MOCA LA Exhibition:Give and Take : Highlighting Recent Acquisitions

Give and Take: Highlighting Recent Exhibitions at the MOCA sheds light onto pieces by various artists that the museum have purchased or been gifted from the past 4 years. By displaying pieces by different artists, it gave me the opportunity to understand how different styles of work compare with each other. The exhibition was very successful. The placement of the various pieces were well put together in relation to each other, well-lit and hung. The layout of this exhibition was also very clear for the viewers to walk through.

Upon entering the exhibition, there is a diptych by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, titled "Garden, Thriving," from 2016. This is my favorite piece from this exhibition because of the layering of imagery and success in combining different techniques and materials is visually pleasing. 

The materials are acrylic, transfers, colored pencils and collage on paper. The layering of imagery within the forms is a metaphor for the layers within Nigerian cultural history. The imagery within the doorways and windows is an escape to her Nigeria. The images themselves includes Nigerian pop stars, models, celebrities, military dictators and more.

Past the entrance is a hallway that leads to more works from this exhibition. 

In the middle of the room is an installation by Haegue Yang, titled Strange Fruit, 2012-2013. The materials used to make this piece include clothing racks, casters, light bulbs, cable, cord, plastic plants, paper mache, varnish, watercolor, metal rings, and zip ties. The usage of the various materials to create a unified piece with repetition in form and lighting allowed me to carefully explore and discover.

Both of these are close up views of the piece. Depending on where you're standing, you may be blinded by the light and unable to make out what some of the forms are, very mysterious. Past this piece is another room.

In one part of the room, there are 34 lithographs by Robert Rauschenberg, from the series XXXIV Drawings for Dante's Inferno, 1959-1960. 

                      

                                                   

On another wall of the same room, there was a large drawing by Kara Walker titled, The Pool Party of Sardanapalus (After Delacroix, Kienholz), 2017. Both artists illustrate historical narratives with the addition of modern imagery. I greatly appreciated being shown artists from different times attempting to tell a story they interpreted with the addition of modern imagery.