Director Ryan Coogler and artist Maria Corse will be honored at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s 14th annual Art+Film Celebration, the museum announced Sunday.
The lavish, high-fashion dinner is co-chaired by Lacma trustee Eva Cho and Leonardo DiCaprio and will take place on November 1. It will be the last such event before the museum opens its new Peter Zumthor-designed building next spring.
Los Angeles is uniquely suited to a celebration that aims to highlight and strengthen the connection between film and the visual arts, bringing the two communities together in grand style. Last year’s honorees were Baz Luhrmann and Simone Leigh, and the usual party was attended by a slew of celebrity guests, including Blake Lively, Kim Kardashian, Laura Dern, Viola Davis, Andrew Garfield, and Sarah Paulson. Charli XCX closed the night with a banger.
LACMA Director and CEO Michael Gowan called last year’s event, which raised $6.4 million, its most successful ever. Proceeds go toward LACMA’s mission to make film more central to its programming, as well as funding exhibitions, acquisitions, and educational programming.
Maria Corse will be honored at the Lacma Art + Film Gala.
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Other past honorees include artists Helena Pashgian, Betye Saar, Catherine Opie, Mark Bradford, Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Barbara Kruger, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, and John Baldessari. On the film side, there have been Park Chan-Wook, Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, George Lucas, Kathryn Bigelow, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, and Cliff Eastwood.
Coogler — who directed “Black Panther,” “Creed” and “Fruitvale Station” — is having a stellar year. His gritty Southern vampire horror “Sinners,” which was released in mid-April, has been a massive hit. The $90 million-budgeted film earned $48 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada on its opening weekend and has gone on to gross more than $365 million worldwide.
Topanga-based painter Maria Corse is known for her connection to the Southern California Light and Space movement, but her career has been defined by her desire to experiment with form and a variety of materials, including ceramics and acrylic on canvas. Corse has dedicated much of her life to her “white light” series, which involves layering tiny glass beads, called microspheres, over white acrylic paint to create an ever-changing, reflective effect.
“Mary Corse has consistently expanded the possibilities of painting in her exquisite works that challenge us to think deeply about the nature of perception,” said a statement from Gwanam. “Ryan Coogler’s films do something equally transformative. Through masterful storytelling and visual innovation, he reflects on history, redefines narratives, and opens up new possibilities.”
