Media Contact
Alex Capriotti, 213-232-6236, acapriotti@thebroad.org

THE BROAD ANNOUNCES 2014 SEASON OF ART TALK SERIES “THE UN-PRIVATE COLLECTION”

2014 Roster to Feature Artists in the Broad Collections, Paired with Cultural Leaders: Takashi Murakami with Pico Iyer, Eric Fischl with Steve Martin, John Currin with James Cuno, and Kara Walker with Ava DuVernay

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20, 2014—The Broad announced today the full 2014 season of its highly successful public talks series, The Un-Private Collection, with four new events that bring together unexpected pairings of noted contemporary artists with cultural leaders in a variety of fields. Upcoming talks will include Takashi Murakami and bestselling author and scholar of Japanese history and culture Pico Iyer, Eric Fischl and actor Steve Martin, John Currin on classical painting with Getty Trust President and CEO James Cuno and Kara Walker and distinguished film director Ava DuVernay. The 2014 season will kick off this Monday, Feb. 24 at the historic 1900-seat Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles with The Broad’s previously announced program featuring artist Jeff Koons in conversation before a sold-out audience with cult filmmaker, artist and author John Waters. Talks will be held at venues throughout Los Angeles, making the programming available to audiences across the city.

The Un-Private Collection is an ongoing series of public programs The Broad started in September 2013 to introduce audiences to the museum’s 2,000-work contemporary art collection by showcasing stories behind the collection, the collectors and the artists in the months leading up to the 2015 opening of The Broad museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. As the title suggests, “The Un Private Collection” series is the latest of founding patrons Eli and Edythe Broad’s ongoing efforts to make their art collections accessible to the public. The 2013 fall season’s four talks featured artists Mark Bradford and Shirin Neshat, as well as discussions with the Broads, architect Elizabeth Diller, whose firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro is designing the museum, and The Broad Founding Director Joanne Heyler.

“Over the years, Edye and I have enjoyed getting to know the artists and speaking with them about their work,” said Eli Broad. “Those conversations have broadened our world view, and it’s one of the reasons we collect contemporary art. We hope that by showcasing public conversations with these artists, future museum patrons will gain a similar curiosity and a deeper understanding when they see the art at The Broad.”

On May 29 at 8 p.m., Takashi Murakami, who is represented by 11 works in the Broad collections, will be in conversation with author Pico Iyer. Iyer, who lives much of each year outside Osaka, Japan, has written extensively in both fiction and non-fiction about the country and will explore how Murakami’s work is influenced by traditional Japanese art forms as well as by contemporary preoccupations in Japanese culture. Works by Murakami in the Broad collections include sculptures such as DOB in the Strange Forest (Blue DOB), 1999, Oval Buddha Silver, 2008, and Flower Matango (b), 2001-2006. The location of this talk will be announced at a later date.

On June 23 at 8 p.m., longtime friends Eric Fischl and actor, art collector, musician and author Steve Martin will discuss Fischl’s memoir, Bad Boy, his education at CalArts and the inspiration behind his painting and sculpture. The Broad collections feature 14 works by Fischl, whose work the Broads have collected since the mid-1980s, including key works from the ’80s such as Haircut, 1985, and Untitled, 1982—both depicting slightly mysterious and unsettling intimate moments—to the allegorical five-part series of paintings, The Travel of Romance: Scenes I-V, 1994, and most recently, his piercing portraits of friends and acquaintances such as Joan and John, 2001-2002, which depicts writer Joan Didion and her late husband John Gregory Dunne. The talk will be held at The Broad Stage, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica.

On Sept 14 at 3 p.m., painter John Currin will be joined by art historian and president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust James Cuno, to discuss the deep influence of classical painting on both the technique and subject of his work. Set at the Getty to highlight the event’s dual focus on contemporary and historical painting, this conversation will discuss examples from the Broad collections such as Daughter and Mother, 1997, and Patch and Pearl, 2006, in addition to classical paintings in the Getty’s collection that have inspired Currin’s work. A relatively new artist to the Broad collections, Currin emerged in the ’90s as one of the freshest voices in American art, and his inclusion in the Broad collections adds to the Broads’ deep, decades-long engagement with contemporary painting. The talk will be held at the Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles.

Artist Kara Walker will be joined onstage by director Ava DuVernay, winner of the 2012 Sundance Best Director Award, on Oct 11 at 2 p.m. to discuss their shared approach to exposing stereotypes and empowering African-American women through their work.

Within the Broad collections’ long history of support for artists who place strong political content at center stage, Kara Walker’s bold, forthright and at times controversial artwork has a prominent position. The Broad has collected the work of Kara Walker for more than 15 years. She is represented in-depth by examples such as the 26 drawings from the series Negress Notes, 1996, Danse de la Nubienne Nouveaux, 1998, and Pastorale, 2010, as well as three large wall installation works including Paternity Test, 2009, and African’t, 1996. The talk will be held at the Writers Guild Theater, 135 South Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills.

“Bringing these groundbreaking artists to speak to Los Angeles audiences provides a glimpse of what is to come when The Broad opens in 2015,” said Joanne Heyler, founding director of The Broad. “It’s also an extension of our longstanding mission. Since their earliest experiences acquiring art, Eli and Edythe Broad have collected with the intention of sharing the art with the public. The Un-Private Collection talk series signals a new phase of that vision, joining our well-established art lending program and the founding of the museum itself.”

The Broads have assembled one of the world’s most important collections of postwar and contemporary art, with 2,000 works by almost 200 artists. The Broad Art Foundation was created in 1984 as a lending library for contemporary art, available to museums and university galleries around the world. The Broad will become the home of this active, ongoing lending program. In addition, the Broads announced last fall that The Broad would offer free general admission when it opens in 2015 to ensure the works in the collection are able to be seen by the broadest possible audience.

The Broad inaugurated The Un-Private Collection series in September 2013 at the Central Library with a discussion on art collecting in the United States with Eli and Edythe Broad, Joanne Heyler and collections scholar Inge Reist, director of The Frick Collection’s Center for the History of Collecting and Collections. The Un-Private Collection has since featured talks by artists Mark Bradford at the High School of Visual and Performing Arts on Grand Avenue and Shirin Neshat at the Central Library. A special Un-Private Collection program was presented in December at Art Basel in Miami Beach with a conversation moderated by architecture critic Paul Goldberger with The Broad architect Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Eli Broad and Joanne Heyler.

The Un-Private Collection Series Schedule

Eli and Edythe Broad, Joanne Heyler and Inge Reist
Sept. 12, 2013
Central Library
Podcast online

Mark Bradford and Katy Siegel
Arts High School
Nov. 23, 2013
Podcast online

Eli Broad, Elizabeth Diller, Joanne Heyler and Paul Goldberger
Miami Beach
Dec. 4, 2013
Podcast online

Jeff Koons and John Waters
Orpheum Theatre
Feb. 24, 2014
SOLD OUT

Takashi Murakami and Pico Iyer
Location TBD
May 29, 2014
Ticketing TBD

Eric Fischl and Steve Martin
The Broad Stage
Jun. 23, 2014
Ticketing TBD

John Currin and James Cuno
The Getty Museum
Sept. 14, 2014
Ticketing TBD

Kara Walker and Ava DuVernay
Writers Guild
Oct. 11, 2014
Ticketing TBD

For complete program details, podcasts of past programs and ticketing information, please visit www.thebroad.org.

About The Broad
The Broad is a new contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, The museum, which is being designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will open in 2015. The museum will be home to the more than 2,000 works of art in The Broad Art Foundation and the Broads’ personal collections, which are among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. With is innovative “veil-and-vault” concept, the 120,000-square-foot, $140- million building will feature two floors of gallery space to showcase The Broad’s comprehensive collections and will be the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library. For more information on The Broad and to sign up for email updates, please visit www.thebroad.org.

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