Art Magazine to Track Trends on Pacific Rim

Reflecting a significant interest in art trends in the Pacific Rim, Artcoast, a new contemporary art magazine was launched this month.

The magazine hit the stands on Monday and publisher Bob Crothers is already worried about running out of stock.

“I can’t believe it. Copies are flying off the shelves and we’ve had to reorder,” Crothers said.

Crothers attributed the success to curiosity over what Artcoast is all about.

“The whole idea behind our coverage is to start in Los Angeles and then look around us--to Japan, Australia and other Pacific Rim countries,” Aaron Betsky, managing editor, said.

“Artcoast recognizes the need for diversity and contradiction,” said Charles Scheips, associate publisher of the bi-monthly magazine. (In January, 1990, it is scheduled to begin monthly publication.)

“We also recognize that California is the center of changing boundaries affecting the art world,” he added. “We are not a regional magazine and not about Los Angeles art. We want to expose ideas and trends in a nonconventional manner.”

Editor Kay Larson, longtime art writer for New York magazine, said in the new magazine’s opening statement: “The articles and reviews will emphasize visual culture and also be concerned with traditional aesthetics of European and American art, broadly defined through paintings, sculptures, performance, street art, photography, books and any other kind of creative works that seem appealing. “In short, anything goes--if it’s good enough,” said Larson.

The magazine will feature museum and gallery reviews from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the Pacific Rim. It will also focus on commentaries, articles and interviews with artists, critics and other influential members of the art community.

“We won’t be reviewing exhibitions in New York and Europe, but if there is an important art trend in those areas, we’ll cover it,” said Betsky.

The cover story of Artcoast’s first issue profiles Japanese-American artist Masami Teraoka. Other articles include an interview with David Hockney about the relationship between quantum physics and visual arts, a commentary on Frank Gehry’s winning proposal for the $65-million Walt Disney Concert Hall and an article by artist Robert Morris on the first international museum exhibition of Australian aboriginal art.

The second issue will focus on the state of art in California, Crothers said.

The philosophy behind Artcoast’s coverage is not the only aspect setting it apart from other similar publications. One look at the March cover makes Artcoast stand out.

Designed by graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, who redesigned The Times’ typography in 1981, Artcoast reverses the traditional 8 1/2-inch-wide by 11-inch-deep magazine measurements. This publication is 11 inches wide and 8 3/8 inches deep.

Besides accommodating the many new properties of magazine technology, the wider design can symbolize the geographical view Californians have, Levrant de Bretteville said, adding, “Californians can look out and across mountains and oceans and to the Pacific Rim.”