Gallery Will See New Life : Art: The Security Pacific space will become a showcase for exhibits drawn from the 18,000 pieces owned by that bank and BankAmerica.

Early next year, Security Pacific Gallery will become a showcase for exhibits drawn from the combined 18,000-piece collections of Security Pacific and BankAmerica Corp., which merged as BankAmerica in April. A new name for the gallery has not been established.

A bright spot on the local art scene since its opening almost three years ago, the 9,000-square-foot gallery in the former Orange County regional headquarters of Security Pacific has been showing changing exhibitions of work drawn primarily from sources outside the bank’s former 12,000-piece collection. Thematic exhibits showcased many lesser-known Southern California artists as well as the occasional major figure.

A fall exhibit after “The Home Show”--an exhibit of work by seven California artists now at the gallery through Aug. 22--will be the final show organized by the Security Pacific staff. Mark Johnstone, exhibitions curator and vice president for cultural affairs, has been laid off as of Aug. 30. Tressa Miller, former first vice president and director of cultural affairs at Security Pacific, left several months ago.

The merger also affects the Security Pacific Gallery at the Plaza in downtown Los Angeles, which will close at the end of the year. BankAmerica is due to vacate that office within the next 18 months, according to a bank spokeswoman. After the the current exhibit (“Symbology,” with work by five artists) closes Aug. 8, a final exhibition will be on view mounted in the fall. Jenny Monbouquette, art collection coordinator at Gallery at the Plaza, will remain on staff to oversee art operations in Southern California.

Bonnie Earls-Solari, director of the art program at BankAmerica’s San Francisco headquarters, said her office is about to embark on an inventory of the huge combined collection that will take “the better part of a year” and involve new appraisals. The former BankAmerica collection of 6,500 works has been valued at $6.4 million. The former Security Pacific collection has not been appraised for about a decade, and its size almost doubled during that time.

Earls-Solari said she thinks that the collections are “very similar, very complementary. Both are weighted in contemporary art. Neither is exclusive to any particular geographic area.” She added that the original BankAmerica collection has “a stronger orientation” toward Northern California art, whereas Security Pacific--which had its headquarters in Los Angeles--owned more art by Southern Californians.

Artists represented in the former Security Pacific collection include such blue-chip names as Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Henry Moore and Frank Stella. The BankAmerica collection includes pieces by such well-known artists as Robert Mapplethorpe, Joel Shapiro, Susan Rothenberg and Bryan Hunt.

Many questions about the merged art program remain, Earls-Solari said, among them the possibility of reconfiguring the Costa Mesa gallery. The first-floor space was designed by Santa Monica architect Frederick Fisher, with furniture and wall decorations by Lita Albuquerque, Jud Fine and Eric Orr.

As yet, no policy has been established regarding possible duplications in the merged collections, Earls-Solari said. When both banks coincidentally organized traveling print exhibitions a few years ago, she discovered some overlap in that medium, including a woodblock print, “Dark Cake,” by Northern California artist Wayne Thiebaud.

Gallery at the Plaza opened in June, 1976, at Security Pacific’s international headquarters in Los Angeles. Originally part of a program for performing as well as visual arts, the 3,000-square-foot lobby space displayed five changing exhibits of contemporary art annually, mostly of work by Southern Californians. Although the bank did not keep attendance records, several years ago Miller estimated the foot traffic at 10,000 visitors annually.

Art hangs in private offices in BankAmerica’s Los Angeles headquarters on Flower Street, but that building has no gallery. EarlsSolari said there are no current plans to open one. “A lot of what we’re having to do is to follow the lead of real estate,” she added, referring to pending corporate decisions regarding office space.

Earls-Solari said the gallery at Security Pacific’s former San Francisco headquarters--opened just last year, a few blocks from BankAmerica’s headquarters--will be closed after the current exhibit, which runs through mid-August.

BankAmerica will continue to maintain three public galleries in its San Francisco headquarters. In the Plaza and Concourse galleries, most exhibits are devoted to the work of one artist; the Giannini Gallery, named for the bank’s founder, also displays group shows.

Security Pacific’s former Seattle gallery--also opened last year--is now part of Seafirst Bank. It is not connected to the BankAmerica art program.

BankAmerica will continue to circulate its art in traveling exhibitions and lend works from the collection to museums, Earls-Solari said.