Artist Tries Again to ‘Clean Up’ Intersection

A mysterious artist who feels his work fills a vacuum in the San Fernando Valley art scene has struck again at a busy Studio City intersection.

Four months ago, the anonymous artist erected a fanciful five-foot collage of old tires, stereo speakers and a cascade of dinner forks built around a vacuum cleaner. The city removed it.

This week, a colorful 10-foot plaster statue appeared of a man reading a book--and operating a vacuum cleaner. And this time, the artist included a warning to the city not to take it down.

The statue stands on a grassy traffic island in the middle of the three-way intersection of Ventura Boulevard, Radford Avenue and Ventura Place. Like its predecessor, the piece includes the label “Less Material More Art.”

‘Warning’ Sign

A small sign painted on the side of the sculpture, which has stood in the intersection since Sunday night, asks that it not be disturbed. “If removed or vandalized, you will be towed away by the Studio City Beautification Assn.,” it says.

That warning is a reference to a community group that is trying to raise $42,000 to decorate the 20-year-old traffic island with fancy landscaping and a gold “Studio City” sign.

Beautification Assn. leader Irwin Stanton has said his group neither commissioned nor endorsed the vacuum art. Neither has the Studio City Chamber of Commerce, whose leaders say they have received complaints about the sculpture.

Los Angeles city officials said Thursday that, despite the artist’s warning, it must come down.

“It’s illegal. You can’t place things in median strips without a permit,” said David Reed, assistant director of the city’s Bureau of Street Maintenance.

Appreciated by Some

To get one of those, a sculptor would have to apply to the Bureau of Public Works and have the application approved by the Bureau of Street Maintenance, the Department of Transportation and the Board of Municipal Art Commissioners, Reed said.

Impromptu critics along the street said they hope the city does not clean away the vacuum sculpture.

“Is that great, or what?” said David Baker, an assistant manager of Santo Pietros, an Italian restaurant whose front window overlooks the traffic island. “This town needs a hell of a lot more art like this. It’s constructive graffiti.”

John Paul, a visitor from Michigan, said he is glad the statue lasted to year’s end.

“We’re here to see weird art and the Rose Bowl,” Paul said.