Alexandra Lerman

Jeffrey Dietch, controversial art dealer and founder of Manhattan's Deitch Projects gallery has been named director to Los Angeles's Museum of Contemporary Art. MOCA, which sagged with the economy last year, is putting its money in the hands of a savvy businessman, hoping Deitch can save the non-profit cultural institution from sure financial ruin. So why are museum people whimpering that the dealer will commercialize their precious shrine to modern creativity?

Museum directors often come from academic backgrounds, and never before has a gallery owner gotten this type of promotion. "I think that the news out of MOCA is, frankly, stunning,” Selma Holo, director of USC’s Fisher Museum of Art told the LA Times. “Deitch has done amazing work as an extremely innovative art dealer. At the same time, we would be remiss not to ask ourselves how he and MOCA are planning to make the transition from the world of commerce and its values to another universe. One understands that these worlds blend, but there are still or should be some lines that are not crossed.”

But, as Gawker pointed out, Deitch's record speaks for itself. In addition to universalizing artists like Kehinde Wiley, Dash Snow, Tauba Auerbach and Ryan McGinness Deitch has an MBA from Harvard. In a 2007 New Yorker profile, Deitch came off as a workaholic. New York Magazine's art critic Jerry Saltz called him the "consummate insider with credibility and real-world skills." He's even pals with Yoko Ono! If you ask us, MOCA is lucky to have him.