The Marciano Art Foundation, L.A.’s newest museum, doesn’t open to the public until May 25, but on Saturday it threw a party for about 600 VIPs.
Artists Jim Shaw, Catherine Opie, Takashi Murakami and Jeff Koons, among others, mixed with Hollywood stars including Owen Wilson, Sharon Stone and Ryan Seacrest. Musician and artist Kim Gordon, gallerist Larry Gagosian and publisher Benedikt Taschen were there. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Director Michael Govan and Museum of Contemporary Art Director Philippe Vergne were too.
They gathered in the former Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard near Koreatown to celebrate the new home for contemporary art from Guess co-founders Paul and Maurice Marciano. Guests previewed the museum’s inaugural exhibitions, “Unpacking: The Marciano Collection,” curated by former MOCA senior curator Philipp Kaiser, and “Jim Shaw: The Wig Museum,” the L.A. artist’s first solo West Coast museum show.
The Marciano Art Foundation’s opening party on Saturday. (Billy Farrell / BFA.com)
(Billy Farrell/BFA.com / Billy Farrell/BFA.com)
Artist Takashi Murakami and philanthropist Eli Broad. (Sansho Scott / BFA.com)
(Sansho Scott/BFA.com / Sansho Scott/BFA.com)
Paul Marciano, Sylvia Chivaratanond, Maurice Marciano and MOCA Director Philippe Vergne. (Billy Farrell / BFA.com)
(Billy Farrell/BFA.com / Billy Farrell/BFA.com)
Artist Alex Israel, Sharon Stone and art dealers Larry Gagosian and Chrissie Erpf. (Billy Farrell / BFA.com)
(Billy Farrell/BFA.com / Billy Farrell/BFA.com)
Artists Marnie Weber, left, and Kim Gordon with writer Jamie Brisick. (Sansho Scott / BFA.com)
(Sansho Scott/BFA.com / Sansho Scott/BFA.com)
Jim Shaw. (Billy Farrell / BFA.com)
(Billy Farrell/BFA.com / Billy Farrell/BFA.com)
Marnie Weber and Jim Shaw. (Billy Farrell / BFA.com)
(Billy Farrell/BFA.com / Billy Farrell/BFA.com)
Benedikt and Lauren Taschen. (Sansho Scott / BFA.com)
(Sansho Scott/BFA.com / Sansho Scott/BFA.com)
Garden designer Julie Burleigh and artist Catherine Opie. (Sansho Scott / BFA.com)
(Sansho Scott/BFA.com / Sansho Scott/BFA.com)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti with Paul Marciano, left, and Maurice Marciano. (Billy Farrell / BFA.com)
Deborah Vankin is an arts and culture writer for the Los Angeles Times. In what’s never a desk job, she has live-blogged her journey across Los Angeles with the L.A. County Museum of Art’s “big rock,” scaled downtown mural scaffolding with street artist Shepard Fairey, navigated the 101 freeway tracking the 1984 Olympic mural restorations and ridden Doug Aitken’s art train through the Barstow desert. Her award-winning interviews and profiles unearth the trends, issues and personalities in L.A.’s arts scene. Her work as a writer and editor has also appeared in Variety, LA Weekly and the New York Times, among other places. Originally from Philadelphia, she’s the author of the graphic novel “Poseurs.”
