THE UN-PRIVATE COLLECTION SERIES

In anticipation of the museum opening, The Broad is holding talks around Los Angeles featuring cultural leaders and artists whose work in the Broad collections explores contemporary and controversial themes like politics, society, race and identity.

Find information, video and audio from past programs in The Un-Private Collection series.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

The Un-Private Collection: Takashi Murakami and Pico Iyer

Thursday, May 29 | 8 p.m.
The Orpheum Theater
842 Broadway, Los Angeles

“In the Japanese context, Murakami is not a fantasist—or a graphic artist; he’s a realist.” –Pico Iyer

Bestselling author and resident of Japan since 1987, Pico Iyer has written extensively in both fiction and non-fiction about the country, including explorations into Takashi Murakami’s brand of Pop art. This conversation will focus on the complex historical and social narratives woven into Murakami’s practice and how they reflect upon contemporary Japanese culture.

View works by Takashi Murakami in the collections

The Un-Private Collection: Eric Fischl and Steve Martin

Monday, June 23 | 8 p.m.
The Broad Stage
1310 11th Street, Santa Monica

Longtime friends Eric Fischl and actor, art collector, musician and author Steve Martin will discuss Fischl’s memoir, Bad Boy, his education at CalArts and the inspiration behind his painting and sculpture. The Broad collections feature 14 works by Fischl, whose work the Broads have collected since the mid-1980s, including key works from the ’80s such as Haircut, 1985, and Untitled, 1982 – both depicting slightly mysterious and unsettling intimate moments – to the allegorical five-part series of paintings, The Travel of Romance: Scenes I-V, 1994, and most recently, his piercing portraits of friends and acquaintances such as Joan and John, 2001-2002, which depicts writer Joan Didion and her late husband John Gregory Dunne.

View works by Eric Fischl in the collections

The Un-Private Collection: John Currin and James Cuno

Sunday, September 14 | 3 p.m.
The Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles

“…When I was trying to change myself into a figurative painter, I was more drawn to the rococo and the other damned souls of art history.” – John Currin

When trying to move forward with his work, painter John Currin looks back, mining classical painting for its beauty as well as its excesses. Currin will be joined by James Cuno, art historian and president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, to discuss the deep influence of classical painting on both the technique and subject of his work.

View works by John Currin in the collections

The Un-Private Collection: Kara Walker and Ava DuVernay

Saturday, October 11 | 2 p.m.
The Writers Guild Theater
135 South Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills

Kara Walker photo by Sari Goodfriend

“[African-American] people are making things and it’s a great time, but we always have. It just happens to be that the gaze of a certain sector is now on it. At the moment we catch someone else’s eye, does that make it more valuable or valid?” –Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay, winner of the 2012 Sundance Best Director Award, asks tough questions like these to herself and others. Never one to shy away from difficult subject matter, artist Kara Walker, whose work depicts the utter depravity of the antebellum South with unflinching clarity, will join DuVernay to discuss their work, its political implications, and its ability to empower.

View works by Kara Walker in the collections

Find information, audio, and video of our past events on The Broad's past programs page. To receive updates about upcoming events at The Broad, sign-up for the email newsletter.