Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/691761
174 culturedmag.com Hammer Museum has an impact on artists' careers like no other university museum in America. It is a significant hub of one of the most vibrant artist communities in the world. It offers free admission to the general public from whom it is building loyalty. And the museum is also hip with contemporary art collectors—and not just because it is located between Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Brentwood. Ask anyone about the Hammer's thriving status and one name pops up: Annie Philbin. "Annie is a great ideas person," says Jarl Mohn, president and CEO of NPR and the philanthropist whose family foundation underwrites the Hammer's three Made in L.A. Mohn Awards. "Many museums have an artist or two on their board, but Annie's ongoing dialogue with artists is unique." In the 1990s, Philbin was the director of the Drawing Center in New York, where she "took over an institution that was essentially moribund," as she puts it, relishing the notion that "the only way I could go was up." In 1999, she moved to Los Angeles to become director of the Hammer. "Came here, same thing," she explains from her office, overlooking busy Wilshire Boulevard. "No one else was really interested. I had a vision of what this place could be." Luckily, Philbin was not afraid of authority for she had "many dragons to slay" in order to achieve her goals. Rumor has it that she fought with billionaire Eli Broad, who resigned from the board shortly after her arrival. When I try to fact-check this, she looks at me with amused disapproval, making it clear that my question has flown way out of bounds. Over the years, Philbin has carefully assembled three advisory bodies: Her Board of Directors consists of eminent citizens with a commitment to public service, her Board of Overseers is made up of avid art collectors, and her Artist Council, which includes only artists, tends to give her a hard time about issues such as broader diversity. Philbin has always seen the museum's core audience as artists. "If we made our program interesting to artists then it would all flow from there," she says. "The public is at the center of my concerns now but it wasn't then. We had to prove our mettle with the artists first." The Hammer is not only committed to living artists but also to validating emerging ones—those whose CVs are not already replete with art world endorsements. "We are happy to give artists their first show, sometimes even before they have had a gallery exhibition," explains Philbin. "A lot of museum directors and curators would ask, 'Is this museum-worthy?' I think: If we decide it is, it is, and then it will be." Mark Bradford, Julian Hoeber, Jonas Wood and Kaari Upson are just a few of the artists to garner early support, while Lee Bontecou, Llyn Foulkes and Charles Gaines are among the older ones who have had their careers resurrected. An installation view of last year's critically acclaimed "Mark Bradford: Scorched Earth." PHOTOS BY BRIAN FORREST; COURTESY OF JONAS WOOD AND THE ANTON KERN GALLERY. UCLA's