Gary Garrels, the longtime senior curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, has resigned after coming under fire for saying the museum will still collect work from white artists.
Artnet.com first reported on the controversy, which stemmed from Garrels reportedly saying, “Don’t worry, we will definitely still continue to collect white artists” at the end of a meeting centered around new acquisitions from artists of color in the wake of the death of George Floyd and a renewed reckoning over race in America.
Garrels reportedly stated that no longer collecting white artists would be a form of “reverse discrimination,” which in turn prompted calls for his removal.
A group of former employees started a petition demanding Garrels resign or be removed from his position, with the petitioners alleging that the terms “reverse discrimination” and “reverse racism” are “white supremacist and racist language.”
