ART/LA92: Vote of Confidence : Art: Despite some misgivings after last year’s event, Los Angeles’ seventh annual international art fair will be held Dec. 2-6 at the Convention Center.

When art dealers packed up their wares and weary collectors straggled out of ART/LA91 last November at the Los Angeles Convention Center, there was reason to wonder if that was the end of the annual art fair. Despite scattered reports of success and the organizer’s vow to return, the figures were ominous. In the depths of a recession, the number of exhibitors had dropped from a high of 170 to 101; attendance had plunged from a peak of 29,500 to 24,300, and fair organizer Andry Montgomery California Inc. had a $600,000 deficit.

Eight months later, the economic picture is no brighter, but the fair hasn’t folded. ART/LA92, Los Angeles’ seventh annual international art fair, will be held Dec. 2-6. Furthermore, fair director Brian Angel is smiling.

One reason is that 71 galleries are already committed to the fair. “That’s many more than we have ever had this early, so we are buoyed by that,” Angel said.

The surge is more a response to financial incentives than an expression of optimism about the art market. Local dealers who signed up before May 20 and foreign participants who agreed to rent a booth at the fair before June 22 were granted a 25% reduction in the $28-per-square-foot rental fee, dropping the basic cost of a 600-square-foot booth from $16,800 to $12,600. Still, the early commitment is an encouraging vote of confidence, Angel said.

Another piece of good news is that ART/LA92 will benefit from a citywide show of work by local artists that is being sponsored by BMW of North America Inc. and will open in conjunction with the fair. BMW has agreed to make a cash and in-kind gift of an undisclosed sum to support “LAX: The Los Angeles Exhibition.” BMW’s gift will fund the exhibition catalogue, an advertising campaign and “LA Xtension,” a 2,500-square-foot installation at the fair containing one work by each of the 60 artists represented at eight other venues. The capsule exhibition at the fair will present biographical information and commentary about each artist.

While the fair is a frankly commercial venture at the Convention Center, fair organizers and Los Angeles arts leaders alike are eager to make it the centerpiece of a cultural celebration that will attract the local audience while giving out-of-town visitors many reasons for coming to Los Angeles. Indeed, past fairs have been a catalyst for cultural activities, including gallery open houses, educational programs and tours.

Attempting to make the fair relevant to the community, organizers this year plan to develop programs that will tie into efforts to rebuild after the riots. The fair will coordinate some activities with the Cultural Affairs Department’s Arts Recovery program, Angel said. Tours to community arts facilities are under consideration, and administrators who have experience with socially conscious arts programs in other cities will be invited to speak at the fair’s education program, he said.

Among other special features planned for the fair is a curated exhibition from Austria, complemented by displays from several Austrian galleries. An exhibition focusing on young artists from Paris is also in the works.

As usual, the fair organizers have enlisted an advisory board including museum directors, collectors, curators and artists. Serving as chair this year is Constance Glenn, an educator, writer and curator who since 1974 has served as director of the University Art Museum at Cal State Long Beach.

Also as usual, the fair will open with an evening gala. But unlike past events--which have been staged as benefits and have cost up to $150 a ticket--this year’s opening, on Dec. 2, will be “an affordable party,” Angel said. Tickets will be priced at $35 in advance, $45 at the door. There will be no benefit because Andry Montgomery California Inc.--which has lost up to $50,000 for such events at past fairs--cannot afford it, he said.

Meanwhile, the push to entice more galleries and backers continues. Organizers have commissioned a four-minute promotional videotape about the fair and sent it to about 60 galleries, art institutions and potential corporate sponsors all over the world, Angel said. Agents are traveling in Latin America to enlist dealers there and enlarge the fair’s international scope.

About half the committed galleries, such as Ace, Ruth Bloom, Paul Kopeikin, Louis Newman and Daniel Saxon, are located in Southern California. Others include Galerie Grita Insam of Vienna; Yamaki Art Gallery of Osaka, Japan; Walter Bischoff Galerie of Stuttgart, Germany, and Galerie Furstenberg of Paris. Thirty-one of the 71 galleries signed up so far will be making their first appearance at the fair, Angel said.

Dealers generally don’t commit themselves to the fair until the fall. Many have said they must wait and see whether they can afford it this year, Angel said. If only a few more dealers sign on, and if the fair fails to attract at least a smattering of big-name galleries, it will be difficult to draw large crowds and serious collectors.

But Angel is optimistic. “Although we can’t yet provide a gilt-edged list of galleries that are firmly committed to the fair, we’re being told that there is a mood of responsiveness and enthusiasm here that other cities are not providing. Everyone still wants to know what is going on in Los Angeles,” he said.