LOS ANGELES, CA.-The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) presents highlights from the recent historic gift of 123 works by 78 artists from Los Angeles collector and MOCA Trustee Blake Byrne. Spanning the 1950s to the present, the acquisition is the single largest gift by a private collector to the museum's permanent collection. The Blake Byrne Collection remains on view through October 10, 2005 at MOCA Grand Avenue (250 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles).

Organized by MOCA Senior Curator Ann Goldstein and MOCA Assistant Curator Michael Darling, The Blake Byrne Collection features over 80 works from the gift, ranging from painting and sculpture to photography and works on paper, and reflects a wide range of attitudes and practices that delve into social commentary as well as address issues of contemporary abstraction. The exhibition includes key individual works, in addition to bodies of work, by John Baldessari, Stephan Balkenhol, Marlene Dumas, Robert Gober, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Yayoi Kusama, Gordon Matta-Clark, Rita McBride, Paul McCarthy, Steve McQueen, Annette Messager, Juan Muñoz, Claes Oldenburg, Gabriel Orozco, Ed Ruscha, Jim Shaw, and Richard Tuttle, among many others.

"Blake Byrne made his gift to MOCA with the express desire to share his passion for contemporary art with the people of Los Angeles," stated MOCA Director Jeremy Strick. "This exhibition, and accompanying catalogue, will realize that wish, revealing the range and depth of Blake's collecting interests."

Notes MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel, "The generational and geographical diversity of the artists featured in this exhibition is representative of the distinctive quality of the Blake Byrne Collection."

The exhibition reflects the Blake Byrne Collection's strength in European holdings as well as that of leading New York and California artists. The Blake Byrne Collection spans a wide historical range, featuring key works by seminal artists from the 1950s in addition to works by mid-career and younger artists who are defining art today.

"The Blake Byrne Collection is distinguished by an exemplary and personal vision, and an unwavering devotion to contemporary art and artists," said MOCA Senior Curator Ann Goldstein.

Contributing to MOCA's commitment to collecting artists in depth, the gift further complements important works by several artists already represented in the museum's collection and who have been featured in important solo and significant group exhibitions. Highlights of the exhibition include Gordon Matta-Clark's sculpture of a tear-shaped section of a floor and ceiling, Office Baroque (1977); John Baldessari's monumental photographic work, Mesa (1990); Mike Kelley's multi-media sculptural installation, Silver Ball (1994); Robert Gober's sculpture of two doors in an "X" configuration folded into a corner, Untitled (1998); five works on paper addressing themes of race and sexuality by Marlene Dumas; Paul McCarthy's color photographs from the series Masks (1994); Claes Oldenburg's mixed-media work on paper, Smog Mask (1966); and Ed Ruscha's gunpowder drawing, The Briefcase (1973).

The gift enhances existing areas of strength in American and European art in MOCA's collection and brings significant new works by historic, mid-career, and emerging artists. The exhibition features important individual works, such as Joseph Cornell's historical piece, Untitled (Hotel) Box (1954); Lynda Benglis's process-oriented work, For Bob (1971); Sigmar Polke's Benday-dot pattern watercolor, Untitled (1982); Tony Cragg's mixed-media assemblage work, Half Moon (1985); Cosima von Bonin's large-scale fabric wall piece, D'Accord (2002); Thomas Eggerer's painting of two psychologically intense figures, Drawing for Eugene (2003); Rita McBride's abstract geometric sculpture of an air conditioning duct, Servants and Slaves (domestic) (2003); and Kai Althoff's multi-panel sculpture, Untitled (Screen) (2004).

A number of works represent several international artists' first entry into the museum's collection, such as British artist Steve McQueen's breakthrough video installation, Drumroll (1998); German artist Stephan Balkenhol's multi-part, multi-size sculpture of four figures carved from blocks of wood, Vier Figurengruppe (1999); German painter Gerhard Richter's color-chart work, Farbtafel (1966-78); Spanish sculptor Cristina Iglesias' multi-media wall sculpture, Sin Titulo (1988); French artist Annette Messager's tripartite piece, Histoire des Robes (1990); Swiss photographer Beat Streuli's photographic work created while visiting Los Angeles, 68/45 (2003); French artist Jacques Villegle's d‚collage-style compositions with layers of colorful posters, Rue Pierre Demours (Leger 1913) (1958) and Rue Piroutte (1962); and Belgian artist Jan Vercruysse's ambiguous object, Tombeaux (1989), which resembles parts of a painting, sculpture, and ominous shadow in a silhouette of a tomb.

The Byrne collection joins other landmark acquisitions and gifts from several major collectors in MOCA's holdings, such as those of Beatrice and Philip Gersh, the Lannan Foundation, Barry Lowen, Count Giuseppe and Mrs. Giovanna Panza di Biumo, Rita and Taft Schreiber, Scott D. F. Spiegel, and Marcia Simon Weisman. The Blake Byrne Collection demonstrates MOCA's ongoing effort to showcase works from the permanent collection. Since its founding in 1979, MOCA has assembled a renowned collection of contemporary art, currently holding approximately 5,000 works in all visual media, ranging from masterpieces of abstract expressionism and pop art to recent works by young and emerging artists.

About the Collector - For more than 20 years, Byrne has been an active supporter of contemporary artists. Now retired from a distinguished broadcasting career, Byrne was formerly president of Argyle Television. Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 1989 to become president and general manager of KCAL-9, he managed various network affiliates and was the Vice President of Television for LIN Broadcasting. Byrne joined MOCA's Board of Trustees in 1999, having been a member of the Director's Forum since 1996 and the Acquisition and Collection Committee since 1997. Byrne is chairman of The Skylark Foundation, and he currently co-chairs the campaign for the Raymond D. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. He received his MBA from Columbia University and is the father of Jocelyn Byrne Elsbrock and John Byrne as well as the grandfather of four.