A NEW STAR IS BORN AT LAICA

A big pink star no longer sits atop the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. Its disappearance signals changes--under a new director--that have begun on the outside as well as on the inside of the local forum.

“The star eventually looked silly,” said Ben Marks, who now heads the member-supported, alternative arts organization on South Robertson Boulevard. “It was a leftover from the Olympic Arts Festival and we wanted a newness about us. Now, we have a ‘For Sale’ sign out front--that’s our new star.”

Indeed, relocation nears the top of a lengthy list of alterations begun by Marks, a self-made arts administrator who took over the helm of the 11-year-old institute last August.

“The first thing we did was give the artists in the community a strong and complete voice in the running of the institute,” noted Marks, whose ardent yet down-to-earth personality seems to parallel the grass-roots philosophy he advocates for LAICA. In the past, artists have held “strictly advisory” roles on LAICA’s exhibitions and art journal committees, he explained. “Now, their decisions are binding, and what they say goes. Their vote is equal to mine, period.”

Though LAICA had a single curator before Marks’ time, an exhibition committee (with 11 members, including artists, collectors and art educators) now organizes exhibits collectively or invites guest curators, he said. “Secondly, it didn’t take a genius to see that the building had to go,” he continued. “There’s no parking here, it’s out of the way, and there’s no real reason to come to this part of town other than LAICA.

“In order for our location to be viable, it has to be near other arts organizations,” he said, citing gallery row near the corner of Almont and Melrose avenues, or, he added “at least near where you can do other things--like if you go to the TC (Temporary Contemporary), you can go to Little Tokyo to have lunch.

“I’m thinking of developing our own center with other adjoining arts organizations like a theater and, who knows, maybe a coffee shop--a total space which will be more enticing for people,” he said. “Or maybe we’ll just find a small permanent office space with one gallery for ongoing, modestly sized exhibits, and secure various bigger spaces throughout the year all around town for larger, short-term blockbuster shows.”

Smiling, Marks admitted that the latter arrangement isn’t unlike the one he practiced before moving to Los Angeles while director of the roaming Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle. Born in New York City, Marks moved upstate to attend Hobart College before leaving for Seattle where he also studied oceanography, managed a gallery and ran a restaurant where struggling artists swapped their work for meals.

Having assumed his post from Robert Smith, the reportedly autocratic founder of LAICA, Marks felt sure he’d get ulcers trying to manage the innovative organization even as a “benign dictator” and said he prefers to be called an arbitrator.

“We’ve had a staggering surge in membership (from mailings and “mini fund-raisers”) since I’ve been here,” Marks said, “though I don’t think that necessarily has anything to do with me personally.” (Membership was about 900 when Marks arrived. It now stands closer to 1,300, he said.) “And our Advocates (a 100-member support group whose members pay $250 a year each) have almost doubled.”

However, LAICA’s long history of financial woe has hardly improved, Marks said. With an annual budget of roughly $250,000, the reported $50,000 to $70,000 deficit he inherited “is about the same,” he sighed.

No private fund-raising had been done before he came, Marks added. Leafing through a hefty “how to” fund-raising text, he said he has just sent out a flurry of corporate and foundation requests. He also mentioned LAICA’s Feb. 7-9 “Fashion Show and Clothing Sale.

LAICA will “of course” continue to apply for federal, state and city grants, Marks added, pointedly eschewing a sense of competition, financial or aesthetic, with other local arts organizations.

Marks will also work to provide his artist constituents with a low-cost health care plan. “Supporting our artists’ personal welfare is equally as important as supporting their work,” he said.

“The interest here is the grass-roots arts community. I definitely intend to slant our support toward nourishing emerging L.A. and Southern California artists.” However, Marks did not entirely rule out inviting artists from across the country or around the world to LAICA if exhibition committee members so advise.

“Sculpture: Part One and Two,” a two-part show with works by 12 emerging local artists, opening today, is the first show organized by LAICA’s “revitalized and empowered” exhibition committee, and the first under Marks’ administration.

“I think we’re heading into a new phase,” Marks concluded. “LAICA had one director for about 10 years; now I think you’ll see a spate of directors that will remain here three to four years each. That includes myself. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with continual movement. It’s like the art world, which is constantly changing.”