Dancer and creative powerhouse Stephen Galloway orchestrated the flow of the 2026 fundraiser in Little Tokyo
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Los Angeles artist and situation sculptor Piero Golia collaborated with a roster of creatives — including dancer and choreographer Stephen Galloway, architect Edwin Chan, film editor Pietro Scalia, conductor Benjamin Schwartz, composer Thomas Kotcheff, conceptual artist and chef Laila Gohar, and chef Chris Kronner — to transform MOCA’s annual gala, held at the Geffen Contemporary on Saturday, May 30, into a wild surrealist happening. A brass fanfare, written for the evening by Kotcheff and played by the assembled MOCA Gala Symphony Orchestra led by Schwartz, and a dining extravaganza culminating in a 7-foot-tall vanilla cake with chocolate ganache, surprised and delighted those in attendance in Little Tokyo.
The evening, honoring MOCA Legends for a second year, included an immersive installation evoking the works of Paul McCarthy such as White Snow and Kara Walker’s piece, Unmanned Drone, a decommissioned Confederate monument she received as a found object and turned into a bold sculpture in the seminal and just-concluded MONUMENTS exhibition split between MOCA and The Brick. Both artists were on hand for the celebration. The Brick’s Hamza Walker introduced his MONUMENTS co-curator, Walker, while McCarthy was feted by painter and stop-motion animation artist Tala Madani. The evening also featured MOCA board chair Carolyn Clark Powers’ tribute to philanthropist Eugenio López Alonso, this year’s third honoree.
A dinner dreamed up by Gohar with Kronner that included stuffed cabbage with English pea vinaigrette and wild king salmon doubled as a date night for Keanu Reeves and multidisciplinary artist Alexandra Grant, and for Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds and actor Minka Kelly as well as many other couples including McCarthy and his wife Karen. Also joining the museum’s interim director Ann Goldstein were Lari Pittman, Lauren Halsey, Catherine Opie, Rufus Wainwright, Max Hooper Schneider, Michael Chow, Jeffrey Deitch, Ava DuVernay, Barbara Kruger, Maria Seferian, Charles Gaines, Sterling Ruby and many more. Topping off a magical night, pieces of the towering cake made the rounds.
Feature image: Installation by Kara Walker and Paul McCarthy. PHOTO: BFA.com.
June 5, 2026
Discover more CULTURE news.
