Hammer Museum Appoints Gary Garrels as Senior Curator
Garrels comes from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and will start in the newly created position at Hammer Museum in May, 2005
January 21
Los Angeles, CA—The Hammer Museum announced today the appointment of Gary Garrels as the Museum’s new Senior Curator. Garrels is currently Chief Curator of the Department of Drawings and Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. His appointment at the Hammer Museum will be effective at the end of May 2005. In his new capacity, Garrels will be involved in organizing exhibitions as well as focusing on the development of the Museum’s new contemporary collection.
“I am thrilled that Gary Garrels will be joining the Hammer Museum staff,” said Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin. “He brings enormous breadth and experience to our curatorial team and is respected by artists, collectors and colleagues internationally. And, of course, his knowledge and long-standing support of the Los Angeles art community is well known. His broad expertise will further strengthen the Museum’s recognized exhibition program and will be crucial in the development of our collections in the future.”
“It is an exciting honor to join the curatorial team of the Hammer Museum, which I consider to be one of the most important and dynamic art institutions nationally and internationally,” said Gary Garrels. “Los Angeles is one of the key centers for contemporary artists in the world today, and artists are at the core of the Hammer, making it a laboratory for new thinking and for taking risks. This is a museum immersed in the present and poised for the future.”
Gary Garrels is recognized for his internationally acclaimed exhibitions and his strength in developing museum collections at several of the country’s most highly regarded institutions. Actively involved in the development of new exhibitions and the shaping of a collections policy, the new position of Senior Curator will work closely with Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Exhibitions, Russell Ferguson. Garrels will also collaborate with Cynthia Burlingham, Deputy Director of Collections and Director of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, who oversees the Armand Hammer Permanent Collections.
“I am very pleased by this important addition to our curatorial team, and look forward to having such an experienced colleague with whom to explore new ideas and initiatives for the Museum,” said Russell Ferguson, Hammer Museum Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Exhibitions. “Gary is widely admired for his extensive knowledge and great passion for contemporary art, which will be a tremendous asset not just for the Hammer, but for Los Angeles as a whole.”
Gary Garrels has a long-standing commitment to contemporary and emerging artists. During his tenure at The Museum of Modern Art, he organized Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective, which won the AICA (International Association of Art Critics) award as best monographic exhibition in New York in 2004. He was a member of the curatorial committee for MoMA at El Museo: Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, exhibited at El Museo del Barrio last year. He is currently working on an exhibition Drawing from the Modern: 1945-1975, a survey of more than 100 drawings from MoMA’s collection that will open on March 30, and on a major retrospective of Brice Marden’s paintings and drawings, that will open at MoMA in fall 2006.
Garrels’s previous appointments include Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1993-2000), Senior Curator at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1991-1993), Director of Programs at Dia Art Foundation, New York (1987-1991). Among his exhibitions for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective; Willem de Kooning, The Late Paintings, The 1980s; Inside Out: New Chinese Art (with the Asia Society, New York); Present Tense: Nine Artists in the Nineties; and projects with Richard Hamilton, Glenn Ligon, Steven Pippin, Doris Salcedo, Kara Walker, and Andrea Zittel. At the Walker Art Center, Garrels organized the acclaimed exhibition Photography in Contemporary German Art: 1960 to the Present, which traveled to many notable venues in the United States and Europe.
Gary Garrels is very familiar with international artists working in all media, and has championed many Los Angeles-based artists by exhibiting and acquiring their works at his previous appointments. While at the Museum of Modern Art, he acquired works on paper by Ingrid Calame, Paul McCarthy, Lee Mullican, Robert Overby, Laura Owens, Raymond Pettibon, Lari Pittman, Nancy Rubins, Jim Shaw, among many others.
Garrels received his M.A. in Art History from Boston University, and previously studied in Princeton University’s Doctoral Program for Sociology. He has written and lectured extensively about contemporary art and has been engaged in a wide range of professional activities, including acting as an advisor to several major art foundations and arts organizations. Currently he is on the Advisory Committee for the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies; the Museum Advisory Committee for the Asia Society, New York; and the Board of Trustees of the Merce Cunningham Foundation.
HAMMER MUSEUM MISSION
The Hammer Museum is dedicated to exploring the diversity of artistic expression through the ages, recognizing that artists play a crucial role in all aspects of culture and society. The Museum’s programming spans the classics to the cutting-edge, presenting exhibitions of historical and contemporary art alongside selections from its permanent collections. Founded by Dr. Armand Hammer in 1990, the Museum’s collections include The Armand Hammer Collection of Old Master, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings; The Armand Hammer Daumier and Contemporaries Collection; The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, containing over 45,000 works on paper; and the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on the UCLA campus.
In addition to selections from its permanent collections, the Hammer Museum presents a range of acclaimed exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, architecture, and design. The Museum also presents approximately ten Hammer Projects each year focusing on the work of emerging artists. The series provides international and local artists with a laboratory-like environment to create new work or to present existing work in a new context, and reflects the Museum’s commitment to serving artists by providing a responsive, flexible arena for presenting their work to the Los Angeles community.
HAMMER MUSEUM INFORMATION
Website with current program and exhibition information: www.hammer.ucla.edu
Phone: 310-443-7000; TTY: 310-443-7094
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 11am–7pm; Thursday, 11am–9pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm; closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: $5 for adults; $3 for seniors (65+) and UCLA Alumni Association members; free for Museum members, students with identification, UCLA faculty/staff, and visitors 17 and under.
The Museum is free for everyone on Thursdays.
Location/Parking: The Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, at Westwood Boulevard. Parking is available under the Museum. Rates are $2.75 for the first two hours with Museum validation, $1.50 for each additional 20 minutes.
Museum Tours: For reservations and information, call 310-443-7041
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center is operated by the University of California, Los Angeles. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has partially endowed the Museum and constructed the Occidental Petroleum Cultural Center Building, which houses the Museum.
- UCLA -
Garrels comes from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and will start in the newly created position at Hammer Museum in May, 2005
January 21
Los Angeles, CA—The Hammer Museum announced today the appointment of Gary Garrels as the Museum’s new Senior Curator. Garrels is currently Chief Curator of the Department of Drawings and Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. His appointment at the Hammer Museum will be effective at the end of May 2005. In his new capacity, Garrels will be involved in organizing exhibitions as well as focusing on the development of the Museum’s new contemporary collection.
“I am thrilled that Gary Garrels will be joining the Hammer Museum staff,” said Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin. “He brings enormous breadth and experience to our curatorial team and is respected by artists, collectors and colleagues internationally. And, of course, his knowledge and long-standing support of the Los Angeles art community is well known. His broad expertise will further strengthen the Museum’s recognized exhibition program and will be crucial in the development of our collections in the future.”
“It is an exciting honor to join the curatorial team of the Hammer Museum, which I consider to be one of the most important and dynamic art institutions nationally and internationally,” said Gary Garrels. “Los Angeles is one of the key centers for contemporary artists in the world today, and artists are at the core of the Hammer, making it a laboratory for new thinking and for taking risks. This is a museum immersed in the present and poised for the future.”
Gary Garrels is recognized for his internationally acclaimed exhibitions and his strength in developing museum collections at several of the country’s most highly regarded institutions. Actively involved in the development of new exhibitions and the shaping of a collections policy, the new position of Senior Curator will work closely with Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Exhibitions, Russell Ferguson. Garrels will also collaborate with Cynthia Burlingham, Deputy Director of Collections and Director of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, who oversees the Armand Hammer Permanent Collections.
“I am very pleased by this important addition to our curatorial team, and look forward to having such an experienced colleague with whom to explore new ideas and initiatives for the Museum,” said Russell Ferguson, Hammer Museum Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Exhibitions. “Gary is widely admired for his extensive knowledge and great passion for contemporary art, which will be a tremendous asset not just for the Hammer, but for Los Angeles as a whole.”
Gary Garrels has a long-standing commitment to contemporary and emerging artists. During his tenure at The Museum of Modern Art, he organized Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective, which won the AICA (International Association of Art Critics) award as best monographic exhibition in New York in 2004. He was a member of the curatorial committee for MoMA at El Museo: Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, exhibited at El Museo del Barrio last year. He is currently working on an exhibition Drawing from the Modern: 1945-1975, a survey of more than 100 drawings from MoMA’s collection that will open on March 30, and on a major retrospective of Brice Marden’s paintings and drawings, that will open at MoMA in fall 2006.
Garrels’s previous appointments include Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1993-2000), Senior Curator at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1991-1993), Director of Programs at Dia Art Foundation, New York (1987-1991). Among his exhibitions for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective; Willem de Kooning, The Late Paintings, The 1980s; Inside Out: New Chinese Art (with the Asia Society, New York); Present Tense: Nine Artists in the Nineties; and projects with Richard Hamilton, Glenn Ligon, Steven Pippin, Doris Salcedo, Kara Walker, and Andrea Zittel. At the Walker Art Center, Garrels organized the acclaimed exhibition Photography in Contemporary German Art: 1960 to the Present, which traveled to many notable venues in the United States and Europe.
Gary Garrels is very familiar with international artists working in all media, and has championed many Los Angeles-based artists by exhibiting and acquiring their works at his previous appointments. While at the Museum of Modern Art, he acquired works on paper by Ingrid Calame, Paul McCarthy, Lee Mullican, Robert Overby, Laura Owens, Raymond Pettibon, Lari Pittman, Nancy Rubins, Jim Shaw, among many others.
Garrels received his M.A. in Art History from Boston University, and previously studied in Princeton University’s Doctoral Program for Sociology. He has written and lectured extensively about contemporary art and has been engaged in a wide range of professional activities, including acting as an advisor to several major art foundations and arts organizations. Currently he is on the Advisory Committee for the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies; the Museum Advisory Committee for the Asia Society, New York; and the Board of Trustees of the Merce Cunningham Foundation.
HAMMER MUSEUM MISSION
The Hammer Museum is dedicated to exploring the diversity of artistic expression through the ages, recognizing that artists play a crucial role in all aspects of culture and society. The Museum’s programming spans the classics to the cutting-edge, presenting exhibitions of historical and contemporary art alongside selections from its permanent collections. Founded by Dr. Armand Hammer in 1990, the Museum’s collections include The Armand Hammer Collection of Old Master, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings; The Armand Hammer Daumier and Contemporaries Collection; The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, containing over 45,000 works on paper; and the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on the UCLA campus.
In addition to selections from its permanent collections, the Hammer Museum presents a range of acclaimed exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, architecture, and design. The Museum also presents approximately ten Hammer Projects each year focusing on the work of emerging artists. The series provides international and local artists with a laboratory-like environment to create new work or to present existing work in a new context, and reflects the Museum’s commitment to serving artists by providing a responsive, flexible arena for presenting their work to the Los Angeles community.
HAMMER MUSEUM INFORMATION
Website with current program and exhibition information: www.hammer.ucla.edu
Phone: 310-443-7000; TTY: 310-443-7094
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 11am–7pm; Thursday, 11am–9pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm; closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: $5 for adults; $3 for seniors (65+) and UCLA Alumni Association members; free for Museum members, students with identification, UCLA faculty/staff, and visitors 17 and under.
The Museum is free for everyone on Thursdays.
Location/Parking: The Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, at Westwood Boulevard. Parking is available under the Museum. Rates are $2.75 for the first two hours with Museum validation, $1.50 for each additional 20 minutes.
Museum Tours: For reservations and information, call 310-443-7041
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center is operated by the University of California, Los Angeles. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has partially endowed the Museum and constructed the Occidental Petroleum Cultural Center Building, which houses the Museum.
- UCLA -