Hammer Gala raises $2.6 million, honors Margaret Atwood and Glenn Ligon
An annual highlight of the Los Angeles cultural calendar, the Hammer Museum’s Gala in the Garden celebrates artists and icons who have made profound contributions to society through their work. Each year, proceeds from the gala provide essential support for all that the Hammer does, from landmark exhibitions to provocative public programs, to deeply rooted projects with young and emerging L.A. artists. This year's Hammer Gala raised $2.6 million and honored Margaret Atwood and Glenn Ligon for their socially engaged works.
"Under the soft glow of golden orbs suspended from trees at the Hammer Museum’s Gala in the Garden on Sunday, art world stars — including feminist artist Judy Chicago and Studio Museum of Harlem director Thelma Golden — mixed and mingled with Hollywood celebrities like Will Ferrell and Zoe Saldana.
Margaret Atwood attends the Hammer Museum Gala in the Garden. (Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for Hammer Museum) While the event celebrated creativity and raised money for the museum, the gala also reflected on how art can tackle social issues including racism, misogyny and xenophobia.
Raising $2.6 million, the event honored New York-based artist Glenn Ligon and Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Their work embodied the spirit of the evening — the necessity of art as a tool to achieve social justice.
Ligon’s typically text-based work explores race, language and sexuality. The artist has also used pop culture — like his deconstruction of a 1982 Richard Pryor standup film — to examine themes that explore representations of the black male body.
Atwood, a prolific author of more than 40 books, may be best known for her dystopian fiction including the 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which has been adapted into an Emmy-winning Hulu series.
There were traces of the social justice spirit throughout the evening, as gala attendees meandered through the museum’s latest exhibitions, “Adrian Piper: Concepts and Intuitions, 1965-2016” and “Stones to Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo,” both artists whose work addressed issues including race and power. The art institution recently wrapped its “Made in L.A. 2018” biennial — curated by Anne Ellegood and Erin Christovale — which showcased 33 artists whose work addressed themes of politics, identity and power. A majority of the artists involved with the exhibition were queer, female-identifying and/or people of color.
“The museum is so thoughtful in that way for years now," said Mary Leigh Cherry, director at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. "Especially in these times we’re all hyper-aware of what is happening, this museum has been here doing that for a long time and it just is even more celebratory or galvanizing this year."— Makeda Easter, Oct. 15, 2018
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Los Angeles Times website.
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