Critics Name the 13 Best Art Exhibits of 2009

Winner of the 2009 AICA award for Best Thematic Museum Show Nationally:
Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

NEW YORK — We all enjoy reflecting on the previous year, especially in list form - top 10, people of the year - so with just a couple of weeks left before we welcome in 2010, here's an art-related top 13 of the year...

The 400 active members of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) have nominated and cast their votes for the 2008-2009 art exhibitions of the year. The 26th annual awards recognize excellence in the conception and realization of exhibitions in the United States during the previous year. Honorees include artists, curators, museums and galleries. This year's award ceremony will take place at  the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on February 16. [Note: Members of the public may contact aicausaprogram@gmail.com for more information about attending the event. There are a limited number of seats available.]

The 2008/2009 AICA Award Winners:

1) BEST MONOGRAPHIC MUSEUM SHOW NATIONALLY

William Kentridge: Five Themes, organized by the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA. Curator: Mark Rosenthal.

2) BEST THEMATIC MUSEUM SHOW NATIONALLY

Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. Curators: Stephanie Barron and Dr. Eckhart Gillen.

3) BEST MONOGRAPHIC MUSEUM SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY

Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective, organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Tate London, in partnership with the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Curators: Gary Tinterow assisted by Anne L. Strauss and Ian Alteveer.

4) BEST THEMATIC MUSEUM SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY

The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989, organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Curator: Alexandra Munroe.

5) BEST SHOW IN A COMMERCIAL GALLERY IN NEW YORK CITY

Picasso: Mosqueteros, Gagosian Gallery, New York. Curator: John Richardson.

6) BEST SHOW IN A COMMERCIAL GALLERY NATIONALLY

John Altoon: Drawings 1962-1968, organized by The Box Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

7) BEST SHOW BY A NON-PROFIT GALLERY OR SPACE

Unica Zürn: Dark Spring, organized by The Drawing Center, New York. Curator: João Ribas.

8) BEST SHOW IN A UNIVERSITY GALLERY
The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles / Recent Art, organized by the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York. Curator: Lynn Gumpert.

- and -

Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay organized by the Institute for Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Curators: Ingrid Shaffner and Jenelle Porter.

9) BEST SHOW IN A PUBLIC SPACE

The High Line NYC, organized by The High Line, New York. Curator: Lauren Ross.

10) BEST ARCHITECTURE OR DESIGN SHOW

Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Curators: Thomas Krens, David van der Leer, Maria Nicanor, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Margo Stipe and Oskar Muñoz.

11) BEST HISTORICAL SHOW

James Ensor, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Curator: Anna Swinbourne.

12) BEST EXHIBITION OF DIGITAL MEDIA, VIDEO, OR FILM

Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters) organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Curator: Klaus Biesenbach.

13) BEST PERFORMANCE

Yvonne Rainer's RoS Indexical (2007) and Spiraling Down (2008) presented at REDCAT, Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater, Los Angeles, CA in cooperation with the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and the World Performance Project at Yale University. Organizers: Mark Murphy, Emily Coates and Laurel Kishi.

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Critics Name the 13 Best Art Exhibits of 2009

A-List Goes GaGa Over 30 Years of MOCA

LOS ANGELES — A-Listers from Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, to Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, to Christina Ricci, Jessica Alba, Kate Beckinsale, James Franco and Pierce Brosnan, were among the 1,000 guests at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on Saturday night. The MOCA threw a huge gala in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary and the grand opening of its new fine art exhibition MOCA's First Thirty Years. A performance starring Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi Ballet were highlights of the evening.

Celebrities wandered among the more than 500 artworks by Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Jeff Koons and Jean-Michel Basquiat, selected from MOCA's vast inventory of 6,000 works, one of the world's top collections of post-World War II art. Other exhibit highlights include Ed Ruscha's Chocolate Room made of chocolate on paper and smelling like chocolate (yum!), and an all-white and neon room by Doug Wheeler (shoe-removal required for entry).

The museum almost didn't reach this 30-year milestone due to severe financial difficulties. "We were among the first institutions to be hit very hard and very early and we are among the first to be saved in this process," said MOCA chief curator Paul Schimmel. Thanks to a  generous $30 million donation from Eli Broad, a renowned modern art collector and philanthropist, the MOCA's iconic collection was spared. "This is the biggest turnaround of any art institution, whether it is performing arts or the visual arts, if you think of all that has happened in the last year," Broad said.

MOCA ♥ YOU

MOCA's First Thirty Years is split between two venues: 1940-80 at the MOCA Grand Avenue downtown and 1980-Now at the The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA nearby. Admission is free to the public now until November 20.

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MOCA's First Thirty Years (Nov. 15, 2009 - May 3, 2010) | Website

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[Photo: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt browse Lichtenstein gallery at the MOCA, courtesy Getty images]

A-List Goes GaGa Over 30 Years of MOCA

Make It Work! Project Runway at the Getty Museum

LOS ANGELES -- Make it work! Episode 12 of the hit reality show Project Runway was filmed at the acclaimed Getty Museum in Los Angeles and will air Thursday on Lifetime. In the final challenge before the Fashion Week finale at Bryant Park, the 5 remaining designers must create outfits inspired by the museum's architecture and artwork. Supermodel Cindy Crawford will join Heidi Klum on the judging panel. 

The Getty is hosting an exclusive screening of the show that night, followed by a discussion on art and fashion, with Mary Alice Haney (West Coast Editor of Marie Claire), Brooke Hodge (former curator at the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art) and Jasmine Shokrian (L.A.-based fashion designer). Invitations were open to the public via the museum's Facebook page, but unfortunately the event is now full. Ah well, it seems only some can be in...and the others, will be out (or just forced to watch it elsewhere). In the words of Tim Gunn - "Carry On!"

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[Read More - 'Project Runway' Takes the Spotlight at Getty Center | Los Angeles Times]

Make It Work! Project Runway at the Getty Museum