ANAHEIM : Art Expert Hired for the New Arena

The city has hired a consultant to coordinate the selection and purchase of art for the Anaheim Arena.

In a contract approved by the City Council this week, Marc Pally, a Los Angeles abstract painter and art consultant, will coordinate the selection of participants on a citizens’ art advisory committee, the development of an art plan, the selection of the artists and the construction of the artwork.

Pally, who coordinated the art for the city’s Koll Center project, will be paid $75 an hour for his work, up to $39,750, and up to $5,300 for expenses.

Officials say the city will pay Pally’s fee from the 1% tax it charges on hotel and motel bills to help fund the $103-million, 19,200-seat arena which is under construction and scheduled to open in 1993.

The council approved the contract on a 4-1 vote Tuesday, with Councilman Irv Pickler dissenting. Pickler said his vote was not against Pally but against the arena, which he has opposed from the start.

Pally, 45, has shown his paintings internationally. According to published reviews of his work, he relies on bold colors and organic shapes. His titles include “He Believed He Understood What He Might See,” “Weak Link,” and “What’s Done Is Dung.”

“My job will be to work with the community, work with the press and facilitate communication with everyone involved in the project,” Pally said. He added that his first tasks will be the selection of the citizen’s advisory committee and developing a plan.

Christopher K. Jarvi, director of the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, said that a consultant was needed because planning and purchasing art requires special knowledge that no one in the city’s administration has. There are few art consultants and the good ones can command top dollar, he said.

“This is a very specialized field,” Jarvi said. “It is not like hiring an architect. There are a lot of architects out there.”

He pointed out that Pally is able to communicate with city officials and artists.

“Artists are a special breed and people in the government sector are very pragmatic and the two just don’t find it easy to understand each other,” he said.

Pally will also be better at curbing an artist whose work is impractical or does not meet community standards for taste, Jarvi noted.

“For example, when we were building City Hall, the artist wanted to build out front five walls made of the materials that have historically been used in Anaheim construction--brick, wood, steel, concrete and mirrored glass,” Jarvi said. “We had a difficult time explaining to him that mirrored glass was inappropriate, that the kids would break it and that the water sprinklers would spot it.”