Getting to the Bottom of the Covered-Over Murals

It’s been less than two months since Kent Twitchell and his “Old Woman of the Freeway” mural prevailed in the courts, but his attorney is already using the precedent set by that case in the hopes of bringing back another L.A. mural that was recently painted over.

The work in question is “Work of the Heavens,” a 46-by-19-foot mural in West Hollywood painted by Russell Carlton. Ironically, the mural was painted over within days of Twitchell’s settlement to have the beloved Freeway Lady mural restored (the mural near the Hollywood Freeway had been painted over in 1986 by building owners).

“I was dumbfounded, in a state of shock,” says Carlton, who was never notified that his mural was being covered over and discovered it when driving by the site at the corner of Bonner Avenue and Beverly Boulevard one afternoon.

Carlton was initially optimistic that his mural would soon be restored, because of Twitchell’s case and a separate East Los Streetscapers case in which an appellate court found that murals are protected under the 1980 California Art Preservation Act. The act requires owners of artworks to give artists 30 days’ notice to remove their works before they are destroyed.

But after several unsuccessful attempts at a settlement, Carlton and his lawyer have brought in arts attorney Amy Neiman, who also handles the Twitchell and Streetscaper cases.

“As far as I can see, it’s a clear-cut case: (building owner Ronald S. Kates) painted over a work of art . . . without notifying the artist,” said Neiman. “The law says you can’t do that, and from my reading of the statute compensation needs to be made.”

Neiman has not yet filed suit in the matter, however, and hopes to “cut litigation costs” by settling out of court. She is currently in contact with two insurance companies covering the property to determine if policies might cover the mural, which was painted last summer as a memorial to two of Carlton’s friends who had died of AIDS. It depicts an old man feeding a flock of doves, and is dedicated to Project Angel Food, a nonprofit group that provides hot meals to persons with AIDS.

Time is also a factor in the case. Because of the short time the mural’s paint had to set, conservator Nathan Zakheim has said that restoring the mural will become more difficult the longer the covering paint is in place and allowed to harden.

LATINO PROGRAM: Macondo Espacio Cultural, the home of the Latino arts organization Macondo, has begun a new exhibition program that opens Friday with an exhibition of “Latiniz Arte,” a collective of five Mexican artists who are here studying at L.A. City College. The artists donated paintings, photographs and graphic works to Macondo, which will use the exhibition to raise funds for its center, which recently moved from its West 7th Street facility to 4319 Melrose Ave., between Vermont and Heliotrope. Curated monthly exhibitions will begin at the space in June.

GALLERIES: The economy has claimed another major Southern California gallery, at least temporarily. Meyers/Bloom Gallery, a 5-year-old contemporary art showcase in Santa Monica, will close on May 31. “The gallery can no longer continue in its current configuration, but it will reopen in September with a new name,” co-owner Ruth Bloom said. After Jeanne Meyers departs to become a private dealer, Bloom will restructure the gallery’s program to include a “projects room” for young curators and artists.

In other gallery news, Santa Monica’s M. Hanks Gallery is bucking the trend of closures and downsizing by moving to a 2,000-square-foot gallery that is actually five times larger than the old space. “We’re just fortunate, I guess,” said Eric Hanks, who attributes his 4-year-old gallery’s success to offering moderately priced works, only six exhibitions per year and a strong client base for his specialty in African-American art. The new space, at 3008 Main St., opened Saturday with abstract paintings by William McNeil, George Evans and William Pajaud.

Also moved recently is Ovsey Gallery, which has joined Jan Baum, Parker/Mark and Garth Clark galleries at 170 S. La Brea Ave. The new space opened on Friday with new works by Ed Nunnery.

SUCCESS STORY: The Art Center College of Design has concluded its $25-million fund-raising campaign. The five-year drive raised funds for construction of the college’s new South Wing, which houses the Master of Fine Arts program and computer graphics laboratories and a media center. Also financed was construction of the new Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery and acquisition of the Vern Simpson Type Collection, one of the West Coast’s largest collections of type and letterpress equipment. In addition, Art Center was able to balance its budget for the college’s campus in Switzerland, and to increase student scholarships eightfold. Major donors who contributed $1 million or more are the Ahmanson Foundation, Alias Research Inc., Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Honda R&D; North America Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp.

EVENTS: The second installment of “videoLACE RoughCuts,” a series of informal gatherings where video artists can present new video works in rough and raw form, will be at LACE at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Information: (213) 624-5650.

The annual L.A. Modernism Show, with 75 international dealers of decorative arts, furniture and fine arts, will be at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium May 23-25. Admission is $10, or $50 for a May 22 benefit for the Ocean Park Community Center. Information: (310) 455-2886.

DEADLINES: Applications are due May 22 for an Artist Fellowship Grant Program awarding direct artists’ grants for publicly accessible projects within the city of Ventura. Artists need not live in the city to apply. Information: (805) 653-0828.

HONORS: Los Angeles artists Hans Burkhardt has been honored by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, receiving the $5,000 Jimmy Ernst Award in Art, which recognizes an artist’s lifetime contribution. Other California awardees are Peter Voulkos, who will receive the $5,000 Louise Nevelson Award in Art for outstanding sculptor, and painter Fred Dalkey, who won one of five $7,500 Academy-Institute Awards for a body of work (along with New York-based artists Robert Berlind, Jake Berthot, Leatrice Rose and Jonathan Silver). In addition, New York artist Laura Newman has received the $5,000 Rosenthal Foundation Award for a “younger American painter.”

MASTER PLAN: The Santa Monica Arts Division will solicit public input on the development of the city’s master plan at five community meetings scheduled this week. The sessions will be broken into focus groups, with performing arts, arts education and cultural diversity/neighborhood issues being discussed during Tuesday meetings, and the visual arts/arts industries and arts facilities being addressed on Wednesday. For meeting times and locations, call (310) 458-8350.

Activist Essex Hemphill will lead a free poetry workshop at the 18th Street Arts Complex in Santa Monica next Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. The event is part of “Shifting Boundaries/Contested Spaces,” a series of lectures, screenings and other programs sponsored by the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities. Information: (310) 453-1755.

GRANTS: “Funding for Artists,” a UCLA Extension forum exploring alternative funding sources and grantwriting techniques and strategies, will be held on Saturday at UCLA. The 10 a.m.-5 p.m. forum will be led by Bob Privitt, an art professor at Pepperdine University who has been awarded 11 grants for his last 13 proposals. The class fee is $45. Information: (310) 206-1423.

NEW SCULPTURE: The Stuart Sculpture Collection at UC San Diego has acquired its 10th work with the installation of a granite drinking fountain by Los Angeles artist Michael Asher. The work is a representation of a commercial indoor water cooler, brought out in a monument-like setting among trees and located on a grassy area near the university’s Matthews Administrative and Academic Complex.

Suzanne Muchnic contributed to this column.