Art or Politics? Bus Stop Poster in Limbo : Ruling: Outdoor advertising firm seeks a second opinion on controversial artwork already approved by the Cultural Affairs Dept.

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office is scheduled to decide today whether a bus shelter poster depicting an upside-down and backward American flag is art.

The words “Ignore Dominant Culture, They Kill In Cold Blood Behind Closed Doors” are printed in bright yellow letters over the turned-around flag.

The four-color, computer-generated image by multi-media artist Daniel J. Martinez, funded by a $7,000 Cultural Affairs Department grant, was to have gone up Nov. 1 in bus shelter advertising spaces donated by Gannett Outdoor of Southern California.

But the company wants prior approval from the City Attorney’s office because the image is “extremely controversial” and could possibly violate city ordinances forbidding “political” material from being erected on city property, said Gannett Vice President Ron Cipriani.

Although Gannett owns the bus shelters, they are operated through a contract with the city’s Transit Division, which has jurisdiction over the property, Cipriani said.

“I guess the copy could be considered . . . almost un-American, and that’s why we needed to check with the city,” Cipriani said. “If it’s strictly art, then we have no problem putting it up, but if (the City Attorney’s Office says) it’s political in nature then we have to go along with that ruling.”

Adolfo V. Nodal, Cultural Affairs general manager, predicted that the ruling would be in Martinez’s favor.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re very supportive of (Martinez) as an artist. The project was approved by a peer panel, and we think he should be able to do it. . . . He’s got the City Council and the mayor behind him, and that’s a lot. So I don’t think it’s going to be a horrible situation where he’ll be censored or anything. I don’t think it’s as ominous as it sounds.”

If the city OK is given, Cipriani said, the images will go up this week in 10 as-yet undetermined locations. Another 10 posters would then go up Dec. 1.

Martinez admitted that his image could be considered “un-patriotic,” but said: “(Gannett) said, we think this is a political statement and it’s not art; that’s crazy--I have a 15-year career to back up that it is art.”

Martinez said that Gannett saw early plans for the image and that he was told the project was “a done deal.” But the posters “got stopped literally six hours before they were to go up” when Gannett’s top executives “got a little paranoid because of all the censorship stuff going on,” Martinez said, referring to recent controversies surrounding the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cipriani said he and other Gannett officials had seen Martinez’s preliminary plans, but said, “When we actually saw the poster come out it seemed a little questionable, and we didn’t want to jeopardize our position with the city.”

Approval was sought from the Cultural Affairs and Transit departments, and the latter referred the matter to the City Attorney’s Office.

“I’ve had it with Gannett; they just keep going to more agencies, it’s like they’re looking for someone to say no,” Martinez said. Martinez said he believed fears of impending war in Saudi Arabia had prompted the controversy over his piece, which was originally to come out in time before last week’s elections.

“It’s definitely an attack on this country’s ideas that when they want to have a war everybody should get behind it and support it--I question forced patriotism,” he said of the image. “But nobody would know that by looking at it. The point of the piece isn’t necessarily to upset people, but to make people think, ‘Are you happy with the government of this country?’ ”

As for the words on the image, Martinez said he is referring to “dominant culture’s” belief that “other” groups such as the poor and minorities cause problems such as drugs and violence, and that when members of those groups are killed “it doesn’t matter, because they’re one of ‘those’ people.”