Art for Rent in Museum’s Bargain Basement : A LACMA gallery helps struggling artists by making it more affordable for people to rent or buy their original works

Every week people walk out of the basement of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with original pieces of contemporary art--and security does nothing to stop them. Some will keep the works in their homes or offices for months; others will keep them permanently.

Don’t sound the alarm. It’s all the work of the Art Rental and Sales Gallery, a little-known showcase hidden away under the museum’s Anderson Building, a place better known for its cafeteria. Created almost 30 years ago as part of the Arts Museum Council, this busy office and gallery displays, rents and sells contemporary art created by more than 250 Los Angeles-area artists it represents.

“We are expanding the art base of the city by showing all kinds of the people in Los Angeles that it’s possible to support contemporary art,” said Terri Smooke, current director of the Art Rental and Sales Gallery. “We’re showing people how to live with art.”

Acting as an independent gallery within the museum, the gallery has three goals: exposing emerging artists, making original art more affordable to the general public and raising money for the county museum’s acquisitions fund. The gallery organizes five exhibits each year, showcasing the work of five artists each time. Each exhibit hangs for five weeks.

Despite the unimpressive amount of space--the program occupies a basement hallway, where exhibits hang, and one small office--Smooke said the gallery brings in more than $500,000 a year.

But Smooke and the rest of her all-volunteer staff stress the importance of launching new talent into the L.A. art world. The Art Rental and Sales Gallery often provides the best option for struggling artists.

“We accept only those artists who are not part of the formal gallery system,” or don’t have any official representation, said Smooke, adding that many of the artists who are chosen have eventually been picked up by established galleries.

Besides giving much-needed exposure to little-known talents, the gallery also presents an opportunity for the beginning collector. With rental prices ranging from $15 to $110 for two months (works can be rented only on a bimonthly basis), museum members of almost any income range can afford to take home an original work. Non-members can purchase pieces outright, but cannot rent. All they have to do is walk into the office and ask to see what’s available.

“We’re talking the American system here,” Smooke said. “Our work isn’t priced like David Hockney and Frank Stella. Almost any person can rent art and keep it for as long as they would like, or ultimately purchase the art because the payments apply to the purchase.”

According to Smooke, the renters come from all age groups and backgrounds, with the only common denominator being museum membership and a desire to experiment with art.

“Some people see something in a show and they fall in love with it. Others simply want to make their living or work spaces more attractive. They want to enrich their surroundings,” she said.

“Our niche in the community is to try and help those people who aren’t in the regular art market yet,” said Susan Franklin, co-chairman of the five-member Exhibitions Committee of the Art Rental and Sales Gallery, the group that chooses the artists who appear in the gallery shows.

Partly because it is under the aegis of the county museum, the gallery is able to pay 75% of the rental and purchase fee directly to the artists. The gallery keeps the other 25%. So besides having their work see the light of day, new artists can also reap immediate financial benefits from the program.

“It’s brought me a regular check every month,” says artist Stuart Saks, who was part of a show last spring and currently has eight pieces on rent. “It’s a wonderful program. It’s an entry-level process for beginning artists.”

Marjorie Sievers had her work displayed in a show that ran in February and says that money isn’t the only benefit of participating in the program.

“People see the announcement, and they say, ‘Gosh, the county museum. How wonderful!’ They don’t think of it based in a hallway,” she said.

Sievers, who saw four of her five paintings on aluminum rented the first night of her show, sees an added advantage in the location of the gallery.

“All kinds of people, all the collectors, go down to the basement because that’s where the curators and all the office personnel are,” Sievers said. “Some big-time art dealers will see your work down there.”

The gallery is divided into three separate areas that work together to choose, store and distribute the art. The Exhibitions Committee handles submissions by artists and refers artists to the Rental Division. This division actually processes the rental art from the tiny office where as many as 150 pieces are stored.

The third area, the Corporate Division, rents art to businesses.

“Exhibition is really the center, the heart of this program,” Smooke said. “That’s where we get our credibility in the artists’ community because they understand that this is a serious gallery. It’s not just a money-making venture.”

Franklin and her co-chairman Nancy Freedman look for artists doing something novel. “We are looking for artists who are doing something different, something we haven’t seen before, maybe a little bit on the cutting edge. We are interested in serious work, art that may be a little bit tough for people,” says Franklin, who receives about eight to 10 submissions per week. “We don’t want the kind of stuff you see at neighborhood sidewalk art shows. It’s beyond craft.”

After the committee members decide which applicants interest them, they make studio visits. Sometimes they return two or three times before choosing an artist for a show.

“We try to put together a mixture. We show photography, dimensional work, abstract work--a real eclectic mix,” Franklin said.

According to Franklin, who is in her second year of heading the committee (the council alternates chairmanships every two years), positions on the Exhibitions Committee are the most coveted in the Art Rental and Sales Gallery, mostly because its members are the bearers of good news.

“When you call the artists and tell them they’ve been accepted, it’s a little bit like that old TV show, ‘The Millionaires,’ ” Franklin said.

But even an artist’s works that are considered unsuitable for exhibition are often passed down to the Rental Division. Doris Gamson, who heads the Rental Division, says the goal is to collect a variety of high-quality art that still maintains a wide appeal.

“We’ll keep an artist’s work on hand for five years. We hope that after five years, they’ll be a little more self-sufficient,” Gamson said.

The more work the better, said Gamson, who sees more renters now than ever. Currently there are about 450 people who rent art from the gallery. “We’re getting more popular lately. An average of about 15 to 20 renters a week come in to look at the art. Before holidays, we have them lined up waiting to get in.”

The Corporate Division operates much like the Rental Division, except the corporate renters are required to keep work for six-month increments, and at least one employee of the corporation must be a museum member. For a $100 consultation fee--which is credited as a donation to the museum--a representative of the Corporate Division will advise the company on how to best utilize its space.

At any given time, the Corporate Division is working with a minimum of 50 companies, Gamson said. “And that can range from five pieces to 50 pieces per job.”

Gamson estimated that 20% of all renters end up purchasing the works, but most return the art after the initial two months.

“You might get somebody that picks something that they think they’re mad about today, and in two months they’ll change their minds,” Gamson said. “Our biggest individual renter has 60 pieces out now. He sees so many he likes here in the office, but then they’ll end up under his bed. Every once in a while he’ll bring one of them back.”

It’s this luxury of relatively painless financial risk that attracts a lot of inexperienced art lovers into starting collections.

For years, Larry Layne, a San Fernando Valley real estate developer, considered purchasing art, but with an educational background in business and science, he felt ill-equipped to deal directly with galleries.

“I found the concept of walking into a gallery intimidating,” said Layne. “I didn’t want to take a financial gamble on something I didn’t feel comfortable with.”

Four years ago, Layne rented his first piece from the Art Rental and Sales Gallery. Today he has 30 rented works hanging in his office and his Marina del Rey home. He has purchased four.

“I learned how I felt about art and how long a piece would own my interest,” Layne said. “I’ve learned a lot about art criticism from the staff at the gallery.

“Who knows how long it would have taken me to feel comfortable buying art?”