Environmental Aesthetic May Be Toxic to Polluters

FACES

“This is not about pure aesthetics, because I’m more interested in art and aesthetics being a world function and becoming part of the community,” says artist Sylvia Bowyer about her installation, “The Prevailing Winds,” which opens at Venice’s Beyond Baroque Gallery on Friday.

The piece features a wall-sized map of Los Angeles County marked with the locations of about 50 companies that, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, emit carcinogenic chemicals and waste. Bowyer’s explanatory text includes wording from a state-ordered environmental report aimed at helping such companies with their community relations efforts.

“If art can help protect a community’s well-being, then I think that is a beautiful aesthetic statement,” said Bowyer, 34, a recent CalArts graduate. “And I like the idea of art and the aesthetic process being accessible to many people. With this piece, it’s important that people come over and take a look, but it’s also important that they follow up on some of the information and find out about it for themselves. If that happens, I’ll consider the installation a success.”

In designing the piece, Bowyer focused on five toxic chemicals--ethylene oxide, petrochloroethylene, benzene, methylene chloride and chromium compounds. According to EPA data, each of the 50 polluters shown on Bowyer’s map produce more than 30,000 pounds of at least one of these chemicals every year.

“The idea for the installation came from reading articles on environmental racism (the observation that environmental hazards are often placed in poorer, ethnic communities) and wondering if race does play a role,” she said.

“That’s what this piece is about--distribution. It’s not so much about smog, as about cancer-causing pollutants and where they’re located. What I want to show is who is being affected by this.”

Despite spending the past few months on the project--which, the artist stressed, has been a collaborative effort with a number of friends and fellow CalArts grads--Bowyer called it “basically a work in progress,” and plans to continue with the piece by presenting spin-off installations in the future.

Bowyer’s previous installation, “American Grade,” was included in April’s “Artists and the Environment” show at Pasadena’s Armory Center for the Arts.

THE SCENE

Rumors that Louis Newman Galleries is leaving its 10-year home on Beverly Drive are not true, according to manager Perri Guthrie.

“I have been getting calls, and people have been coming in and asking, and in fact we’re not leaving, we’re expanding,” she said.

But the current expansion into an adjoining facility (making the gallery’s total space about 4,000 square feet--nearly a third more than before) is temporary, Guthrie said, noting that the gallery plans to move into an even larger space across the street in about a year.

DEBUTS

Scottish painter Callum Innes, 28, has his first U.S. show at Melrose Avenue’s Jan Turner gallery through Nov. 24. Innes, who is also featured in a concurrent group show at Pace Gallery in New York, is based in Edinburgh and has participated in a number of exhibitions, including the prestigious British Art Show, which presents major new talent.

Local artist Holly Crawford’s first Los Angeles solo exhibition at Wade Gallery on La Cienega opens Friday and runs through Dec. 15. Titled “Roots,” the show of paintings and drawings uses common objects and geometric forms, such as a square, as the “root” concept upon which the works are based.

HAPPENING

The 15th annual Congress of the Arts will be held Wednesday through Saturday at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The theme for the California Confederation of the Arts’ 1990 congress is “California Arts/Global Cultures: A Challenge for the 1990s.” Workshop topics include “Beyond Disneyland: Getting California Arts on the International Tourism Map,” “International and Multicultural Festivals: What Works and What Doesn’t,” “Freedom of Expression and Cultural Equity in Global Perspective,” and “The Arts and the New Governor.”

The four-day fee is $200; $225 at the door. Information: (213) 936-4014.

The Westside Arts Center’s annual benefit, “A Collector’s Afternoon,” featuring a reception and raffle of works by 14 artists, including Lita Albuquerque, Peter Alexander and Gilbert Lujan, will be held Saturday from 2-5 p.m. at Michael’s restaurant in Santa Monica. Tickets for the event are $50 and raffle tickets are $10 each. Information: (213) 395-1443.