Art and Hollywood convened in Little Tokyo for the MOCA Gala

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The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles hosted its annual gala over the weekend, bringing art world and Hollywood royalty to Little Tokyo — from Barbara Kruger and Charles Gaines to Ava DuVernay and Keanu Reeves.It was the second year that the gala took on the “Moca Legends” format, which recognizes figures who “cement the museum as a global leader in contemporary art,” per MOCA.

This year’s event honored artists Kara Walker and Paul McCarthy, along with MOCA trustee Eugenio López Alonso.When entering the galleries for cocktail hour on Saturday, guests essentially walked into a small but immersive slice of these artists’ worlds.An installation conceived by the evening’s creative director, artist Piero Golia, celebrated Walker’s seminal “Monuments” commission and McCarthy’s famous “White Snow.” Trees from the “White Snow” project were lit up moodily throughout the space.

While a process photograph taken in Walker’s studio — something that was never meant to be seen — showing a diorama of a horse statue maquette hanging with toys and figurines, made in preparation of “Unmanned Drone,” was turned into a vinyl covering one of the back walls.(McCarthy also brought his 1992 sculpture “Dead Viking” to the gala, seating it at his table.)Hosted by dancer and multi-disciplinary artist Stephen Galloway and soundtracked by live orchestral performances from the MOCA Gala Symphony Orchestra, the gala under Golia’s vision became a whimsical, bordering-on-surrealist invitation to indulge the senses and support the arts in L.A.

(The evening would raise $3 million for MOCA.) The dinner menu, dreamed up in collaboration with food artist and designer Laila Gohar, included charred breadsticks in beautiful, weird shapes, reminiscent of McCarthy’s wooden sculptures, and a sculpted mound of butter the height of a taper candle.Wild king salmon topp...