The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of the

Segerstrom Center for the Arts Segerstrom may refer to *Segerström (surname) *C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, a real estate company in Orange County, California, U.S. *Segerstrom Center for the Arts, a performing arts complex in Costa Mesa, California, U.S. *Segerstrom High School in S ...

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

. The museum's collection comprises more than 4,500 objects, with a concentration on the art of California and the

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of co ...

from the early 20th century to present. Exhibits include traditional paintings, sculptures, and photography, as well as new media in the form of video, digital, and installation art.

History

The museum was founded in 1962 as the Balboa Pavilion Gallery by 13 women who rented space in the

Balboa Pavilion The Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, is a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Place. Established on July 1, 1906, the Balboa Pavilion played a prominent role in the development of Newport Beach by at ...

building in order to exhibit modern and contemporary art. By 1968 the institution became known as the Newport Harbor Art Museum, and in 1972 moved to a nearby, larger location. In 1977 the museum opened its doors in Newport Beach on San Clemente Drive in

Fashion Island Fashion Island is an outdoor regional shopping mall in Newport Beach, California. Opened in 1967 by The Irvine Company as the anchor to their master-planned Newport Center district, Fashion Island is anchored by Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman M ...

. In 1997, the museum was remodeled and renamed the Orange County Museum of Art. On May 31, 2018, officials unveiled the design for the museum’s new building at

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of t ...

created by

Morphosis Morphosis Architects is an interdisciplinary architectural and design practice based in Los Angeles and New York City. History The firm was informally founded in 1972 by Michael Brickler, Thom Mayne, Livio Santini and James Stafford. Michael Rot ...

. The sale of the former Newport Beach site was announced on May 15, 2018. Groundbreaking for the three-story building took place in September 2019, with a projected opening in 2022. With nearly 25,000 square feet of exhibition galleries—approximately 50 percent more than in the current location—the new 52,000-square-foot museum would allow OCMA to organize major special exhibitions alongside spacious installations from its collection. It would also feature an additional 10,000 square feet for education programs, performances, and public gatherings, and include administrative offices, a gift shop, and a café. The structure was

topped out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...

on October 6, 2020.

Temporary space

OCMA opened a temporary space at South Coast Village on October 3, 2018 which served as its interim home during the construction of the permanent Segerstrom Center facility. Known as OCMA Expand Santa Ana (stylized as OCMAEXPAND-SANTA ANA), the site featured exhibition seasons of approximately six months each in duration. The museum was temporarily closed on March 14, 2020 in accordance with quarantine efforts in response to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

breakout in the United States. The facility was once again shuttered on November 16, 2020 admist what local health officials described as a "second wave" of the virus in Orange County. OCMA Grand Opening 2022 01

New museum On October 8, 2022 OCMA opened its doors to the public for the first time with a 24-hour Grand Opening. Following from the design of Thom Mayne and Morphosis, the building features curving bands of terracotta paneling to create a distinctive visual character. Inaugural exhibitions included a return of the California Bienniel exhibition titled ''California Biennial 2022: Pacific Gold, Fred Eversley: Reflecting Back (the World),'' and ''13 Women'' in honor of the institution's founders.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

The Orange County Museum of Art has organized exhibitions of contemporary art, including the first surveys of

Vija Celmins Vija Celmins (pronounced VEE-ya SELL-muns;Hilarie M. Sheets and Randy Kennedy (September 24, 2015)''New York Times''. lv, Vija Celmiņa, pronounced TSEL-meen-ya) is a Latvian American visual artist best known for photo-realistic paintings and dr ...

(1980),

Chris Burden Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance, sculpture and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot'' (1971), where he arranged ...

(1988), and

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

(1990), as well as major exhibitions of work by

Lari Pittman Lari George Pittman (born 1952 in Glendale, California) is a Colombian-American contemporary artist and painter. Pittman is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Painting and Drawing at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Early life ...

(1983), Gunther Forg (1989), Charles Ray (1990),

Guillermo Kuitca Guillermo Kuitca (born 1961 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine artist, who continues to work and live in Buenos Aires. Kuitca's work has been shown extensively around the globe, and is included in many important public collections, including The T ...

(1992),

Bill Viola Bill Viola ( , ; born 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, d ...

(1997), Inigo Manglano-Ovalle (2003),

Catherine Opie Catherine Sue Opie (born 1961) is an American fine-art photographer and educator. She lives and works in Los Angeles, as a professor of photography at University of California at Los Angeles. Opie studies the connections between mainstream and i ...

(2006), Mary Heilmann (2007), and

Jack Goldstein Jack Goldstein (September 27, 1945 – March 14, 2003) was a Canadian born, California-based performance and conceptual artist turned painter in the 1980s art boom. Early life and education Goldstein was born to a Jewish family in Montreal, ...

(2012). Thematic exhibitions of contemporary art have ranged from ''Objectives: The New Sculpture'' (1990) which presented the work of

Grenville Davey Grenville Davey (28 April 1961 – 28 February 2022) was a British sculptor and winner of the 1992 Turner Prize. Davey was a visiting professor of the University of the Arts London and programme leader, MA Fine Art at the University of Eas ...

Katharina Fritsch Katharina Fritsch (born 14 February 1956) is a German sculptor."Katharina Fritsch: Arti ...

Robert Gober Robert Gober (born September 12, 1954) is an American sculptor. His work is often related to domestic and familiar objects such as sinks, doors, and legs. Early life and education Gober was born in Wallingford, Connecticut and studied literatu ...

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...

, Annette Lemieus, Juan Muñoz,

Julian Opie Julian Opie (; born 1958) is a visual artist of the New British Sculpture movement. Life and education Opie was born in London in 1958 and raised in the city of Oxford. He attended The Dragon School and then Magdalen College School, Oxfor ...

, and

Haim Steinbach Haim Steinbach (born Rehovot, Israel, 1944) is an Israeli-American artist, based in New York City. His work consists of arrangements of everyday objects, presented in “Displays” and shelves of his own making. Life and work Since the late 1970s ...

; ''Girls’ Night Out'' (2003), which presented work by

Eija-Liisa Ahtila Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Helsinki. Ahtila is most known for her multi-panel cinematic installations. She experiments with narrative storytellin ...

, Elina Brotherus,

Dorit Cypis Dorit Cypis (born 1951, Tel Aviv) is a Canadian-American artist, mediator and educator based in Los Angeles.Johnson, Reed"‘Rethinking Borders’: Urging both sides to an understanding,"''Los Angeles Times'', November 7, 2011. Retrieved October ...

Rineke Dijkstra Rineke Dijkstra HonFRPS (born 2 June 1959) is a Dutch photographer. She lives and works in Amsterdam.Katy Grannan Katy Grannan (born 1969) is an American photographer and filmmaker. She made the feature-length film, ''The Nine.'' Her work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Whitn ...

, Sarah Jones, Kelly Nipper, Daniela Rossell,

Shirana Shahbazi Shirana Shahbazi (; born 1974) is an Iranian-born photographer who now lives in Switzerland. Her work includes installations and large prints of conceptual photography. Biography Born in Tehran, Shahbazi moved to Germany in 1985, studying photogr ...

, and

Salla Tykka Salla (''Kuolajärvi'' until 1936) ( smn, Kyelijävri) is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of S ...

; and ''State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970'', presenting an in-depth study of California artists in the 1960s and 1970s. The museum has also organized and hosted exhibitions of modern art and design such as ''Edvard Munch: Expressionist Paintings, 1900-1940''(1983), ''The Interpretive Link: Abstract Surrealism into Abstract Expressionism: Works on Paper, 1938-1948'' (1986), ''The Figurative Fifties: New York Figurative Expressionism'' (1988), ''American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age'' (2001), ''Picasso to Pollock: Modern Masterpieces from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art'' (2004), ''Villa America: American Moderns 1900-1950'' (2005), ''Birth of the Cool: Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury'' (2007), and ''Illumination: The Paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, Agnes Martin, and Florence Miller Pierce'' (2009). In 1984 the Museum launched the California Biennial, focusing on emerging artists in the state. In 2013, that program evolved into the California-Pacific Triennial, the first on-going exhibition in the Western Hemisphere devoted to contemporary art from around the Pacific Rim. The museum has co-organized exhibitions with the

Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...

, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Pop Art,

Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

, and

Installation Art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

. Prominently featured are works by

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a painter, ...

Elmer Bischoff Elmer Nelson Bischoff (July 9, 1916 – March 2, 1991) was a visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bischoff, along with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, was part of the post- World War II generation of artists who started as abstract p ...

, Jessica Bronson,

, Vija Celmins,

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933 in McPherson, Kansas.His well- ...

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he bega ...

, Robert Irwin,

Helen Lundeberg Helen Lundeberg (1908–1999) was a Southern Californian painter. Along with her husband Lorser Feitelson, she is credited with establishing the Post-Surrealism, Post-Surrealist movement. Her artistic style changed over the course of her career, ...

Stanton Macdonald-Wright Stanton Macdonald-Wright (July 8, 1890 – August 22, 1973), was a modern American artist. He was a co-founder of Synchromism, an early abstract, color-based mode of painting, which was the first American avant-garde art movement to receive int ...

, John McCracken,

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...

, Alan Rath, Charles Ray,

Edward Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography and film. He is also noted for creating severa ...

, and

. The Museum’s international holdings are a growing area of the collection, featuring work by

, Lee Bul,

Katy Grannan Katy Grannan (born 1969) is an American photographer and filmmaker. She made the feature-length film, ''The Nine.'' Her work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Whitn ...

, Joseph Grigely,

Glenn Ligon Glenn Ligon (born 1960, pronounced Lie-gōne) is an American conceptual artist whose work explores race, language, desire, sexuality, and identity.Meyer, Richard. "Glenn Ligon", in George E. Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman (eds), ''Gay Histories a ...

Christian Marclay Christian Marclay (born January 11, 1955) is a visual artist and composer. He holds both American and Swiss nationality. Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, photography, video, and film. A pioneer of using gramophone records ...

, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Marjetica Potrc,

David Reed David Reed may refer to: Entertainment * David Vern Reed (1924–1989), American comics writer * David E. Reed (1927–1990), ''Reader's Digest'' editor * David Reed (artist) (born 1946), American artist * David Jay Reed (born 1950), artist * Da ...

, Daniela Rossell, and

Lorna Simpson Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as ''Guarded Conditions'' and ''Square Deal''. Simpson is most well-known for her work in c ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Orange County, California culture Art museums and galleries in California Museums in Orange County, California Buildings and structures in Newport Beach, California Art museums established in 1962 1962 establishments in California