[intro]Franklin Sirmans[/intro]

Suzanne Muchnic gives the background on LACMA’s new curator-in-chief of Contemporary Art, Franklin Sirmans:

A native of New York and a 1991 graduate of Wesleyan University, Sirmans is known as a critic, editor and writer as well as a curator. He was an editor at Flash Art and Art AsiaPacific magazines and at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York before moving to Houston.

His curatorial credits include organizing “NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith,” an examination of spirituality in contemporary art that traveled from the Menil to P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in New York in 2008. He also co-curated “Basquiat,” a show of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting, which appeared at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2005. […]

At LACMA, Sirmans will oversee a department that focuses on works made since 1968. He is also expected to use his writing skills to strengthen the museum’s publication program.

Sirmans will join the museum at the beginning of the New Year.

LAMCA Has a New Chief Curator of Contemporary Art: Franklin Sirmans (Culture Monster)