LA MOCA ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF MORE THAN FIFTY ARTWORKS

The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art said Wednesday that in 2009 it acquired more than fifty “significant” artworks in a range of media, including paintings, sculptures, video, multimedia installations, drawings, and photographs, reports the Los Angeles Times. The museum said the works were added to its collection through gifts and purchases.

Among the major acquisitions were Bruce Nauman’s Setting a Good Corner (Allegory & Metaphor), 1999, a video work that came from Alan S. Hergott and Curt Shepard; Jennifer Pastor’s Christmas Flood, 1994, a sculpture from Eileen and Michael Cohen; and Mike Kelley’s drawing Untitled (From a Little Girl’s Room), 1980, which was one of three gifts from Kourosh Larizadeh and Luis Pardo.

The museum said it added some new names to its collection, including artists David Altmejd, Mark Dion, Máximo González, Mary Kelly, Karen Kilimnik, Lara Schnitger, and Andreas Siekmann.

Some of the museum’s recent acquisitions are currently on view in the exhibition “Collection: MoCA’s First Thirty Years.” They include Altmejd’s The Egg, 2006, and Paul McCarthy’s Tokyo Santa, Santa’s Trees, 1996/99.

In addition, MoCA said it has deepened its holdings of works by Los Angeles–based artists, including McCarthy, Pastor, Lisa Lapinski, and Jason Rhoades.

Other recent acquisitions include Dion’s large-scale installation When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (Toys ‘R’ US), 1994, a gift of Per Skarstedt; González’s ¿Dónde se han ido las flores?, 2006, a gift of Dirk Denison; and Schnitger’s sculpture Going Topside, 2009, which the museum said was purchased with funds provided by Andre Sakhai.