DALLAS, TX.- The Board of Directors of the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas, announced today the appointment of Jeremy Strick as the Center’s new Director. Mr. Strick will begin his position on March 2, 2009. His selection follows an extensive international search led a by a committee established by the Center’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Strick served over nine years as the Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, California. He is the second Director to be named to the Nasher Sculpture Center. The Center’s first Director, Dr. Steven A. Nash, led the Center’s opening in 2003, and resigned in March 2007 to become Director of the Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Springs, California.

“The appointment of Jeremy Strick as the Nasher’s new Director is a pivotal moment in the five-year history of this institution,” said David J. Haemisegger, President of the Nasher Sculpture Center Board. “We look forward with great anticipation to Jeremy’s innovative leadership in guiding the Nasher into the future and continuing to enhance Dallas’ reputation as a cultural destination of international acclaim.”

As Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art since 1999, Mr. Strick was responsible for exhibitions at, and operations of, three MOCA Los Angeles locations, in addition to leading a staff of over 150 full and part-time employees. Accomplishments during his tenure included the opening of MOCA Pacific Design Center, a 3,000-square-foot satellite gallery, in January of 2001, as well as a significant expansion of the museum’s permanent collection - now comprising over 6,000 works - most recently strengthened through the gift of The Blake Byrne Collection, the largest single donation in the history of the institution, and The Einstein Collection.

“Having worked with the Nasher Collection at the very outset of my career, I am especially delighted to be joining the Nasher Sculpture Center at this exciting moment in the history of this marvelous institution,” said Mr. Strick. “No museum anywhere is better-positioned to further the understanding of, and appreciation for modern and contemporary sculpture. I look forward to working with a talented staff and committed board to create a program that through its quality, scope, and ambition will capture the attention of the world.”

During his tenure, MOCA’s membership increased by over 80 percent to become the largest of any museum of contemporary art in North America, and the museum was honored with numerous awards for exhibitions, excellence in design, and civic guidance. Mr. Strick was responsible for the presentation of many landmark exhibitions at MOCA, including: Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective (2008), Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave (2008), ©MURAKAMI (2007), WACK!Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007), Ecstasy: In And About Altered States (2005), Basquiat (2005), Visual Music (2005), Robert Smithson (2004), A Minimal Future? Art As Object 1958-1968 (2004), Rodney Graham: A Little Thought (2004), Lucian Freud (2003), Andy Warhol Retrospective (2002), Willem De Kooning: Tracing The Figure (2002), Superflat (2001), Douglas Gordon (2001), and The Architecture Of R.M. Schindler (2001).

Prior to being the Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Mr. Strick served as a senior curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, and held curatorial posts at The Saint Louis Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. He pursued graduate studies in Fine Arts at Harvard University and received his Bachelor of Arts (History of Art) in 1977 with highest honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Additionally, he has curated numerous exhibitions including Louise Bourgeois: The Personages 1946-1954, The Saint Louis Art Museum, 1994, and Visual Music, MOCA, 2005, and has written and lectured extensively about modern and contemporary art including as a contributor to A Century of Modern Sculpture: The Patsy and Raymond Nasher Collection, exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1987.