MOCA Auctions 250 Pieces of Art for Biennial Benefit

Quipped Bernard Greenberg, whose wife, Lenore, is president of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s board of trustees: “I’m looking for an emerging artist--one that’s going to be instantly valuable.”

With 250 artworks for sale, all tastes were accounted for at MOCA’s biennial art auction, the museum’s principal fund-raising effort held Saturday night inside the Temporary Contemporary.

The first piece on the block, a silk-screen version of Roy Lichtenstein’s giant mural at Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills donated by Michael Ovitz, quickly sold for $5,750.

After hot bidding, the Greenbergs went home with Ed Ruscha’s “If” for $32,000.

There was no doubt that making money was what this party, chaired by producer/art collector Doug Cramer, was about. As software wizard Peter Norton, describing himself as a “freshly minted trustee” of MOCA, put it: “You want bargains, but you want the museum to make money too.”

Two friends, agent Alan Iezman and manager Beth Cannon bid together on a Frank Stella woodcut, paying $50,000. She’ll keep it six months; he’ll keep it six months.

Five hours after it all began, collector Philip Gersh, MOCA board of trustees chairman Fred Nicholas, event co-producer Scott Spiegel, co-chair Judy Henning, MOCA director Richard Koshalek all hovered by a computer waiting for the final tally.

“It’s like waiting for the race results to come in,” Koshalek said, pacing, just before hearing that the museum had netted more than $1 million.