters, both long-standing and more recent.
“This year’s acquisitions illustrate our unwavering commitment to celebrating a wide breadth of artistic expression, as always with an L.A. point of view,” said Johanna Burton, The Maurice Marciano Director of MOCA. “These works not only enrich our collection but also reinforce our mission to continually explore the contours and boundaries of the art of our time.”
Many of MOCA’s acquisitions were centerpieces of recent exhibitions at the museum or made by artists with important connections to the institution. Comprising a custom-made, 55-foot American flag blown by enormous special-effects fans until it tatters and shreds, the massive installation Trinket (2008/2015) by recently-deceased Chicago-based artist Pope.L was featured in the artist’s 2015 survey at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The 2012 painting I Will Vent My Anger in Terrifying Books (pictured above), by former MOCA Artist Trustee Mark Bradford, became the celebrated artist’s first canvas to formally enter the museum’s collection, a generous gift from the actor and producer Brad Pitt.
Straight from Henry Taylor’s acclaimed 2023 retrospective at MOCA, an untitled bronze sculpture (2020) was purchased with funds provided by Nina and Russell Westbrook. The Landscape (2017), a major painting by Tala Madani, recalls several works in the artist’s recent survey at MOCA Geffen, and is a generous gift from the Hong Kong–based Yenn and Alan Lo Foundation. Simone Forti’s Bug Jump (1975–78; pictured below), a hologram work that shows the renowned dancer performing one of her animal studies, was featured in MOCA’s six-decade career retrospective of the artist’s work in 2023.
“A museum collection reflects the values and priorities of an institution while also speaking to the moment we are living in,” said Clara Kim, Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs at MOCA. “We are proud to have acquired key works by leading contemporary artists, who powerfully ruminate on our world through their work and represent the diversity of voices and perspectives in our society.”
Furthering MOCA’s commitment to interdisciplinary practices, several works by the Los Angeles–based performance collective My Barbarian (Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alexandro Segade) joined the collection on the heels of their recent survey at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The acquisition of Candice Lin’s Xternesta (2022), a work featured prominently in the 2022 Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams, expands the museum’s representation of contemporary ceramics; and a large installation by Karon Davis, entitled Noah and His Ark (2018), was gifted to the museum by Beth Rudin DeWoody.
These works are joined by examples from a wide variety of Los Angeles artists, both living and deceased, among them: Louise Bonnet, Carole Caroompas, Milano Chow, Alonzo Davis, Buck Ellison, Ishi Glinsky, Channing Hansen, Hannah Hur, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Barbara Kruger, Elad Lassry, Thomas Lawson, Dashiell Manley, Jill Mulleady, Amanda Ross-Ho, Max Hooper Schneider, Ilene Segalove, Barbara T. Smith, Mayo Thompson, and Rosha Yaghmai. Beyond Los Angeles, a recent painting by the Minneapolis-based artist Dyani White Hawk drawing on Lakota traditions of beadwork and embroidery entered the collection–an important addition that expands on narratives of abstraction from indigenous perspectives.
Click here to view our press announcement and the complete list of 2023 acquisitions.
Images credits:
- Installation view of Pope.L: Trinket, March 20–June 28, 2015 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles. Photo by Brian Forrest.
- Mark Bradford, I Will Vent My Anger in Terrifying Books, 2012, mixed media collage on canvas, 103 3/8 × 145 1/4 × 2 1/8 in. (262.57 × 368.94 × 5.4 cm). The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, gift of Brad Pitt © Mark Bradford. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
- Simone Forti, Bug Jump, 1975–78, 120º integral hologram, 56 3/4 × 20 × 13 in. (144.15 × 50.8 × 33.02 cm). The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, purchased with funds provided by the Acquisitions and Collection Committee © Simone Forti. Photo by Jeff McLane.
