The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual gala is arguably one of L.A.’s most genuinely exciting evenings, and the 2026 edition at The Geffen Contemporary did not disappoint. The $3 million night was hosted by ebullient dancer and multi-hyphenate creative Stephen Galloway and “was made all the more special through Piero Golia’s fantastic interventions and the brilliance of a wide cast of collaborators,” Ann Goldstein, LA MOCA’s Interim Maurice Marciano Director, told Observer.
First up on the itinerary? Guests queued up for cocktails at a reception featuring a beautiful performance by the MOCA Gala Symphony Orchestra alongside an installation conceived specifically for the occasion by Golia. From there, bringing back last year’s MOCA Legends format, the gala fêted three figures whose contributions to contemporary art are, in different ways, foundational. To start, artist and MOCA board member Tala Madani took the dais to introduce artist Paul McCarthy, followed by The Brick’s director Hamza Walker, who introduced his fellow “MONUMENTS” co-curator, the artist Kara Walker. Board Chair Carolyn Clark Powers rounded out the tributes by recognizing Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo president Eugenio López Alonso for two decades of support.
“When I returned to MOCA last summer as interim director, I came back to an institution firmly focused on its mission of presenting the most significant and challenging art of our time,” Goldstein said, pointing to the museum as an “ecosystem that empowers artists to challenge, provoke and transform our understanding of the world.”
Spotted in the assembled crowd were actors Supriya Ganesh and Keanu Reeves (on the arm of Los Angeles and Berlin‐based artist Alexandra Grant), who shared the room with filmmaker Ava DuVernay, bestselling author Minka Kelly, showrunner Trisha Cardoso, producer China Chow, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright and Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons. Mingling among them were venture capital investor and art collector Jarl Mohn, entrepreneur and art collector Sonya Yu, power couple Balthazar and Rosetta Getty, philanthropists Jerry and Terri Kohl, Deborah Irmas and Terri Smooke, and collectors Heather Podesta, Kathi B. Cypres and Clifford J. Einstein.
The art world’s own showed up in force, too, of course. Hammer Museum director Zoë Ryan, curator Connie Butler, gallerists Jeffrey Deitch and Esthella Prova, The Box founder Mara McCarthy and a long list of artists rubbed elbows with designer Johnson Hartig, architect Kulapat Yantrasast and other notable creatives, giving the evening its own brand of electric energy.
