L.A. Reopens Warner Center Gallery, but Faces Challenge in Luring Public

The art returned to ARTSPACE in Warner Center last week as city officials moved into the empty gallery and opened an exhibit by five local artists.

The lights are on again in this large room at the base of the Warner Center Plaza 5 office building. Joni Mitchell is heard softly over stereo speakers. Partitions divide the space into equal sections for the showing of “Works on Paper.”

Mari Andrews’ delicate wire sculptures hang beside dark and gaunt faces, the charcoal works of Linsley Lambert. There are Francesco Siqueiros’ rough-cut canvases, marked by twisting curves and fixed to the wall with thumbtacks. Michael Wood and Jeanne Lamosse have presented a sampling of their works, as well.

ARTSPACE opened a year ago as a showpiece for the Cultural Foundation--a group of San Fernando Valley businessmen and art denizens who are trying to raise $50 million to build an arts complex in the Sepulveda Basin. But the gallery was soon troubled and often dark. Foundation leaders decided they could not handle both fund raising and exhibits, so they gave the city’s Cultural Affairs Department a two-year sublease on ARTSPACE.

In the months since the lease was signed, city officials have spoken excitedly about bringing an active gallery to a part of the Valley that needs more art. And the opening reception for “Works on Paper,” held Oct. 4, was attended by about 200 people.

Yet reviving ARTSPACE remains a challenge. Not counting the opening, the exhibit drew only six people in its first four days, a gallery official said.

“In the Warner Center, they’ve only had three exhibitions previously, so there’s no real clientele,” said Scott Canty, a Cultural Affairs curator. “It’s going to take some time to get people aware of the space.”

This task will be a new one to Canty. The other two satellite galleries he runs are in City Hall and a city building in West Los Angeles, where thousands of people walk through every day on their way to obtain building permits and pay parking tickets.

The city will have to attract a different audience in the Valley.

“We’re going to shift our focus and start hitting the high schools, junior colleges and colleges in the area,” Canty said. “We’re also going to hit the senior citizen facilities.”

The city is also hoping that Robert D. Voit--the developer who donated the space to the Cultural Foundation--will allow for a sign to be placed outside the building announcing the gallery’s presence.

But that might not be possible, say the people at the Voit Companies. An outdoor sign is a prized commodity in a large office building.

“We have so many people in that building. Everybody would like a sign,” said Art Smith, director of asset management for Voit. “We’re really pleased to see that the gallery’s getting used, but we do have a problem with the sign. We’ll talk to them.”

Said Canty: “To tell you the truth, that’s the only thing that’s going to let people know we’re here.”

With or without a sign, the gallery has a full schedule of exhibits planned. At the end of November, several Los Angeles sculptors will show there. After that, ARTSPACE will be used to display the architectural models entered in a competition to design Arts Park L.A., the Cultural Foundation’s planned center.

“We’re delighted,” said Linda Kinnee, an official at the Cultural Foundation, which continues to work with the city on ARTSPACE exhibits. “There were lots of new faces at the opening. The show is good, and the people were happy.”