MOCA board adds 4 new trustees, including LA artist Mark Bradford

Published Oct 23, 2014 11:26 AM

Artist Mark Bradford watches the program during the 2014 Santa Monica Museum of Art PRECOGNITO Gala on April 23, 2014, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)

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Four new members will be joining the leadership of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

On Wednesday, the board of trustees elected L.A. artist Mark Bradford, legislative and public policy strategist Heather Podesta, entrepreneur and art collector Cathy Vedovi and philanthropist Christopher Walker.

The appointments are the first under director Philippe Vergne, according to a statement from the museum. Vergne joined MOCA in March.

"I know how much Mark, Heather, Chris, and Cathy are going to bring to MOCA," Vergne said via the statement. “They are all passionate civic leaders with a profound commitment to building and supporting a true contemporary art museum."

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Bradford is a graduate of the California Institute for the Arts and has received numerous awards, including a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to by its media-coined nickname, the "Genius Grant."

In 2009, Bradford spoke about what it was like to receive the MacArthur Fellowship and what he planned to do with it:

Video

Bradford told the L.A. Times that MOCA is in a time of exciting transformation:

"I don't get the feeling that this is the new MOCA, and we don't want to talk about the old MOCA," he said. "It feels like we're here now, and we're moving forward, and we have a history."

The other members are non-artists. Vergne told the Times he wants MOCA's non-artist members to have strong voices internationally and that the museum's future is tied to its ability to become a "leading international institute in the field."

Vedovi, a partner of the L.A.-based Milk Shop, is an entrepreneur and art collector who splits her time between L.A., Miami and Paris. She is a board member of the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach and has commissioned work from and supported artists in France, according to MOCA.

Podesta is CEO of the largest woman-owned government relations firm in the country, according to MOCA. She was also named one of the world's top 200 contemporary art collectors in 2012 and 2013 by ArtNews, according to the museum.

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Walker, who was a founding partner of private merchant bank Leonard Green and Partners in L.A., has served on the boards of the L.A. County Museum of Art, the L.A. Opera, United States Artists, KCET and Claremont McKenna College. He lives in L.A. and London and currently serves on the Trustee Council of the National Gallery of Art, according to MOCA.

The election of these four brings the MOCA board to 50 members.