Top Picks from MoCA, Permanent Collection

John Baldessari, Some Rooms, 1986, Gouache, black and white photographs
Gift of The Broad Art Foundation, MoCA, LA
Photograph by Katy Hamer

On a recent trip to California, I stopped by the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. A few wings of the museum’s location on Grand Avenue were closed due to installation, but several works from their permanent collection were on view (curated by Bennett Simpson) and it was actually quite refreshing to be reminded of works that have been so inspirational and relevant to the production of contemporary art we seen today. Some of my personal favorites are below. New York transplant Jeffrey Deitch may no longer be at the museum, but the interior held great energy and is a top pick for stopping by if in the Los Angeles area! Many of the works on view were made in the 1960s a time of Abstract Expressionism, Post-Modernism and an overall deeper conceptual exploration after a long historical presence of forms of representation. A few more recent pieces, seen below, are by Rosemarie Trockel, Karen Kilimnick and a minimal installation dedicated to the 2012 passing of LA Native, artist Michael Asher. What is exceptional about the works on view, is that they, for the most part, look incredibly fresh. Veering away from traditional painting materials, artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, whose Combines were on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006, found new ways to deal with and approach painting in the 1960s that are still being utilized by artists like Rosy Keyser (b. 1974) who shows with Peter Blum Gallery in New York. As if walking through time, the work on view represents a history, a reflection of a time never to be repeated. It was these artists who have influenced artists of the present. If we can get a deeper understanding of our artistic past, a greater comprehension of each moment today is possible. Choices in a particular material, frame, installation and color palette can for the most part be traced like fingerprints, to the owner, to the time they were assembled. Stepping into a museum, with polished wooden floors and egg white walls, is a reminder that we are not alone and that ghosts of yesterday, still whisper today.

Robert Rauschenberg, Slow Fall, 1961, Oil, metal, fabric, newspaper, and nineteenth-century nail on board with crusted can, string, cola can, lead weight, nails and milk carton (RIGHT) Trophy III (For Jean Tinguely), 1961, Oil and printed paper on carved wood structure with metal bedsprings, metal ladder, cloth, fuse box with fuses, metal dish, eyehook, and nails.
Installation MoCA, LA, Photograph by Katy Hamer

Edward Ruscha, Lisp, 1968, Oil on canvas, Gift of Alan N. Kleinman from the Estate of Marsha Kleinman, MoCA, LA
Photograph by Katy Hamer

When I began painting, all my paintings were of words which were gutteral utterances like Smash, Boss, Eat. Those were like flowers in a vase. -Edward Ruscha

 

Allen Ruppersberg, Still Life, 1982 Acrylic on canvas with ten concrete heads Paintings: 96 x 66 in. each The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Gift of anonymous donor and the artist, Photograph by Katy Hamer

Karen Kilimnik, Delta doesn’t score well with the kids, 1990, Crayon on paper Gift of Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard, MoCA, LA
Photograph by Katy Hamer

Rosemarie Trockel, Untitled, 1991, Enameled steel and three stove plates, Gift of Beatrice and Philip Gersh, MoCA, LA
Photograph by Katy Hamer

Michael Asher: In Memory
No Title, a piece made and permanently installed in the museum to honor Conceptual artist Michael Asher (B. 1943, Los Angeles; d. 2012, Los Angeles). For the install, a heat-molded Plexiglas was inserted into the wall. Molding the surface and the substance. From the wall text ‘Asher recalled that at the time he was interested in making work that was “less and less dependent on a structure – and more and more part of the wall.”
Installation at MoCA, LA
Photograph by Katy Hamer