Los Angeles Art: Is It a (World) Class Act?

Regarding Knight’s gratuitously savage attack on Artcoast magazine: How bizarre that Knight, who is so concerned with the quality of Los Angeles culture, should expend so much bile and steam attacking a magazine that had such a high regard for Los Angeles culture.

As the editor and as the publisher, we accepted the risks we took and the money we invested in the premise that Los Angeles had come of age as an art center. The only evidence of a provincial mentality we encountered anywhere in Los Angeles came from Christopher Knight, who sniped at us from our first day.

Knight was one of the founding advisers of Art issues. magazine, the publication he congratulated so lavishly; until recently, his name was on the masthead.

He has written articles for Art issues. and is a friend of the editor, Gary Kornblau. When he writes that Art issues. publishes “literate, sometimes quirky, frequently insightful criticism,” he is in essence reviewing his own writing.

For several years, Knight has been part of a study group discussing possibilities for magazine publishing in California.

Artcoast arrived--elegant, plump and independently produced--just as Art issues. was presenting its first tiny product. We wished them well, as we wish the best to all publications that try to improve the conditions for writing criticism. But when Knight labels Artcoast “blithering nothingness,” readers of the Los Angeles Times should keep his private alliances in perspective.

Contrary, perhaps, to Knight’s wishes, Artcoast has not “sunk like a rock.” We have published two very successful issues which were widely praised nationally, and we are pursuing investment options that would allow us to publish the major international art magazine that the Pacific Rim deserves.

KAY LARSON, Editor

ROBERT CROTHERS, Publisher

Artcoast

Santa Monica