FOR OUTTERBRIDGE, IT’S ART FOR HISTORY’S SAKE TOO

For Los Angeles artist John Outterbridge, the annual Black History Month observance just isn’t long enough.

“When we focus on black history for such a short period of time, it’s frustrating,” said Outterbridge whose work is on exhibit through April 21 at the Museum of African American Art. As director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, he also helped to organize “An African Art Collection,” the center’s contribution to this year’s Black History Month, which ends Thursday. (Other Black History Month exhibits are listed below.).

“Do we have a month called American history? Italian or Indian history?” he asked. “No, we don’t.

“It’s obvious,” he continued, “that the historical contribution of the black American has been overlooked.” Without that participation, he said, “America would not be the nation it is today.

“But, until recently, it (the black experience) hasn’t found its way into American school books, and that’s a shame,” he said. “If the children of America could share their histories, I think we would be well on our way to better communities. But as it is,” he emphasized, “we don’t get a chance to focus on ourselves as a real part of the tapestry.”

Outterbridge said he preferred to think in terms of art--without qualifying it as black art. The creative experience is not necessarily so different for the black artist, he said.

However, he added, “In the Los Angeles art community at large, many changes have come about, but very few of those changes have accommodated minorities--not just blacks.”

Outterbridge feels a “reckless commercialism” in America has been the cause of the lack of development in the minority art community.

“When blackness was popular because of the movement in the world of civil rights issues, we saw resources in our communities . . . We do live in a country that supports a faddish apparatus regarding art or daily life styles . . . what is popular is the “in” thing--whether it’s art or not,” he said.

When people or cultures become issues, so does their art, he said. “But, we have another responsibility, when our children don’t understand who they are, to bring about the change in our communities.”

Traditionally, the study of the past has been one way to make room for change in any society. However, there has been heated debate about the display of historical materials depicting blacks in stereotypical roles. During Black History Month last year, a controversy erupted over invitations to the Watts Towers Arts Center’s collection of Afro-American folklorica. On the invitations’ envelopes was printed a drawing of two black men portrayed as ill-spoken buffoons.

“Holocaust in Black America,” this month’s exhibit at Coopers Originals Gallery, includes “Slaves for Sale” posters, and scenes in various media of slavery, torture and lynchings. Gallery owner Dyrus Cooper said historical relevance was his motive for including such subject matter in his collection.

How does Outterbridge react to the exhibit? “I think art and history should never be censored,” he said. “But we must realize what the hideous institution of slavery meant to us. As a black American, I can barely take a step without walking in the blood of my past. Why should the Jewish people forget Nazi Germany? Why should I forget my ancestors?”

BLACK HISTORY EXHIBITS

“Four Cameras,” Black Gallery, 294-9024.

“Special Black History Month Exhibition,” Uranus Gallery, 298-9243.

“Afro-American Voices and Visions,” Gallery Tanner, 933-0202.

“Oils on Canvas by Eddie Edwards,” West 43rd Street Gallery, 296-2658.

“Frank E. Cummings III-Artisan” and “The Legacy, Living It,” California Afro-American Museum, 744-7432.

“Photographs and Memorabilia from the Fay M. Jackson Memorial Collection,” William Grant Still Community Arts Center, 734-1164.

“Attitudes and Dignity,” Brockman Gallery, 294-3766.