A Symposium at LAX Will Rethink the L.A. Art Scene

Early entries in the major citywide art showcase “LAX: The Los Angeles Exhibition” get under way this week, with a free symposium at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and shows at LACE and USC’s Fisher Gallery.

The multi-venue event, intended as the first of an ongoing series of biennial exhibitions to showcase the strength and diversity of L.A artists, will also encompass shows at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Otis School of Art and Design, Plaza de la Raza, Santa Monica Museum of Art, UCLA’s Wight Art Gallery and Art/LA ’92. Most will open in early December.

Saturday’s 3-5:30 p.m. symposium, “Rethinking the L.A. Art Scene,” features Henry Hopkins of UCLA, Gwen Darien of LACE, Thomas Lawson of CalArts, Al Nodal of L.A. Cultural Affairs, Paul Schimmel of MOCA, architect Elyse Grinstein and art critic Max Benavidez.

Panelists will discuss topics related to the city’s current system of museums and galleries and where new artists should fit into that picture.

Information: (310) 825-5617.

REOPENING: Cal State L.A. inaugurates its newly enlarged Fine Arts Gallery next Sunday with “California Painting: The Essential Modernist Framework,” an exhibition of 18 artists including Elmer Bischoff, Hans Burkhardt, Richard Diebenkorn, Lorser Feitelson, Helen Lundeberg, Lee Mullican and Emerson Woelffer. After being closed for a year for remodeling, the gallery’s exhibition space is now more than 3,500 square feet--triple that of the old gallery, said director Dan Douke.

Meanwhile, the school’s art students will continue to operate the Closet of Modern Art, a small temporary gallery that was established from a storage space in the Fine Arts Building to fill the exhibitions void during the remodeling. And the school has also begun building a new Fine and Performing Arts Center, to open in early 1994, that will include a 10,000-square-foot exhibition space.

AUCTIONS: The L.A. Center for Photographic Studies holds its seventh annual benefit auction on Nov. 14 at the G. Ray Hawkins Gallery. Up for grabs will be 200 vintage and contemporary photographs and other photo-based works by artists including Kim Abeles, Ansel Adams, John Baldessari, Judy Fiskin, Richard Misrach and Millie Wilson. The auction opens at 8 p.m. with remarks by musician, collector and photographer Graham Nash; cocktails start at 6:30. Tickets are $40. The work will be previewed next Sunday (with a reception from 2-5 p.m.) and Nov. 10-13 at Robert Berman Gallery. Information: (213) 482-3566.

Robbie Conal, Paul Conrad, Laddie John Dill, Margaret Garcia, George Herms, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Romero, May Sun, Kent Twitchell and Patssi Valdez are among 130 artists participating in “Art for a New L.A.,” the eighth annual CARECEN Auction to benefit the Central American Refugee Center, Nov. 14 at Sherry Frumkin Gallery. A silent auction starts at 6:30 p.m., the live auction at 7:30. Tickets are $25. Information: (310) 483-3042.

The Venice Family Clinic’s fourth annual “Sweet Chair-ity Auction” of functional artworks by 15 artists including Candice Gawne, Rod Baer and Robert Gil de Montes, is today from 5-9 p.m. at the Pacific Design Center, with actor Bob Saget as auctioneer. Tickets are $100. Information: (310) 392-8630.

MARKETPLACES: One hundred dealers will offer pre-1940 works including traditional American folk art, American Indian textiles, Indonesian temple carvings and pre-Columbian artifacts at this year’s Los Angeles Tribal and Folk Art Show, Nov. 14 and 15 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Admission is $6. A $50-per-person preview and silent auction to benefit the Craft and Folk Art Museum will be held Nov. 13 from 6-9 p.m. Information: (213) 455-2886.

Fifty artists and craftsmakers from several American Indian tribes will display their works--including sculpture, paintings, jewelry, pottery, baskets, kachinas, weavings, beadwork and toys--during the Intertribal Marketplace, Friday through next Sunday at the Southwest Museum. Entertainment includes Plains, Pueblo and Apache dancers and Native American music. Free with museum admission. Information: (213) 221-2164.

EVENTS: A dozen interior murals from the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s will be visited Nov. 14 during a Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles all-day bus tour, guided by Robin Dunitz. Highlights include Hugo Ballin’s biblical depiction inside the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, works by Anthony Heinsbergen in the downtown Broadway theater district, and murals in Chinatown, St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral and the Terminal Annex Post Office. Tickets are $20 and advance reservations are necessary: (310) 470-8864.

Barnsdall Park’s Junior Arts Center celebrates its 25th birthday with a reunion on Saturday from 7:30-11:30 p.m. All past students, teachers, parents, staff and anyone interested in the center’s programs are invited to attend the free wine and dessert party which will include music, dancing and a silent auction of works by alumni including George Herms, Frank Romero, Eric Orr, Joe Fay and Matthew Thomas. Proceeds go to the center’s free “Sunday Open Sunday” art workshops. Information: (213) 660-3362.

Eight-five artists from Claremont, Pomona and Upland open their studio doors Saturday and next Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. during the Fringe Valley Studio Tours. Tickets are $10 and benefit the upcoming Fringe of the Fringe Arts Festival ’93. Information: (714) 397-9716.

EDUCATION: Latino artist and muralist George Yepes will begin the Academia de Arte Yepes, a free art training program for 10- to 18-year-olds. Designed for students who have excelled in their school art programs, the program will produce a series of portable murals to be donated to several nonprofit groups. Funded by the California Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts, the program is coordinated through Salesian High School. Applications are due by Nov. 9. Information: (213) 261-7124.

POLITICS: Jenny Holzer, Cindy Sherman, William Wegman, Nancy Spero, Leon Golub and Jim Dine are among those participating in “16 Artists for Freedom of Expression,” a nationwide fund-raiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Women’s Council, which is aiming to elect 10 women candidates running for U.S. Senate. Each artist has produced a limited edition for the benefit priced from $350 for Carrie Mae Weems’ commemorative plate to $2,500 for Roy Lichtenstein’s silkscreen, “The Oval Office.” Information: (212) 226-3232.

Sue Spaid Gallery is getting into the election fray with an election-night opening party featuring photographer Larry Hammerness’ first solo exhibition, “Which One?” The red, white and blue invitation invites gallery-goers to “come by ‘after you vote’ and make some more choices about what you want and what you don’t want from images, not from our government.” The show acts on the premise that voting is done with one’s dollar, and offers 840 $10 photographic images in postcard racks and record bins. Hammerness asks viewers to “vote” by selecting images that match their own tastes. The gallery will then tally the “votes” weekly to see if buyers’s selections are influenced by those who have already made their choices. Information: (213) 935-6153.

PERSONNEL: Catherine Rudinsky is the new executive director of ARTS Inc. Rudinsky, who previously was the service organization’s associate director, replaces founding director Mark Anderson, who resigned to do consulting work for clients including the National Endowment for the Arts.

Richard Koshalek, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, has been named to the Venice Biennale’s international arts advisory board, making him the only U.S. representative on the six-member board. The next Biennale is planned for June 6-Oct. 3, 1993.

Richard Armstrong, former curator at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art (now the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego) and part of the 1980 committee that planned Los Angeles’ MOCA, has been appointed curator of contemporary art at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, where he will organize the 52nd Carnegie International in 1995. Armstrong most recently served as curator of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art.

AWARDS: Los Angeles artist Betye Saar has received the 1992 James Van Der Zee Award for artistic excellence and for advancing opportunities for culturally diverse young artists. Also receiving the national award named after the late photographer noted for his documentation of Harlem life, was artist John Biggers of Houston. In addition, L.A. art historian Samella S. Lewis received a lifetime achievement award for her study of African and African-American art history.