UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art
UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art
UC Irvine has completed its acquisition of the Orange County Museum of Art and will now be called UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. Both Costa Mesa and Irvine locations will operate as a combination of the two entities through 2027.
Founded in 1962 by thirteen visionary women, the Orange County Museum of Art emerged from a shared belief in the need for a space to showcase contemporary art in Orange County. With a history rooted in supporting living artists and presenting innovative exhibitions, OCMA has shaped the modern art landscape. Originally known as the Newport Harbor Art Museum, it has continually evolved to provide transformative experiences for its visitors. Now housed in a striking new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis Studio at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, OCMA remains a vital cultural hub, pushing the boundaries of art through its collections, exhibitions, and groundbreaking programming.
Jon Serl: As One, As Many
Through September 13
Jon Serl: As One, As Many returns to the place where his artistic journey began, honoring a singular 20th-century painter who forged his path independently and continues to influence contemporary artists in ways that verge on the esoteric.
Starting from the 1940s, the exhibition traces Serl’s transformation from depicting the external world of rural Southern California to conjuring an interior landscape shaped by perception, imagination, and memory, evolving alongside the shifting cultural and social currents of the 20th century. For Serl, painting was an act of discovery, mirroring his own restless search through life. As he once said: “The painting is inside. I just find it.”
Raymond Saunders: Flowers from a Black Garden
Through January 2027
Flowers from a Black Garden moves freely across the artist’s career, taking as its point of departure Saunders’s position as a consummate student and passionate teacher of painting. Through more than thirty works, it investigates his multifaceted and nonlinear process of picture making, which carried forward, in reference and reverence, myriad histories and languages of art. From Dada, expressionism, and assemblage to Fluxus, Pop, and Postmodernism, Saunders charted an unexpected path as well as a romance with painting’s poetic modes of communicating layers of consciousness.
The Orange County Museum of Art is located at 3333 Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, CA 92626. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit langson.uci.edu
