CRYSTAL COURT : Galleries Reveal a World of Modern Art in Elegant Mall Setting

Crystal Court, the western annex of South Coast Plaza, is a design showcase in brass, tile and rich woods, and I’d venture that there isn’t a more elegant mall in the entire world.

December is the liveliest month in a shopping mall, as the three-story Santa in Crystal Court’s atrium lobby attests. But there is an even more compelling reason to come here: four galleries that take shoppers and browsers on an amazingly diverse journey through the world of modern art. Almost everything on display in these galleries is for sale, at prices ranging from pocket change to a small fortune. But it doesn’t cost you a cent to look.

11 to 11:30: No one makes crystal and art glass quite like the Swedish. The best of it is on display at Galleri Orrefors and Kosta Boda, on the ground floor near the escalators.

Here you can see hundreds of pieces: handblown goblets, vases painted to resemble cats, intricately faced punch bowls and glassworks in all sizes and shapes done by individual artists with their own personal styles. Colors and designs are astounding. Kosta Boda is the more avant-garde of the two. Orrefors, which dates from the 18th Century, tends toward more classical designs. Ask for the free pamphlet explaining various techniques such as cutting, overlay and engraving, or watch the gallery’s fascinating video depicting how the artisans actually work. They don’t call this place the Crystal Court for nothing.

11:30 to noon: Up on the second floor, next to Robinson’s, is the fascinating Schaffner Gallery of Holography. Holography is a complex technique created by laser beams that bend light and give the viewer the illusion of looking at three-dimensional images. These images often change appearance, depending on the angle from which they are viewed. Don’t try to figure out how. “You don’t buy a TV because you understand how it works,” says gallery owner David Schaffner.

Schaffner offers a multicolored madhouse of images: Dizzy Gillespie playing his trumpet, a Russian “fish dragon” shimmering through emulsified glass, Chinese wooden horses on the gallop, the 1987 Playmate of the Year. Most of them jump right out at you. He also hawks little trinkets and novelties, such things as holographic watches, pendants, earrings and toys. Toys start at $5. The holograms are from $40 to $15,000.

Noon to 1 p.m.: Crystal Court is blessed with good eating--Ruby’s Diner and the wonderful Bangkok IV, for example--but for a casual lunch it’s hard to beat Spiga, a dignified siena- and brown-colored trattoria smack in the middle of the first-floor atrium lobby.

A smoldering wood fire burns nonstop in the brick pizza oven. The display case is still full of wonderful desserts, and the cookies and coffees are terrific. The restaurant has a list of specials daily--hearty peasant-style soups, pizzas served on a wooden plank, and chewy risottos. Designer pastas include gnocchi panna e pesto, potato flour dumplings in a pesto cream sauce, angel hair with pureed zucchini and artful cannelloni, long, narrow tubes filled with aromatically spiced, minced veal.

1 to 1:30: Up on the third level is the Susan Spiritus Gallery, Orange County’s leading commercial gallery for fine art photography, representing such famous photographers as Ansel Adams, Yousuf Karsh, Robert Doisneau and Imogen Cunningham. You’ll be surprised at how many of these photos you recognize. Most are framed. There is also a handsome selection of art postcards and glossy coffee-table photography books to consider, should an original Adams snap of Yosemite fall outside your budget. The gallery is featuring the unique hand-colored photographs of Dar Spain. Don’t wait too long for a visit; the gallery is soon planning to move.

1:30 to 2: Walk back toward the center of the mall and you’ll see the Works Gallery, a handsome, airy space specializing in the contemporary art of California, in a wide variety of media emphasizing light and space. Many of the best known of our contemporary artists surface here, names such as Billy Al Bengston, Laddie John Dill and Larry Bell. The main room features one-man shows that change about 10 times per year. The annex houses an intriguing collection of about 40 paintings and sculptures. The gallery also publishes a newsletter, event calendar and provides lectures.