QUESTION: Sculpture Decision by Port District : Port District’s Art Fight : Answer to ‘The Kelly Question’ May Be Near

After months of controversy, the question of whether San Diego will have a monumental sculpture by world-renowned artist Ellsworth Kelly still lingers. The proposed Kelly sculpture has stirred up, if not crystallized, the issue of public art in San Diego.

The San Diego Unified Port District is due to answer the Kelly question on Tuesday. So far it has produced a lot of heat but shed little light on the issue of public art.

The contretemps has played out over the weeks like a soap opera. When the Port District’s blue-ribbon advisory board members, composed of art and design experts, announced after months of meetings that they had unanimously selected the famed minimalist to design a piece for Embarcadero Park near Seaport Village, people rejoiced. Briefly.

Kelly’s two-part stainless steel blade and concrete prow-like design, chosen from the works of 200 artists, soon struck its own artistic sparks. A group of citizens complained that minimalism was not their cup of tea and that they didn’t appreciate public money being spent on abstract art. Scores of letters, pro and con--more of them con--are being written to the Port District.

Port commissioners officially pondered Kelly’s work and decided that part of the proposed sculpture might be a target for graffiti and a crash pad for transients. Amid all the public flak, the commissioners delayed making a decision on the $450,000 minimalist monument and asked Kelly to redesign the sculpture. Amazingly, Kelly agreed. Meanwhile, citizens were tearing apart the process by which Kelly was selected. A blue-ribbon panel was too small, not nearly representative enough, they said.

Next, a local artist submitted his own unsolicited design as an alternative to the Kelly. It and other proposals were duly considered by the advisory board and rejected.

Two previous sculptures commissioned by the Port District--one considerably more avant-garde than the Kelly--were completed by the advisory board, using the same selection process but without a squeak of public protest. A figurative statue by Donald Hord has been placed behind Seaport Village, and a much more unconventional and daring work by local sculptor Kenneth Capps stands in Chula Vista.

Historically, public art has always generated controversy. The Eiffel Tower was originally an object of scorn to Parisians. The Washington Monument--also a minimalist obelisk--was rejected again and again by the public.

In this instance, the Port District’s selection process itself has been challenged. A common complaint is that no competition was used. In choosing only five professionals in the field of visual art, the Port District adopted a method used by the federal General Services Administration. “The GSA will appoint a panel of professionals that come to a city and select an artist whose work seems appropriate to the situation,” said advisory board member Mary Beebe. Beebe, director of UC San Diego’s Stuart sculpture collection, and fellow advisory board member Hugh Davies, director of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, have served on GSA panels in cities around the country.

The other members of the Port District’s five-member board are art critic Isabelle Wasserman, sculptor and former architect Russell Forester, and Nissan International Design chief Gerald Hirshberg, who chairs the panel.

Despite their expertise, the members of the advisory board have been singled out for criticism. “In every other field, professionals are called experts or specialists,” Beebe said. “In art, they’re called elitists. If you choose by a (large) committee you get camels or duds. We can’t please all the people. There’s no such thing as public taste.”

A recurring criticism has been the advisory board’s small size. “How can five people represent a city this big?” artist Maher Morcos has asked. Morcos, a painter and sculptor who owns a La Jolla art gallery and recently produced the statue of Don Diego for the Del Mar Fair, has designed two proposals for the Embarcadero Park site. His latest, a black stainless steel sail, wall relief and fountain, will be presented at Tuesday’s Port District meeting.

Morcos’ gallery director, Leslie Jones, tried for nearly two years to meet with the advisory board. “I wanted to have my artists included for consideration, but I was never asked to meet with them,” she said. Jones prefers a larger committee such as the one used in Seattle, with more lay members and with the opportunity for the public to view models of several proposed designs before a decision is made.

Jones will also produce at Tuesday’s meeting designs by Robert Ortleib and Emad Hamdy, two Los Angeles artists.

Doug and Annette Jones (no relation to Leslie Jones), who also own an art gallery, have lined up against the Kelly selection. “We feel that the art advisory board members are all from the contemporary art world. There are other things in the world besides contemporary art,” Mrs. Jones said. But she does not feel that the competition should be open only to San Diegans. “Basically, there aren’t that many good artists in the country. Public art should be chosen from among the best.”

Advisory board members denied having a narrow outlook on only contemporary art. “We’ve been accused of all being die-hard minimalists. I think that’s laughable,” said Davies of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. “It comes from ignorance. I spent 10 years getting my doctorate studying the history of art. And for people to say that everybody on the committee is interested in contemporary art--that’s saying we are interested in the art of today.”

Beebe rebutted claims that she is a minimalist. “My background is with the Fogg Museum in Harvard and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,” she said. “They’re hardly minimalist institutions. But we thought San Diegans would understand a simple, elegant work.

“You know, each work does not have to be chosen by this method. If the program continues--if the Ellsworth Kelly isn’t chosen, it may not continue--there are many methods of choosing. This is just one.”

Davies, who will complete a book on Francis Bacon in the fall, finds it especially ironic that he is labeled a minimalist. “My dissertation was on Francis Bacon, who held the candle for figurative art during the heyday of abstraction, abstract expressionism and minimal art,” Davies said. “His entire career has gone against the grain of contemporary art.”