Hockney Pool Mural at Roosevelt Hotel Gets a Stay of Execution

British artist David Hockney has fallen into deep water with local health authorities over a painting at the bottom of a Hollywood hotel swimming pool, but legislators may have come to his rescue.

Democratic Assemblyman Mel Roos and City Councilman Michael Woo entered the fight Friday by unveiling a bill that would save the Hockney mural from being obliterated by a coat of white paint.

“There are conspicuously bad cases where enforcement of regulations runs contrary to the public interest,” Roos told a poolside news conference at the landmark Hollywood Roosevelt hotel.

In this case, Hockney’s mural--a pattern of giant blue parentheses intended to blend with the water movement--contravenes state rules, which say public pools must have white bottoms so bathers can be clearly seen.

“The point about the municipal attitude to health is that it does not incorporate joy,” lamented Hockney, who has painted three other, privately owned pools.

Hockney, a resident of the Hollywood Hills and a fixture on the Los Angeles cultural scene, did the Hollywood Roosevelt mural last March as his contribution toward the revitalization of the decaying Hollywood district. The 61-year-old hotel was the site of the first Academy Awards ceremony.

County health officials were preparing to paint over the mural next Friday until Roos introduced his legislation in Sacramento on Thursday. Now they have agreed to extend the deadline for 60 days.

Under the legislation, designs on the bottom of pools would be exempt from the health regulations if the value of the pool is over $1 million.