MOCA To Present Arshile Gorky Program To Community Groups
By Asbarez
Apr 16th, 2010

A photograph of Gorky and his mother.

GLENDALE – Paul Schimmel, Chief Curator of The Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), will present a special overview of the West
Coast presentation of Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, to a gathering
of community groups in Glendale, California, on April 30, 2010. The
presentation will feature a slideshow on the exhibition and MOCA’s
plans for related programs. The dinner event is being organized by the
Armenian Professional Society (APS), National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR), USC Institute of Armenian Studies,
Armenian Allied Arts Association, Armenian Film Foundation, Armenian
Engineers and Scientists of America, and ARPA Institute. Net proceeds
from the dinner event will be donated to MOCA to support its Friends
of Arshile Gorky campaign.

MOCA will present Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective June 6 through
September 20, at MOCA Grand Avenue. This major traveling retrospective
celebrates the extraordinary life and work of Arshile Gorky, who was
born Vosdanig Adoian c.1902 in the Van region of Historic Armenia.
After surviving the Armenian genocide of 1915-23, Gorky immigrated to
the United States, where he pursued his artistic ambitions and became
a seminal figure in the movement toward abstraction that transformed
American art in the middle of the 20th century. Arshile Gorky: A
Retrospective positions Gorky as a crucial founder of abstract
expressionism, but also as a passionate and dedicated artist whose
tragic life often informed his groundbreaking and deeply personal
paintings. The first full-scale survey of Gorky’s work since 1981, the
exhibition features Gorky’s most significant paintings, sculptures,
and works on paper.

Tracing the career of an important Armenian-American artist, this
historic exhibition will be a powerful vehicle for raising awareness
of the Armenian people and their tremendous contributions to art,
culture, and history. MOCA’s presentation, the third on the
exhibition’s tour, is organized by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel.

Commented Schimmel, whose mother was Armenian, `As the only West Coast
venue, MOCA is proud to present the work of this historically
important artist who developed a unique and deeply influential visual
language. Gorky courageously reshaped European modernism into the
foundations of abstract expressionism. He inspired a new generation of
artists, demonstrating that the act of painting alone was enough to be
both poetically charged and powerfully tragic.’

Stephan Bagboudarian, APS President, commented, `The Gorky exhibit at
MOCA will appeal to a large audience of Armenians as well as the
general public, and we expect significant attendance figures in Los
Angeles. Our event on April 30 will give our local community a first
look at this important exhibition, which I’m sure will generate
enthusiasm for spreading the word as well as providing some financial
support for MOCA’s ambitious undertaking.’

Representatives of APS and MOCA will discuss this event in a live
interview on Horizon Armenian TV on Monday, April 26 at 8:30 p.m.

The presentation will be held on Friday, April 30, 2010, at 7:00 pm at
the Brandview Collection banquet hall, located at 109 E. Harvard St,
Glendale, CA 91205. Admission to the event is $50 through April 20 and
$60 thereafter, with RSVP required by April 27. Tickets may be
purchased at , or by sending a check payable to APS
to P.O. Box 10306, Glendale, CA 91209. Additional information may be
obtained by contacting APS at , apsla@apsla.org, or
818-685-9946.