Surprise Guest Nancy Pelosi Honors Frank Gehry at MOCA Gala

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Surprise Guest Nancy Pelosi Honors Frank Gehry at MOCA Gala originally appeared on L.A. Mag.
"MOCA, thank you so much for the diversity that you brought to the legends that you honored tonight," said surprise guest Nancy Pelosi upon taking the stage at the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Little Tokyo on May 31.The 2025 gala, presented by BVLGARI, introduced a new format — whereby which three MOCA Legends from different areas are honored annually. The first three honorees were artist Theaster Gates, recognized by Ava DuVernay; philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, praised by Jane Fonda; and finally, Frank Gehry, whom Pelosi came to honor."Listening to — even the presenters, Ava and Jane, and Wendy and Theaster — it reminded me of something that our founders said," Pelosi began. "John Adams wrote to Abigail Adams, and he said to her, 'I must study war and politics, so that our sons can study agriculture, science.' So that their children will have the freedom to study music and poetry and architecture, and he even said tapestry at the time."Pelosi went on, "But the connection of all of these disciplines through the eyes of art is so important, because what John Adams was talking about was the expansion of freedom, and that is what art is about — freedom.""So tonight, I'm here to talk about Frank Gehry," said Pelosi, who remarked how she left her grandson's high school graduation to be there because of how much she respects and loves him. "Frank Gehry — you think of him, I think of him, as a genius. But he's more than a genius. ... Frank Gehry is a magician. Because with his architecture, he enables people to see the art differently. To hear the music differently. To understand the education differently."
Pelosi continued: "He has said, 'architecture speaks to its time and its place, but yearns for timelessness.' And that's what he has been about. ... The architecture is art for the community. He has always listened to the community about what this structure will be. He designs it around the community. So it's about culture, it's about community, it's about communication to everyone as to what the purpose is of the design, of the art, that he has created." She concluded, "The poet [Percy] Shelley once said, 'The greatest force for moral good is imagination.' And Frank Gehry is the personification of imagination."The 96-year-old MOCA culture legend Gehry — who renovated MOCA Geffen in 1983 prioritizing adaptive reuse — made remarks from his table after a standing ovation. "I owe a lot to this place," Gehry said. "When I graduated architecture, I met with the undergraduates and by luck, I designed a little building on Melrose and artists started to come to the construction site. And I couldn't understand why they were there!" Gehry continued, "They had brought me into their club, and it's where I wanted to be. And it opened my eyes to another world — which is more relevant than where I was coming from. So, MOCA means a lot to me. I was on the board a long time ago, but I didn't have the body to keep up with it! I've always been a supporter. I'm so honored to have Nancy here — she's so important in my life. I believe in her so much, Thank you. Let's go on and make this place really important — it is important, we got to build it, we've got to build on it. I'm here to help ... Let's do it!"
The festive evening — attended by 600 art lovers, including Sarah Paulson and Mayor Karen Bass — featured a performance by Tierra Whack and raised over $3.1 million in support of the museum. Following a cocktail hour outdoors in the Aileen Getty Plaza, guests explored the immersive current exhibit Olafur Eliasson: OPEN en route to dinner, where this year's "legends" received toasts."This is my fourth gala, and what I had realized as I got to know the institution was how many people — from 50 years of history almost — we have to look back to, in order to look forward," Maurice Marciano Director Johanna Burton told Los Angeles. "And this idea of storytelling became very important because of the historical moment we're in, where we should really be reminding ourselves and each other of the kind of radical, really caring gestures that have happened in his space and lay ground for what comes ahead."This informed the gala's new format. "We came up with this three-part structure, where there are three visionaries each year: one is an artist; one is a cultural visionary, that could be a filmmaker or a fashion designer or a dancer; and the third is a philanthropist," Burton said. "So it became this really beautiful way of tapping in people who have helped write the history of this place — and the people who support them are also legends."MOCA Board Chair Maria Seferian and Burton began the program by addressing the room. "This past year has been one of extraordinary growth and meaningful momentum MOCA," Burton said, calling out Eliasson's exhibit (and presence in the room). She also cited the collaborative efforts to fundraise following the wildfires through the Los Angeles Arts Recovery Fund led by the Getty.
Burton also spoke to future exhibits: Nadya Tolokonnikova (of Pussy Riot)'s Police State "staging a durational performance that highlights human resilience in the face of state power," from June 5-14; the third presentation of MOCA's relaunched Focus series with Takako Yamauchi at the end of June."And in October, the long-awaited Monuments exhibition, co-presented with The Brick,: Burton said. "Conceived nearly a decade ago, Monuments brings recently decommissioned Confederate statues to the museum, displayed alongside contemporary artworks — many created for the exhibition, by 15 of the most compelling artists working today. The show explores how public monuments have shaped national identity, historical memory and ideas about power and belonging."Fonda praised Schmidt, citing her environmental activism work (protesting oil drilling and promoting ocean conservation) and her newly-founded Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize — which will present its first artist projects by Cecilia Vicuña and Julian Charrière at MOCA next year.
"There are people in the world who do good things, and seek and receive a lot of attention, and there are people who have a profound impact and they do work quietly — without notice and fanfare, and Wendy Schmidt is the latter," Fonda said. "But the work she has done for two decades should be known by everyone in this room. ... She sees the big picture; she sees how the world can be, while the rest of us just see a mess.""There was a clear distinction between science and art," Schmidt said. However, she noted, "In a world of increasing convergence, science and art actually need each other. ... Where art meets science, great things happen."DuVernay took the stage to honor Chicago-based artist Gates, who held his first solo museum exhibition on the West Coast at MOCA in 2011. "I'm here to speak to you about sound," DuVernay began. "The sound of a man who walks into an open space and hears something that others cannot. ... I've been out on the town with Theaster ... and I've shared contemplative times with him, where the world slows down and we talk, not just about what we're making, but why. And in these exchanges, there's a beautiful truth I've come to realize: Theaster Gates is the whole band."
"In growing up, this [idea] was important to me, that you enter the world, you enter a circumstance with something — or maybe with nothing," Gates said. "And that, life feels like it's about the attempt at making that nothing something. ... You take your talent, and you multiply it."He also made a plea: "I feel like I'm constantly looking at Black and brown talent in my neighborhood, and no one's invested in them — and in fact, they are burying Black talent all the fucking time! And is it possible that we would just take a moment to imagine that the talent around us has the capacity to do greater than it does?"Gates ended: "My job is to make talent. To be talented. To multiply talent."
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.