The Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Elects Returning Artist Trustees John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger and Catherine Opie, New Artist Trustee Mark Grotjahn, Returning Trustees Kathi Cypres and Steven F. Roth and Maria Seferian to Board

LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), announced today the election of returning artist trustees John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger and Catherine Opie and new artist trustee Mark Grotjahn to the MOCA board. Returning trustees Kathi Cypres and Steven F. Roth and former interim director Maria Seferian were also elected. These significant returns and additions to the museum's Board reinforce the overwhelming support from the artist and philanthropic communities for MOCA's independent future as the only public museum in Los Angeles dedicated solely to collecting and exhibiting contemporary art.

The elections follow the recent appointment of director Philippe Vergne, the result of successful efforts of the museum's international search committee, members of which included all three returning artist trustees Baldessari, Kruger, and Opie, and the unprecedented success of the endowment campaign. With generous commitments from MOCA Board members and leading contemporary art patrons from around the world the board raised the museum's endowment to an historic high of more than $100 million, securing the museum's independence and financial stability.

"We are thrilled that John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger and Cathy Opie are returning and very excited that Mark Grotjahn has accepted to join our board. For us this is a big show of confidence from the artist community. This institution was shaped by the artists' vision and we want to preserve that," said MOCA Board Co‐Chair Maurice Marciano. "We also welcome returning trustees Kathi Cypres and Steven Roth and our outstanding former interim director Maria Seferian."

"I'm very excited about the prospects for MOCA with Philippe leading us and I want to be supportive," said John Baldessari.

"We are ecstatic to have this fantastic group of artists joining us as well as returning and new trustees," said MOCA Board Co‐Chair Lilly Tartikoff Karatz, "MOCA is here to stay!"

"MOCA has changed the way I think about art and life and is one of the reasons I chose to live in Los Angeles. I'm honored to join the board," said Mark Grotjahn.

"It is truly my honor to be invited and return to MOCA as a board member. I look forward to working with all the members of the board as we look forward to a new future with Philippe Vergne as the new director of the museum," said Catherine Opie. "MOCA has always been considered the artist's museum in Los Angeles and it is a very exciting and pivotal time for MOCA to continue that legacy as the art world continues to expand."

"With our new director Philippe Vergne leading MOCA, the addition of these important artists to our board, makes a big statement about MOCA's future as one of the most innovative and experimental museums today. The return of the artists, Kathi Cypres and Steven Roth and the new appointments of artist Mark Grotjahn and Maria Seferian to our board, reflect our recent success in securing the museum's financial stability, independence and new leadership," said MOCA Board President, Fred Sands.

"For me it is extremely important to have artists represented on the board. MOCA was founded by artists, patrons and civic leaders as the artist's museum, and its incredible collection and record of groundbreaking exhibitions pay testament to that," said MOCA Director Philippe Vergne. "It is a privilege to join MOCA with our new and returning trustees at the moment when MOCA is stronger than ever before."

"I am honored to be asked and am delighted to rejoin the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art. I have great hopes for the future of MOCA," said Steven F. Roth.

MOCA celebrates its 35th anniversary under the new leadership of Board Co‐Chairs Maurice Marciano and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz in a financially stronger position that ever before, with a Board of committed artists and philanthropists, one of the most important and growing collections of contemporary art in the world, and an international record of ground‐breaking exhibitions and scholarship.

MOCA's 35th anniversary gala takes place on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on the occasion of the opening of the homecoming retrospective exhibition Mike Kelley on view March 31 through July 28, 2014. For table and ticket information please contact [email protected] or call 213 621 1768.

JOHN BALDESSARI  
John Baldessari was born in National City, California. He attended San Diego State University and did post‐graduate work at Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute and the University of California at Berkeley. He taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA from 1970 ‐ 1988 and the University of California at Los Angeles from 1996 – 2007. He lives in Santa Monica, California and works in Venice, California.

Baldessari's artwork has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions and in over 1000 group exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. His projects include artist books, videos, films, billboards and public works. His awards and honors include memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, the BACA International 2008, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded by La Biennale di Venezia and the City of Goslar Kaiserring in 2012. He has received honorary degrees from the National University of Ireland, San Diego State University, Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, and California College of the Arts.

Baldessari first served as a trustee of the MOCA Board for twelve years from 2000 to 2012. His work has been presented in numerous MOCA exhibitions such as 1965‐1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art (1995‐96), Index: Conceptualism in California from the Permanent Collection (2008), Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years (2009), and The Artist's Museum (2010‐11). Eleven works by Baldessari are held in MOCA's permanent collection including This Is Not To Be Looked At (1966‐1968), Concerning Diachronic/Synchronic Time: Above, On, Under (with Mermaid) (1976), and Some Rooms (1986).

Recent projects include exhibitions in New York, Europe, and Los Angeles including an exhibition at the Monchehaus Museum Goslar, Germany in 2012; the traveling retrospective John Baldessari: Pure Beauty; an exhibition with the Fondazione Prada in Milan, Italy; installations at the Museum Haus Lange, Germany, the Temporary Stedelijk 2, Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the Manchester International Festival, United Kingdom; John Baldessari: A Catalogue Raisonne of Prints and Multiples 1971‐2007 was published in 2009 by Hudson Hills Press and John Baldessari Catalogue Raisonne, Volume One: 1956‐1974 was published by Yale University Press in 2012. Upcoming projects include exhibitions at Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland, Spruth Magers, Berlin, Germany and Schrim Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany.

KATHI CYPRES
Kathi Cypres was born and raised in New York City. She attended The Dalton School and later Jackson College of Tufts University, where she graduated Summa cum Laude with a degree in art history. While at college, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Primitive Art Department with Julie Jones, helping to catalog the Nathan Cummings Pre‐Columbian Collection.

Following graduation, Cypres worked for Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in the publicity department before moving on to head the publicity department of his other publishing house, Abbeville Press.

She served as a trustee on the Art and Architecture Board of Tufts University for several years until moving permanently to Los Angeles. She served, for six years as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, where her children attended school. Cypres has been involved with MOCA since 1997 and has been an active member of both the Drawings Committee and the Acquisition and Collection Committee. She first served as a member of the MOCA Board of Trustees for five years from 2007 to 2012.

MARK GROTJAHN 
Mark Grotjahn was born in 1968 in Pasadena, California, and currently lives in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Grotjahn's work was presented in the survey exhibition Painting in Tongues at MOCA Grand Avenue in 2006. Seven works by Grotjahn are included in MOCA's permanent collection including a painting, Untitled(three‐tiered perspective), 1997; and four works on paper; Untitled (Black Butterfly), 2002, Untitled (Red Butterfly), 2002 and Untitled (White Butterfly), 2002. Recent solo exhibitions include the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2005); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2006); Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2007); Portland Art Museum (2010) and Aspen Museum of Art (2012). Upcoming solo shows will open at Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany May 2014 and at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas May 2014. Group exhibitions include the 2006 Whitney Biennial, New York; the 54th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2004); Whitney Biennial, New York (2006); Oranges and Sardines, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2008).

His work is also included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; Des Moines Art Center; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Tate Modern, London.

BARBARA KRUGER
Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945. After attending Syracuse University, the School of Visual Arts, and studying art and design with Diane Arbus at Parson's School of Design in New York, Kruger obtained a design job at Conde Nast Publications. Working for Mademoiselle Magazine, she was quickly promoted to head designer. Later, she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments at House and Garden, Aperture, and other publications. This background in design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned. She layers found photographs from existing sources with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. In their trademark black letters against a slash of red background, some of her instantly recognizable slogans read "I shop therefore I am," and "Your body is a battleground." Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and‐white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing. As well as appearing in museums and galleries worldwide, Kruger's work has appeared on billboards, buscards, posters, a public park, a train station platform in Strasbourg, France, and in other public commissions. She has taught at the California Institute of Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.

Kruger first served as a trustee of the MOCA Board in 2008 until 2012. Her works have appeared in several MOCA exhibitions including the monographic exhibition Barbara Kruger at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in 1999‐2000. Four works by Kruger are included in the museum's permanent collection including, Untitled (We have received orders not to move) (1982), Untitled (It's a small world but not if you have to clean it) (1990), and Untitled (Not cruel enough) (1997).

CATHERINE OPIE
Los Angeles based photographer Catherine Opie has been documenting her surroundings since the early 1990s. She moves naturally between architecturally based images and portraits, reflecting her ongoing interest in the structure of communities. She often works serially, producing expansive bodies of images to rigorously investigate her subjects.

In 1997, Opie was the first artist to be granted The Citibank Private Bank Emerging Artist Award at The Museum of Contemporary Art resulting in an exhibition of her Freeways and Mini‐Malls series, Focus Series: Catherine Opie with an accompanying publication. Her work has also been presented in MOCA exhibitions Just Past: The Contemporary in MOCA's Permanent Collection (1996‐97), Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years (2009), and The Personal is Political: Women Artists from the Collection (2011). MOCA currently owns 14 works by Opie including her well‐known Self Portrait (1993); six photographs from the Mini‐Malls series; three portraits, including Portrait of James (1993), Bo (1994), and Frankie (1994); and Ice House #9 (2001). Opie has been an active supporter of MOCA and first served on its Board from 2010‐2012.

Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Her selected solo exhibitions also include the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; St. Louis Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Photographers' Gallery, London; Thread Waxing Space, New York; Art Pace, San Antonio; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York; Stephen Friedman, London; Barbara Gladstone, New York; Galeria Massimo De Carlo, Milan; Foncke Galerie, Ghent; and Ginza Art Space, Tokyo. In September 2008, the Guggenheim Museum in New York opened a mid‐career exhibition titled, Catherine Opie: American Photographer.

Opie was a recipient of the United States Artists Fellowship in 2006. She is a professor of photography in the Department of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

STEVEN F. ROTH
Steven F. Roth was born in Los Angeles, and attended college at U.C. Berkeley. He is one of the principal owners and operators of World Oil Corp., a multi‐faceted oil business that owns over 150 gasoline stations in California, supplies paving and roofing asphalt products from its Lunday‐Thagard refinery in South Gate and is one of the largest hazardous wastes refiners in the United States. The company also owns a marine terminal in the Port of Long Beach, which is partially leased to British Petroleum. He was one of the original founding partners of CAA, and was also partner of the literary firm, Zeigler, Disktan and Roth. He produced many motion pictures including Scrooged, Mobsters, Gladiator and Last Action Hero.

Roth has been a generous supporter and donor to MOCA's collection and first served as trustee on the MOCA Board from 2006 to 2012. He is involved in a variety of charitable activities and The Roth Family Foundation has supported the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cedars‐Sinai Hospital, Wilshire Boulevard Temple and its schools, and several inner city Los Angeles charities such as Meals on Wheels, Big Brothers, and others. Roth serves on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and is included on the Watt's Walk of Fame for his charitable pursuits in the inner city.

Roth lives in Beverly Hills and has three children; Joshua, Elizabeth and Isabel.

MARIA SEFERIAN
Maria Seferian recently served as the Interim Director of MOCA during which time she provided administrative and strategic leadership to the museum and successfully led MOCA through an historic $100 million endowment campaign, international director search, and long‐term strategic planning process, among other initiatives. Prior to that time, Ms. Seferian acted as outside legal counsel to the museum.

Ms. Seferian is a corporate partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. Her practice encompasses a wide variety of public and private corporate transactions with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and arts and entertainment transactions. As part of her arts and entertainment practice, Ms. Seferian regularly advises museums, galleries, artists and other cultural institutions in fundamental transactions and corporate governance.

Ms. Seferian is a graduate of Harvard Law School and received her BA and MA from the University of Illinois in Champaign‐Urbana. Ms. Seferian is co‐president of the California Lawyers for the Arts and a member of the New York and California Bar Associations. She is a frequent speaker on corporate law and intellectual property matters.

THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES (MOCA) 
Founded in 1979, MOCA's vision is to be the defining museum of contemporary art. In a relatively short period of time, MOCA has achieved astonishing growth with three Los Angeles locations of architectural renown; a world‐class permanent collection of more than 6,800 objects international in scope and among the finest in the world; hallmark education programs that are widely emulated; award‐winning publications that present original scholarship; groundbreaking monographic, touring, and thematic exhibitions of international repute that survey the art of our time; and cutting‐edge engagement with modes of new media production. MOCA is a not‐for‐profit institution that relies on a variety of funding sources for its activities.

Hours: MOCA Grand Avenue (located at 250 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles) is open Monday and Friday from 11am to 5pm; Thursday from 11am to 8pm; Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm; and closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (located at 152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012) has the same hours as MOCA Grand Avenue during exhibitions. Please call ahead or go to moca.org for the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA exhibition schedule. MOCA Pacific Design Center, located at 8687 Melrose Avenue; West Hollywood, CA 90069, is open Tuesday through Friday from 11am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm; and closed on Monday. The MOCA Store at 250 South Grand Avenue is open Monday through Wednesday and Friday from 10:30am to 530pm; Thursday from 10:30am to 8:30pm; and Saturday and Sunday from 10:30am to 6:30pm.

Museum Admission: General admission is free for all MOCA members. General admission is also free for everyone at MOCA Grand Avenue and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm, courtesy of Wells Fargo. General admission is always free at MOCA Pacific Design Center. General admission at MOCA Grand Avenue and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA is $12 for adults; $7 for students with I.D. and seniors (65+); and free for children under 12.

More Information: For 24‐hour information on current exhibitions, education programs, and special events, call 213 626 6222 or access MOCA online at moca.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS 
LYN WINTER, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS 
Tel 213 633 5390, [email protected] 
NANCY LEE, PR COORDINATOR
Tel 213 621 1788, [email protected]

SOURCE The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED