Painting in Swimming Pool : His Art Is All Wet--and City Wants It Removed

There are parts of Hollywood that are considered dangerous, but no one had ever included the design on the bottom of a swimming pool before.

No one, that is, until county officials spotted the 4-month-old underwater artwork of painter David Hockney at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s outdoor plunge.

Inspectors from the Department of Health Services claim that the work, which resembles a school of swimming parentheses, could “hamper or prevent” the saving of lives in an emergency because it obscures the view of would-be rescuers of a swimmer in peril, hotel manager Michael Nelson said Wednesday.

And the county says Hockney’s depiction must be erased, or painted over (in the manner of rejected paintings in the Middle Ages).

“It’s a shame because this (the painting) isn’t just for the hotel, it’s for Hollywood,” said Nelson, who added that the design has caused no safety problems so far. “Obviously, we weren’t trying to do anything wrong.”

Ironically, Hockney, an internationally known artist, fashioned the design at no charge as a gesture of support for the renovation of the 61-year-old, period-piece landmark, site of the first Academy Awards presentation.

Hockney, who created the work in four hours by using brushes on cut-off broomsticks, could not be reached for comment.

However, Peter Goulds, a director of the L.A. Louver Gallery, which represents Hockney on the West Coast, expressed amazement when told that the painter may be in conflict with the California Administrative Code, which states that pools must have white bottoms so that bathers can be clearly seen.

“The object of the work was to give people pleasure, not pain,” Goulds said. “Besides, I’m sure the Roosevelt pool is much safer than Santa Monica Bay with all the sewage the city dumps in it.”

Standard Paint Used

Goulds pointed out that Hockney had employed “a standard paint used in swimming pools that doesn’t produce any residual glare.”

It isn’t the first time that art and government have clashed in Southern California.

A few years ago, an anonymous sculptor deposited a piece of his work in a reflecting pool in front of the downtown Department of Water and Power building. The creation, described at the time as “a three-pronged, serpentine, green-bronze hollow beanstalk topped by orange and yellow lotuses that alternately lighted up and spouted water,” was removed by county workers.

Then there was the 60-foot-tall nude painting, known as the Pink Lady, that appeared one morning on a rocky cliff above a tunnel on Malibu Canyon Road. The city, which deemed the long-haired maiden hazardous to male motorists, rubbed her out with spray-paint guns.

As for Hockney’s parentheses, no deadline has been set for their removal since inspectors found that the pool’s water was clear and say that no “imminent danger” exists.

“It’s a notification, like telling a pool owner that his chlorine content is too high,” a spokesman for the health department said.

In the meantime, Nelson has appealed to Democratic state Sen. David A. Roberti, whose office said it was “examining the genesis” of the pool rule. And the pool remains open, though “that situation may change,” Nelson said, depending on the advice of his lawyers.

The hotel manager recalled that it was only four months ago that the repainted pool was christened, Hollywood-style.

“We even got the Joffrey Ballet to jump in,” Nelson said, nostalgically.