| « Art Up the Wazoo | Peter Dziak: "Someone You Should Know" » |
News Thu Apr 29 2010
The MCA's New Tastemaker
The director of the Museum of Contemporary Art announced this morning that the MCA has a new chief curator-- Michael Darling. Darling is currently the curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and before that he was associate curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in L.A. (MOCA).
"Michael is an exceptionally well-respected, intelligent, and open-minded individual who is a very prescient choice for chief curator," said Mary Ittelson, Chair of the MCA Board of Trustees in the press release they sent out today. "He is a versatile curator who understands the importance of presenting the art experience in an approachable manner for the audience."
His resume certainly is impressive-- he's put together some really interesting shows-- most recently Kurt, an exhibition opening at the SAM in May that examines the influence of Seattle's Kurt Cobain on the arts. During his time at there, Darling expanded SAM's collection of international contemporary art with important acquisitions by artists like Chicago's own, super dreamy Rashid Johnson!
More good news: in an article on Time Out's blog today, Darling was quoted as saying: "Something I would like to do is have the MCA and its curators, in particular, be boosters for Chicago artists. Help to identify the brightest lights. Give them shows at the museum. Bring their work to the attention of other curators, art dealers."
I think that's just great. Here's to the bright future of our amazing contemporary art museum as well as a welcome new Chicagoan.
*Although he looks a little cranky in the picture, he's said to be a really nice guy.
