ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The concept of an exhibition about Andy Warhol’s influence on new abstract painting began with my conversations with Christopher Wool in 1991 while we were selecting his work for my exhibition “Strange Abstraction” in Tokyo. I was intrigued by Wool’s interest in the abstract qualities of Warhol’s misregistered silk screens and his blots of silk-screen ink. In addition to my conversations with Christopher, I kept thinking about my visits with Rudolf Stingel, who was sharing a loft with friends of mine when he moved to New York in the mid-1980s. I was amazed by his “mechanical” reinvention of how to make a painting.

During the past ten years, it has been fascinating to watch how Warhol, Stingel, and Wool have influenced a new generation of painters who have been able to fuse the gesture of the Abstract Expressionists, the Pop sensibility of Warhol, and the conceptual rigor of the Minimalists. This exhibition focuses on this new generation of artists who have redefined abstract painting for our time. Several of them have created new bodies of work for this project, and all of them have been involved in the selection of images and texts for their sections in the book. I have enjoyed fascinating conversations over the past several years with Tauba Auerbach, Mark Bradford, Urs Fischer, Julie Mehretu, Sterling Ruby, and Josh Smith that have informed the development of this project.

I am very grateful to the lenders to the exhibition who have been so supportive of this project: The Museum of Modern Art, New York: Ann Temkin, chief curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Cora Rosevear, associate curator; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh: Eric C. Shiner, director, Heather Kowalski, Greg Burchard; Aishti Foundation: Tony Salame; The Brant Foundation: Peter M. Brant, Allison Brant, director, The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Jean M. Bickley; The Broad Art Foundation: Eli and Edythe Broad, Joanne Heyler, director, Vicki Gambill; François Pinault Foundation: François Pinault, Caroline Bourgeois, Odile de Labouchère, Morgane Mauger; Mugrabi Collection: Jose, Alberto, and David Mugrabi, Elizabeth Gerard, Esty Neuman, Tomasz Nazarko; Ovitz Family Collection: Michael Ovitz, Viet-Nu Nguyen, curator, Wilson Chang; Matthew Aberle, Isabel de la Cruz Ernst and Ricardo Ernst, Michael and Joyce Ostin, Dallas Price-Van Breda and Bob Van Breda, Shaun Caley Regen, Steven F. Roth, and several collectors who have lent anonymously.

We are also indebted to the artists’ galleries and to their studio staffs for their tremendous support: Luhring Augustine: Roland Augustine, Lawrence Luhring, Lisa Varghese, Natalia Sacasa, Caroline Burghardt; Gavin Brown’s enterprise: Gavin Brown, Bridget Donahue, Kim Lane; Paula Cooper Gallery: Paula Cooper, Steven Henry, Alexis Johnson, Lia Lowenthal, Joelle Te Paske; Marian Goodman Gallery: Lissa McClure; Balice Hertling: Alexander Hertling; Sikkema Jenkins & Co.: Brent Sikkema, Michael Jenkins, Scott Briscoe, Matthew Droege; Giò Marconi Gallery: Giò Marconi, Teresa Bovi; Friedrich Petzel Gallery: Friedrich Petzel, Kat Parker, Sam Tsao; Regen Projects: Shaun Caley Regen, Jennifer Loh; Standard (Oslo): Eivind Furnesvik, Silvia Essl; Urs Fischer Studio: Priya Bhatnagar; Wade Guyton Studio: James Campbell, Virginia Overton, Dirk Weber; Julie Mehretu Studio: Sarah Rentz, Robert Vinas; Sterling Ruby Studio: Sarah Conaway, Natasha Garcia-Lomas, and Devon Oder; Rudolf Stingel Studio: Elena Tavecchia. In addition, many thanks to GianCarlo Montebello for creating the metal display structure for DAS INSTITUT’s installation.

I am also grateful to Suzanne Geiss, Alexxa Gotthardt, Timur Galen, Kimberly Chang Mathieu, Amber Noland, Sabrina Buell, Steven Press, Dagon James, and Cristian Alexa for their help with this exhibition.

Our project team, led by curatorial coordinator Ethel Seno, has been exceptional. The book that accompanies the exhibition was brilliantly edited by Nikki Columbus and coordinated for Rizzoli by Isabel Venero. I am grateful to Charles Miers, vice-president and publisher of Rizzoli, for his support. I am very appreciative of the exceptional book design by Tracey Shiffman and Alex Kohnke that so effectively communicates the aesthetic of the work in the show. A group of remarkable art historians, writers, and photographers have contributed to the book. I am grateful to Johanna Burton, James Meyer, and Scott Rothkopf for their participation in the roundtable discussion that introduces this book. I am also grateful to the writers who wrote original texts or edited existing texts for this volume: Walead Beshty, Francesco Garutti, Mark Godfrey, Rachel Kushner, and Jessica Morgan. I also want to thank Francesco Bonami, Wayne Koestenbaum, and Rosalind Krauss for allowing us to reprint previously published texts on the artists. I would like to thank Peter Sutherland for the photographs of artist studios made for this book, and to David McCabe, Billy Name, Eugene Richards, and Stephen Shore for allowing us to reproduce their photographs of artist studios.

The exhibition architecture was designed by Kupapat Yantrasast, principal of wHY Architecture, and his team: Caroline Chin, Kathleen Daly, Bob Dornberger, and Christopher McLean. I am grateful to Urs Fischer and Rudolf Stingel for their additional suggestions regarding the exhibition design.

MOCA’s exhibition production staff, led by the extraordinary Jang Park, manager of exhibition production, and assisted by Brian Boyer, expertly coordinated the challenging installation. MOCA’s exhibition team included Melissa Altman, associate registrar; Rosanna Hemerick, registrar; and Susan Jenkins, director of exhibition management. The exhibition was also made possible through the efforts of Jill Haynie and Veridiana Pontes-Ring, co-directors of development, and Lyn Winter, director of communications.

I am especially grateful to our exhibition sponsors who have made this project possible: presenting sponsors Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen, and sponsors Bob Manoukian, Parx Casino, Maurice Marciano, Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr., and the Aishti Foundation. Additional generous support has been provided by the James and Eleanor Randall Foundation, the Steven F. Roth Family Foundation, Margaret and Daniel S. Loeb, and Kelly Wearstler. I am grateful to my friend Tony Salame, whose Aishti Foundation provided the initial grant for the development of this exhibition.

I am very appreciative of the support of the MOCA board of trustees, led by co-chairs Maria Arena Bell and David Johnson. This exhibition could not have happened without them.

—Jeffrey Deitch, April 2012