I knew of Jeffrey Deitch from his time in New York and became especially intrigued by his work when he began as Director of Los Angeles's Museum of Contemporary Art. I was struck by how willing he was to embrace the new. He was the rare person who had created his own world of ideas. He wanted to counter our expectations of art with the unexpected. He wanted us to see street art, to show us young artists in Los Angeles.
It is not unusual for someone at the forefront of change to be misunderstood. Though Jeffrey Deitch is no longer Director at MOCA, let's take a moment to appreciate the fact that he brought an original voice to the art scene in Los Angeles. Whether or not you're a fan of his style, we can all agree that he was responsible for a set of provocative, interesting and unexpected exhibitions that enriched our experience of art.
Moving forward, I hope that cities around the world will embrace an alternative vision of art -- pushing boundaries and expanding our understanding of art. Jeffrey's work at MOCA included a wealth of points of view, at times contrary to his own. In the coming years, whether or not we agreed with him, I believe we will look back at Jeffrey Deitch's tenure at MOCA as a high point for culture here. At his core was the wish to make known what is unknown: to reveal. That is his legacy in Los Angeles and the reason I felt compelled to interview him in the film below.
Take a moment and watch Jeffrey reflect on art in his own words: