IN THESE TIMES: RECENT ACQUISITIONS AT MOCA OPENS SEPTEMBER 20
Exhibition highlights artworks added to MOCA's collection over the past five years, in conversation with works from its broader holdings
MOCA Grand Avenue
September 20, 2026–January 3, 2027
Hilary Pecis, Silverlake Hillside, 2025. Acrylic on linen. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Purchase with funds provided by Shari Glazer.
Los Angeles, CA—The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) presents In These Times: Recent Acquisitions at MOCA from September 20, 2026 – January 3, 2027 at MOCA Grand Avenue. The exhibition highlights artworks added to MOCA’s collection over the past five years, in conversation with works from its broader holdings. In These Times features more than 100 works by over 50 artists, including Ed Bereal, Louise Bonnet, Andrea Bowers, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Christina Forrer, Charles Gaines, Sawako Goda, Jacqueline Humphries, Alex Israel, Tomashi Jackson, Larry Johnson, Kahlil Joseph, Liz Larner, Yolanda Lopez, Julie Mehretu and Nairy Baghramian, Rebecca Morris, Kathleen Ryan, Diane Simpson, John Sparagana, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Henry Taylor, Vincent Valdez, Ulla Wiggen, and others.
Many of the works on view are recent gifts, extending in some cases decades-long generosity from MOCA donors. Collector and former Los Angeles Councilmember Joel Wachs has donated dozens of works since the 1980s, including works by Jackson, Wiggen, and Johnson in 2025. Also on view is a major painting by Bonnet donated by MOCA Trustee Pete Scantland; an Alex Israel canvas given by Trustee Karyn Kohl; and a suite of Philip Lorca diCorcia “Hustler” photographs donated by Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard. MOCA’s collection, one of the great collections of contemporary art in the U.S., has always reflected significant donations from individuals, as well as purchases of artwork by the museum.
In These Times is organized in loosely thematic galleries, prompted by the new acquisitions, and includes groupings focused on people and places of Los Angeles; tendencies in recent abstract painting; a contemporary interest in the aesthetics of the fairy-tale, the mythological, and the cartoon; works that dwell in obsessive detail and system; a look at group portraiture; and a focused dive into the works of Larry Johnson and Liz Larner, both extensively collected by MOCA since the 1980s.
Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator, stated: “With a collection numbering nearly 8,000 art works, MOCA averages between 100–150 acquisitions annually in recent years, a combination of purchases and gifts. These may be brand new works, or works from decades ago that are simply new to the museum. Making connections among them, building context, is a fundamental part of what we do.”
In These Times: Recent Acquisitions at MOCA is organized by Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator, with Ariana Rizo, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Exhibitions at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Exhibitions with lead funding provided by Jordan S. Goodman + The Goodman Family Foundation. Major funding is provided by Tatiana Botton, Kathi and Gary Cypres, Alfred E. Mann Charities, Mary and David Martin, Steven Rice and Gary Steele, and Julie Wainwright. Generous funding is provided by Michael and Zelene Fowler, The Earl and Shirley Greif Foundation, John Morace and Tom Kennedy, Daryl and Robert Offer, Jonathan Segal, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, and Vida Yaghmai and Kourosh Gohar.