Jeffrey Deitch and John Currin. All photographs by Alex J. Berliner/ABImages.
After a leisurely sit-down brunch on the patio, 50 guests gathered in a living room to listen to MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch speak with artist John Currin. In a completely unassuming response to Deitch’s praise of Currin as the greatest painter of his generation, the artist shared an anecdote, telling how he had once borrowed money from his parents in order to complete the work for one of his earliest shows: “I got $8,000 to make the show, and I made $9,000,” Currin said, quickly adding, “This was before I met Larry.” That would, of course, be Larry Gagosian, who hosted this September 25th private event in his Los Angeles residence, the first in a series of MOCA and Louis Vuitton Art Talks, with two more to follow on October 9 and October 16.
Afterwards, when Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet, President and CEO of Louis Vuitton NA spoke of creative partnership, it was perfectly clear what each party had contributed to create such a dazzling, yet completely unassuming event: the meticulous attention to detail coordinated by MOCA and Louis Vuitton, combined with the humor and frankness of artist and curator, discussing how Currin’s canvases have come to combine the likes of Titian and Cosmopolitan, Dutch porn and Bryce Marden, all of which was framed by the renown dealer’s personal collection of contemporary art. In concert and in stereo, laughter filled the room many times over the course of the hour-long conversation, including the moment Deitch stopped to discuss one of Currin’s early paintings, displayed onscreen, and the painter looked at the image on the monitor, talking about rendering its female figure, before he turned in the opposite direction, and said: “Well, it looks kind of like that,” pointing around the corner, to where his original painting now hangs.
Bruce Karatz and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz.
Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet and Nancy Murray.
Peter Morton and Lisa Eisner.
Jeffrey Deitch, Bill Bell, Irving Blum, and Maria Bell.
Laura Lee Woods.
Rachel Feinstein and Juhn Currin.
Benedikt Taschen and Lauren Taschen.
Charles Delapalme and Michael Chow.
Jeffrey Deitch and John Currin.
