Mr. Joel

You probably haven’t heard, but Jeffrey Deitch was named director of the LA MoCA. What does that mean? Well, it’s complicated. Jeffery Deitch was one of the people who helped make the New York art scene what it is today the nuclear boom in sales and celebrity in the last ten years. He is/was a dealer extraordinaire and his gallery, Deitch Projects, is one of the mammoths of the New York galleries.

This January the board of  LA MoCA named him their new director. This is a big deal. First of all, because it has always been understood that museums are run by the academics and galleries by the money men, and not the other way around. But LA MoCA has changed the game by promoting one of the biggest money men there is to the head of their museum, in fact this is the first time that something like this has ever been done. Now, this may be seen as a turn for the worst in the museum world. With business tie-ins, dumbing down, and selling out all for the sake of big name glitz and global connections. And it may yet turn out that way.

But LA MoCA is in a hell of a position. They have been mismanaged and underfunded and almost went under in 2008. They were only saved by a $30 million dollar bailout by their key patron Eli Broad. They need to rethink the way they do business, and quick. Enter Jeffery Deitch, who seems to have everything that they are looking for, taste, organization, and the ability to make a business run. But does he have vision? He has put on some great shows at Deitch Projects and he tends to favor the younger crowd, which could be fresh air for museum programing, but  he has no academic background. Is he going to be able to keep that end of museum life up, or is this truly a new day for what makes a museum show in LA? He has the business cred, and a Harvard MBA, his gallery shows always keep it fresh, but where are his roots? We’ll have to wait and see.

What’s in it for Deitch? This is what I find myself wondering. Has the economic downturn hit him so hard that he is giving up Deitch Projects for the steady, but smaller, income of a museum gig? Maybe, it’s gotten hard for lots of galleries; but I doubt it’s gotten that hard for him. Maybe he just want s to switch it up, swim with some new sharks. Whatever his reasoning, it comes at a high cost: Deitch Projects must close by June 1. All the staff has been let go and the artists have been informed to seek new east coast representation. That sounds cold, but Deitch has stated that he is dedicated to all of his staff and artists and will do what he can to make sure everyone finds a soft landing. Whatever that may mean. It remains to be seen how the staffers will fair; while working for Deitch would usually be a resume bump his recent career change has not been well received and might give those now looking for work a somewhat toxic aura. The future may be better for artists. Some big names have been freed, Ryan McGinness, Barry McGee, and Shepard Fairey for example, but what of the smaller names? I know some gallerists who spent the afternoon looking at catalogs the newly made free agents so I’m optimistic that most will land on their feet.

This all seems to be on the up and up, but what happens in two to five years when Deitch leaves museum life and goes back to the galleries? Will he benefit from the sales of artists who he himself raised to prominence? It’s no big deal for gallerists to make money off of those they made famous, that’s the rules of the game, but making profits from the work of a non-profit is very dirty. You don’t do that. So what is the plan for the long term conflict of interest? Deitch never goes back to galleries? He abandons artists he has previously supported? He changes carers again and becomes a prima ballerina for the Moscow State Ballet? As with all of this, the only answer seems to be for us to wait and see.