MOCA want a cookie?

With financial turmoil at L.A.'s celebrated Museum of Contemporary Art on many minds, artists David Weiner and Angie Lee decided to help out by hosting a bake sale. That's what community organizers in America do to raise funds for good works, right? Rain canceled Monday's planned sale on the sidewalk in front of the museum's Grand Avenue building, so they and their baking cohort have rescheduled for today — noon to 2 p.m., barring another deluge.

The bake sale is timed to precede a planned meeting of MOCA's board of trustees, where the fiscal crisis is Topic A. In addition to the Giacometti-style baguettes pictured above, fresh from the oven, there will be cakes adorned with images by Jasper Johns and Judy Fiskin, Vija Celmins “Night Sky” brownies and iced graham crackers derived from works by Lawrence Weiner and Christopher Wool.

All are based on paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs in the museum's excellent permanent collection, and they'll sell for a buck. So, now you can have your art and eat it, too.

The most mouth-watering edibles, however, will be the cookies -- described by the artists as “little gold bars of almond cookie joy.” They're financier cookies, an actual French recipe, and they're priced at $1-million apiece. Yes, you read that right. And if 15 cookies are sold, MOCA will have matched philanthropist and financier Eli Broad's challenge grant.

No word yet on whether member's discounts will be available. But you can see more hot-from-the-kitchen pictures after the jump...

Financier cookies

Vija Celmins "Night Sky" brownies

Christopher Wool frosted grahams

Lawrence Weiner frosted grahams

Jasper Johns and Judy Fiskin cakes

--Christopher Knight

Photos: David Weiner and Angie Lee

Comments

[american artist]

Bake sales work for Cub Scouts people. Especially tacky art historical references displaced as cute junk food. No one in their right mind would buy a million dollar cookie (great art though), then again you might open pandora and find the most hated deciveous person in the art world be an influential member of LA's MOCA, through the power of a simple cookie.

Ingenouity like this can make you an auto executive.

[melody]

Oh, you'd be surprised who might purchase a cookie for a million smackers to support a good and worthy cause. Good luck to you for launching a terrific appeal that raises awareness as well as money.

[Donald Frazell]

LOL!!! Trouble brews, and artistes come up with a bake sale! LOL!!!
What a typical reaction, eating cookies while Rome burns. If you havent noticed, we are entering a Depression, Time to grow up kiddies.

Art collegia delenda est

[jmier]

I agree with Donald Frazell - artist should grow up and stop doing fun and/or interesting things. Cookies?!? Geez! The markets are crashing! Who wants a delicious treat at a time like this?!?!

[Fridha]

This is brilliant . . . and I'm stealing the idea!!!

[Donald Frazell]

Hope they tasted better than they looked. Somehow MoCA survived without the great contributions of its atrtistes. You know how good artistes are at raising money. Spenidng others, yeah, look at MAN to see how geenerous artistes are. Hell, I spent far more than that on kids myself, and took in a good many mentoring them, what do artistes ever do for anyone else?
Bake cookies. Brilliant.

art collegia delenda est

[ice yarn]

very good looks.very well-thought-out.allows people to remember history.thank you very much for informing to me .good work