ART/LA92: Not Exactly Business as Usual : Annual Exhibition Goes On, But It Bears Scars of the Recession

Trying to get a handle on ART/LA92 is like looking at a challenging piece of art: you have to consider what’s before you . . . and what’s not.

The seventh annual international exhibition and sale of contemporary art, which opens tonight with a preview party, boasts 100 exhibitors from 15 countries. L.A. Louver Gallery’s booth features work by David Hockney, who tonight will receive the fair’s award for outstanding contributions to the art community. Another spotlight will fall on Austrian art, in an exhibition organized by Lorand Hegyi, the highly respected director of Vienna’s Museum of Modern Art, and in eight booths stocked by Austrian dealers.

And the fair includes “LAXtension,” a 3,500-square-foot installation of objects and text by 56 artists, which is part of “LAX: The Los Angeles Exhibition,” a citywide show that opens this week at seven museums and galleries. A BMW 740i painted by Los Angeles artist Patssi Valdez and on display at the Convention Center offers a colorful reminder that BMW of North America Inc. is the corporate sponsor of “LAX” and “LAXtension.”

Advance publicity of all this activity suggests that this year’s fair is business as usual. But ART/LA92 bears scars of the recession, which has deflated the art market, forced the closure of dozens of galleries and caused survivors to cut expenses.

Problems were obvious last year, when the number of exhibitors at the fair fell to 100 from a peak of 170 in 1987, and attendance fell to 24,300 from 29,500 in 1989. This year’s event has sustained additional losses. The “100 international galleries” advertised in a 1992 fair brochure include about a dozen publishers, private dealers and service providers such as insurance brokers and appraisers.

More significantly, the fair’s steady loss of prestigious galleries has accelerated. New York representation has always been sparse, but it once included such powerhouses as Castelli, Marlborough and Nancy Hoffman galleries. This year there’s only one New York gallery, Berman-E.N., which specializes in contemporary Russian art. Foreign exhibitors number 35, but there is a dearth of big names.

Among Southern California participants, well-established galleries such as Cirrus, Gemini G.E.L., Koplin, Tobey C. Moss and Ovsey have returned. But private dealers and upstart galleries that would have been rejected in previous years have replaced such mainline establishments as the Margo Leavin, Dorothy Goldeen and Linda Cathcart galleries.

A 25% discount rate in the $28-per-square-foot booth rental fee, offered last summer to exhibitors who signed up early and paid a $1,000 deposit, gave the fair a crucial push. But 25 of the 71 dealers who responded to the promotional offer have pulled out.

Fair organizer Andry Montgomery Ca. Inc. (a branch of the London-based Andry Montgomery Group) is coping with these hard realities by promoting ART/LA92 as a cutting-edge event that “marks an era of new art prices and welcomes exciting new talent.”

Art fairs, which proliferated during the ‘80s art market boom, have fallen on hard times all around the world, causing speculation that these international extravaganzas are doomed. But ART/LA92 director Brian Angel argues that fairs are simply being redesigned to meet the demands of a new market.

“I feel that art fairs have reached a watershed,” Angel said. “The pattern of fairs being dominated by the high end of contemporary art has given way to a broader spread of art that will appeal to a new audience.” As it develops a new identity, Los Angeles’ fair will offer a forum for “the work of younger artists and emerging talent. And this is to be welcomed,” he said. “We have always wanted Los Angeles to be more than a cipher of what is seen in Chicago, Basel and Paris. We want the fair to be indigenous to the locale and reflect the spirit of new art.”

Art fairs can be expected to develop “more of an individual character” as they search for a new niche, Angel said. On the other hand, there is “an inherent danger as the recession continues that fairs might become less interesting if they fail to attract international representation,” he said. But Angel noted that about 40% of this year’s exhibitors are from other countries.

Austria and Britain, with eight galleries apiece, have the largest representation among foreign exhibitors. The reason is no mystery. While the Austrians benefited from the support of their government, British dealers took advantage of a special package offered by the fair. For about $7,500, a dealer could get a round-trip flight on Virgin Airlines from London to Los Angeles, accommodation for seven nights at the Biltmore Hotel, a 200-square-foot booth at the fair and pick-up, shipping and delivery of artworks. Similar packages were not offered in Europe, but they may be in the future, Angel said.

And, yes, there will be a future for the Los Angeles fair, he said. Next year’s event is already booked into the Convention Center’s new facility in early December.

As for 1992, fair organizers are hoping that the art crowd will respond to the new price of tickets at tonight’s preview party--down from a peak of $150 in the fair’s early days to this year’s price of $35 in advance (through Ticketmaster) and $45 at the door.

The celebration, from 6-10 p.m., will begin with a presentation of the fair’s Los Angeles International Art Award to British artist David Hockney. He will be honored for his artistic achievement and support of organizations that “confront the international AIDS crisis,” Angel said.

Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles’ premier printmaking studio, will be honored on its 25th anniversary.

As the fair proceeds from Thursday through Sunday, a series of panel discussions and talks by artists, collectors and curators will be offered. Painter John Valadez will launch the series on Thursday at 1 p.m. A panel discussion of four Austrian artists, moderated by museum director Lorand Hegyi will follow at 2:30 p.m.

* ART/LA92, Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa. Public hours: Thursday and Friday, noon-7 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m.; Sunday, noon-6 p.m. Daily admission $12 at the door, $8 advance purchase through Ticketmaster or at the door for students, seniors and museum members with ID. Two tickets for the price of one $12 ticket available at the door, noon-2 p.m. daily and after 5 p.m. Saturday. Recorded information: (213) 688-ARTS. Additional details: (310) 271-3200.

* BANKING ON ART

Artists use an empty bank building for an alternative to ART/LA92. F4