Living Apart Together: Recent Acquisitions from the Hammer Contemporary Collection

In recent years the Hammer has reaffirmed its commitment to building a collection focused, in part, on the art of the past decade, with an emphasis on Los Angeles. Within the scope of its collecting, the Hammer seeks to narrate a history of the city’s artistic legacies while acknowledging Los Angeles as a nexus of global contemporary art discourse and an integral part of the broader Pacific Rim. This exhibition explores the ways in which the Hammer’s collections are formed through generous gifts from patrons and artists. These acquisitions provide the museum with opportunities to display histories of recent artistic practice that are at once disparate, divergent, and reflective of the broad range of identities, disciplines, and forms that give shape to contemporary life.

Living Apart Together: Recent Acquisitions from the Hammer Contemporary Collection highlights strains that have defined the collection’s growth and pays particular attention to the artistic legacies of Southern California. The exhibition is punctuated by two concentrated presentations: one installation that highlights drawings and works on paper, a consistent area of focus since the collection began acquiring in 2005; and another that showcases a selection of photographs by Daido Moriyama which underscore the museum’s commitment to extensive collections of individual artists. The exhibition also includes a number of works donated in memory of Karin Higa, a Los Angeles curator and close friend of the Hammer Museum. Spread throughout the exhibition, these works span otherwise discrete installations, mirroring the ways in which thematic undercurrents unite the museum’s expanding collection.

Living Apart Together: Recent Acquisitions from the Hammer Contemporary Collection is organized by Aram Moshayedi, curator, with Michael Nock, administrative coordinator.