Jeffrey Deitch’s New Vision For An LA Gallery

“There was tremendous enthusiasm from a broad audience about what I did there — not just kids who went to “Art in the Streets,” but patrons, all kinds of people. And I remain friends with so many of these people. So it was a very strange situation where there was a lot of enthusiasm in part from the public for what I was doing, and from people in the universities and city government, and it is a very narrow group, even before I got there, that for whatever reason didn’t want me there. And they succeeded in driving me out. But that was not enough to topple my mission. This is like a museum-type space; I don’t need the board and all that trouble. I can do whatever I want here. I have zero bitterness. I love L.A.”