Cost Questions May Present New Snag for Port Artworks

A San Diego Board of Port Commissioners committee has reached a tentative agreement with two artists over their controversial sculptures proposed for the waterfront.

However, there may be new problems about whether the artworks can be done within the budget limits imposed by commissioners, which could lead to further refining or substantial changes.

The chairman of the ad hoc committee dealing with the issue, Port Commissioner Bill Rick, said he hopes to have the matter considered by the commission in the next few weeks.

“I’ve done my work but I haven’t turned it in yet,” Rick said in an interview Wednesday.

Controversial Works

At the center of the debate are the sculptures, which have been both praised and vilified. The one that has attracted the most attention is a sprawling work by contemporary artist Vito Acconci, a Brooklyn-based sculptor of national renown, that would be put on Spanish Landing.

Called the “Sea of Green,” the sculpture as first proposed consisted of large airplanes rising from the earth, pools of water shaped like airplanes surrounded by palm trees and 40 sunken, boat-shaped benches “sailing” on a sea of grass. The art piece, which has been budgeted for $325,000, has been criticized as resembling a crash scene and a graveyard.

The other sculpture, by local San Diego artist Roberto Salas, is of an 18-foot-tall blue palm tree set in a 19-foot oval pool and crowned by a fountain. It has been budgeted for $75,000 and would be installed on Harbor Island.

Both artworks were recommended by the port district’s Art Advisory Committee, a volunteer group composed of professional artists, designers and museum directors and curators.

At a Sept. 15 commissioners meeting, where both artworks were discussed at length, the board--a majority of whom seemed displeased enough to turn down the projects--voted instead to form the ad hoc committee to more closely examine the projects.

Rick and fellow Commissioner Raymond Burk visited Acconci at his warehouse studio in Brooklyn, where they talked with the artist.

Acconci told them he is willing to remove the airplanes from the sculpture, a move he hinted at while in San Diego for September’s meeting, Rick said.

Whether that will be enough to allay the concern of other commissioners isn’t known, but Rick said there might be another problem. As originally envisioned--with the airplanes--the sculpture would have cost several hundred thousand dollars more than the $325,000 budgeted by the commission. What it would cost without the planes or other modifications isn’t clear, he said, though Acconci is attempting to refine the costs.

“It seems to cost more than what we budgeted for,” said Rick, who has drafted a report outlining his recommendations. “We’re left with a gap.”

While reluctant to discuss the report in detail until he has had time to confer with fellow commissioner and committee member Louis Wolfsheimer, and Gerald Hirshberg, chairman of the Arts Advisory Committee, Rick said he is convinced that Acconci wants to build a sculpture on Spanish Landing.

“He wants to do a piece of work here in San Diego on that site, that I’m convinced of,” Rick said.

He noted that even with the changes, Acconci remains enough of a controversial artist and “a fascinating guy,” that it “may not be enough to convince some of the” other port commissioners.

Wolfsheimer said Wednesday that he’s read Rick’s report briefly but has yet to examine it closely or talk to Rick. Wolfsheimer said he is concerned that without the airplanes, the artwork “becomes a very benign piece . . . certainly not avant-garde. “

“What you’re left with is just palm-studded pools and boat-shaped benches to sit in,” he said.

Acconci and Hirshberg were unavailable for comment.

As for the sculpture proposed by Salas, both Rick and Wolfsheimer said their biggest worry now is whether it can be constructed within its $75,000 budget.

“The question has to do with the confidence he has in his cost figures,” Rick said.

“I’m not sure he can do it for what he said he could,” said Wolfsheimer. “I think it will pass muster if it comes in on budget.”

If the 18-foot palm tree and fountain can’t be done for $75,000, Wolfsheimer says it would be unfair to other artists who competed in the selection process to increase the budget.

Salas says he is confident the sculpture can be built for $75,000 if the Port District pays for “land preparation” of the site, including building walkways and the foundation.

“If we can agree to do that . . . then there’s no problem with the budget,” Salas said. He said the Port District had agreed to do similar work for a $450,000, 65-foot stainless steel spire sculpture in Embarcadero Park by New York artist Ellsworth Kelly. The sculpture was never built, however, because Kelly--following much controversy surrounding his proposal--dropped the project.

Salas said his discussions with Rick have mainly covered technical points about the sculpture, such as a pump system for the fountain.