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Tag: Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

  • Some Monuments Need to Be Toppled

    Toppled, paintbombed Jefferson Davis statue inside MOCA Geffen Contemporary for Monuments (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    The toppled and paintbombed Jefferson Davis statue inside Monuments at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Pic: Liz O.)

    Jefferson Davis looks like he’s been clocked. The oversized, bronze statue of the  onetime president of the Confederacy is laid out on the floor of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. He’s splotched and tagged with paint, dried pink streams running down the length of the statue like blood. Walk up close and you’ll see that the top of his head has been pounded flat. An outstretched arm, partially severed from the shoulder, may have once given him the appearance of a savior. Now, it looks like he the one who needs saving. I study the hulking figure for a few moments, snap a couple photos and continue through the museum. Some monuments are better left down for the count. 

    Monuments, a collaboration between MOCA and The Brick that’s on view at the Geffen Contemporary through May 3, is an exhibition juxtaposing decommissioned monuments with contemporary art to explore U.S. post-Civil War history. The Jefferson Davis statue, which was dedicated in 1907, lived in Richmond, Virginia, where it was part of a whole complex of Confederate monuments. In 2018, a local commission in Richmond recommended its removal, but that didn’t happen until two years later, when the statue was paintbombed and toppled during protests following the murder of George Floyd. 

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  • Sunday Afternoon at the Art Book Fair

    Printed Matter L.A. Art Book Fair at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on August 13, 2023 photo by Liz Ohanesian
    Inside L.A. Art Book Fair at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on August 13, 2023. (Photo: Liz O.)

    Late in the afternoon on the final day of Printed Matter’s L.A. Art Book Fair, the line outside of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary stretched to the Japanese American National Museum. I had just stumbled upstairs from the Little Tokyo Metro station and across 1st Street, which was closed to traffic and lined with people hanging out on the sidewalk. That had nothing to the with the book fair though. It was also Nisei Week and the parade was set to start soon. But, I didn’t know that at the time. I just saw throngs of people,  flashed back to the years in which I reported from Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con and groaned. 

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