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| Jonas Wood, Studio Exterior, 2014 |
Paul and Maurice Marciano have given MOCA a quintessential Jonas Wood painting,
Studio Exterior (2014). The gift is likely to revive speculation about the long and fraught relationship between the Marcianos and MOCA. Maurice was co-chair of MOCA's board when he and Paul founded their own contemporary art showplace—a rather unusual conflict of interest. That institution, the Marciano Art Foundation, closed abruptly last November after employees announced their intention to unionize. Maurice is now listed as Chair Emeritus of MOCA's board.
Over 9 feet wide,
Studio Exterior becomes MOCA's second painting by Wood, not counting
the 2016–18 mural-wrap of Arata Isozaki's Grand Avenue building. The other easel painting is a 2005 view of a Brooklyn garden,
Carroll Gardens in February.
Comments
I hope the Lucas Museum is able to create some balance in today's world of the au-courant and hip-and-trendy.
I sure would like to see David Geffen grab back his donation from the museum in the mid-Wilshire district and give it instead to MOCA for an expansion of their Grand Ave property. Or even give the monies to the nearby Colburn School or Music Center.
First, the painting which shows the opposite view of the same space currently resides on the “opposite" side of the street (Blackwelder Self-Portrait at the Broad).
Second, the painting that I think influenced both “Wood" paintings also resides across the street (Kiefer’s Deutschlands Geisteshelden).
There’s at least two more “wood” paintings, Young Architect 2019 and Ball on Wood 2019. You can see those here: https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2019/jonas-wood/ and https://www.antonkerngallery.com/artists/jonas_wood
There’s a larger subset of Wood works that have some “wood" in them, boards with a wood grain or wood mouldings. In the “wood” paintings, however, the wood pattern is more prominent.