Upstarts Invigorate Art Scene : 1992 THE YEAR IN REVIEW. O.C. Art: Some Were Cautious, Some Were Clever

Call it “The Year of the Upstart” in Orange County art. While some well-known institutions offered cautious, confused or vacuous programming, other venues cut loose and got clever. (And please don’t heap all your blame for the negative portion of that assessment on the disastrous economy; I’ll buy that only if you can prove to me that it costs more to think creatively and credit the viewing public with some smarts and a healthy dose of attitude.)

At Newport Harbor Art Museum--once a nationally celebrated place to see cutting-edge contemporary art and notable modern-art exhibits curated by a savvy staff--safe, middle-of-the-road taste has gained the high ground. So is a new view of the museum--propounded by director Michael Botwinick--as a sort of educational farm team for first-time viewers befuddled by the art routinely shown at such “majors” as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

This year, Newport Harbor’s better shows came prepackaged from other museums, while the biggest flop--”Both Art and Life: Gemini at 25,” the kind of content-free, blue chip-studded exhibit that comes into being mainly to pat print collectors on the back--was curated by Botwinick (in collaboration with Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum curatorial consultant Mark Rosenthal).

At the Bowers Museum, reopened with a blaze of publicity in October after renovation, an information-free “survey” of thousands of years of Chinese art (borrowed from a vanity museum in Taipei) and a blindly, blandly sunny-side-up installation of historical Orange County do-dads were distinct disappointments. Even an intriguing, elegantly showcased display of gold from the Museo del Oro in Bogota, Colombia, was marred by historical vagueness and a lack of sensitivity in dealing with the issue of gold as a symbol of colonial greed and the exploitation of indigenous peoples.

Meanwhile, the Laguna Art Museum--the laughingstock of the contemporary-art crowd just a few years ago--had a banner year. Not only did it organize or borrow some of the most sparkling, offbeat shows seen in these parts, but it also has begun to shape a profile for itself as a casually hip destination for art-related events other than lectures (welcome as those are) or standard big-ticket bashes.

One case in point was the performance last month in one of the galleries by Los Angeles artist Llyn Foulkes, hamming it up on a bizarre musical contraption he invented. More like a loft party minus intoxicants than an institutional event, the evening treat suited visitors who sat on the floor and lingered afterward to shoot the breeze and listen to snatches of holiday songs.

Among smaller institutions, the Fine Arts Gallery at UC Irvine remained the preeminent showcase for frankly political art. If some of these exhibits were on the dry side, the gallery redeemed itself last fall with “Painting Culture,” a group of strong-minded, vivid paintings by 10 women artists challenging the status quo.

An anti-Columbus Quincentenary exhibit and performance--Guillermo Gomez Pena and Coco Fusco’s “The Year of the White Bear,” in which the artists impersonated caged natives exhibited to the public like zoo creatures--proved more successful as a bizarre conversation piece than as sophisticated commentary. But the sheer presence of this willfully iconoclastic “living” work of art in the smugly NIMBY city of Irvine was invigorating.

In November, the gallery lost a key staff member when Phyllis Lutjeans--curator and nonpareil instructor in the art of exhibition installation--took early retirement. Lutjeans’ many previous roles in the Orange County art scene included a key appearance in “TV Hijack,” a 1972 performance piece by Chris Burden; several positions at Newport Harbor Art Museum; and co-ownership (with two partners) of TLK, a Costa Mesa art gallery that flourished briefly in the early ‘80s.

But Lutjeans won’t be exactly in seclusion next year, what with plans to teach a spring UCI Extension course on art collecting and her new invitation-only art discussion series, the Art Crowd, which meets monthly at her home.

Last year, the Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University in Orange was the place to find enigmatic new work by thoughtful Southern California artists. Sure, it wasn’t all memorable--or even decipherable--but it was always worth checking out.

The best Guggenheim exhibit in ’92 contained only one piece: Ann Preston’s “Expulsion” doorway, an archway of zinc-coated fiberglass embossed with sexually ambiguous bulbous figures whose activities tacitly questioned the moral direction of human evolution.

Also at Chapman, a group of artists who call themselves Project X devised a wryly practical solution to the proverbial problem of so much art, so little space/money/curatorial time. For “The First Show,” they bypassed the normal curatorial route and simply put their stuff on display together with an eccentric newsprint “catalogue.”

Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana has a worthy exhibition program, too, but the most distinctive public aspect of the art department is Art Forum, the series of noon lectures given each Monday. This year program adviser Mike McGee corralled speakers as diverse as performance artist Rachel Rosenthal (who used her allotted time for an extremist ecological harangue) and ultra-conservative Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R--Garden Grove).

Even the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton broke away from its blandly middle-of-the-road habits with a couple of unlikely contenders. “World News: Artists Respond to International Events,” curated by artist Kim Abeles, was a huge, uneven group of works dealing with issues surrounding the Persian Gulf War. “Personal Inventory: Nick Vaughn/Ellen T. Birrell,” curated by Marilu Knode, presented elegant installations of conceptual, photography-based work that demands considerable work from viewers.

The main event at the Irvine Fine Arts Center in ’92 was Tim Jahn’s “Imperfect Order,” an exhibition that explored the tension between order and chaos in our lives and minds. With its fresh outlook, intelligent brochure and an artist roster that included Buzz Spector and major L.A. upstart Tim Hawkinson, the show was a quantum leap above what we tend to think of as community art center fare.

On the Orange County commercial gallery scene--about which this column normally maintains a deep silence, in lieu of yawning or making rude noises--a new, tiny, out-of-the-way space cleared its throat with an exhibit of the deliberately, hysterically inept work of New York artist William Anthony. Even though it’s in Laguna Beach, Stuart Katz’s Loft proceeds as though there just might be people out there interested in something other than seascapes, mindless designer chic, Eurotrash and sappy stuff for nostalgia buffs.

Although several galleries folded this year in Orange County, the only one I mourn is the non-commercial 9,000-square-foot showcase that opened in 1989 in the regional headquarters of Security Pacific Bank. As a result of the merger with BankAmerica last spring, the exhibition program has changed, and curator Mark Johnstone has lost his job.

The good news is that the space is showing selections from the huge combined art collection of both banks. But I’ll miss the constant influx of new work by Southern California artists Johnstone assembled from his indefatigable studio visits. Although his brochure essays often failed adequately to define or delve into the exhibit themes, and his art choices could be mystifyingly uneven, on a yearly basis he brought in a lot of good work by artists rarely or never seen in Orange County.

This is the job that Newport Harbor should be performing on a regular basis, particularly in view of the big pool of terrifically exciting young artists who live in Southern California. Instead, the “New California Artists” series (small exhibits of recent work by fledgling artists) quietly turned into the “New California Art “ series last year, opening the door to exhibits of new art by established artists.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but why change the focus now , of all times, when the alternative and “nomad” galleries in Los Angeles are showing heaps of good work by unknowns? Wouldn’t a cluster of well-documented mini-exhibits of such work be an inexpensive way to enliven the exhibition schedule?

After assistant curator Marilu Knode--whose taste ran to lesser-known conceptual artists--fell victim to the first of two devastating rounds of staff layoffs last year, chief curator Bruce Guenther took over the series. He is rumored to have a clear preference for one-stop exhibit shopping at established galleries, in lieu of visiting artists’ studios. (Guenther himself denies the charge--voiced by observers in Seattle and Chicago, where he worked previously--but so far, he hasn’t offered tangible proof to the contrary.)

Finally, the best news on the public art front is yet to be: indoor and outdoor works for the Anaheim Arena, a $103-million indoor sports and entertainment complex scheduled to open this summer. The $540,000 art budget will pay five artists--chosen last year--including New York light wizard Keith Sonnier and international video innovator Nam June Paik.

As far as completed projects were concerned, ’92 was a dismal year in both quantity and quality. In Brea, hallowed ground for wretched public art, the 100th Art in Public Places sculpture, “The Wildcat,” was unveiled last summer at Olinda High School. Grrr.

In Laguna Beach, Tom Askman’s silly, toy-like bronze cone fountain (a ridiculous idea, anyhow, so close to the ocean) was installed in front of City Hall, where it promptly became a handy foot-washer for beach-goers.

Another recent Laguna Beach project that also foolishly incorporates water is “Laguna Water Wall”--DeWayne Valentine’s wimpy sculpture outside the Surf and Sand Hotel. The laminated glass wedge hardly lives up to the serenely lovely oceanside view. What a relief to see the city’s prospectus for yet another seaside public art project, in Fred Lang Park, specifically rule out a water element.

And what a relief to kiss poor old empty-pockets ’92 goodby . . . that was a kiss, wasn’t it?

Home-Grown: Best Staff-Curated Show of the Year

“Proof: Los Angeles Art and the Photograph, 1960-1980,” curated by Charles Desmarais, director of the Laguna Art Museum. The first comprehensive look at a stimulating range of art in L.A. that pointed out how photographs lie all the time.

Best Imported Exhibit

“The Devil on the Stairs: Looking Back on the Eighties,” at Newport Harbor Art Museum. Organized for the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, by Robert Storr (now curator of contemporary art at the Museum of Modern Art in New York) in collaboration with Judith Tannenbaum, associate director of the ICA. A personal look at certain prevailing attitudes that colored the highly disparate art of the past decade.

Other Exhibits of Note

* “Painting Culture” at the Fine Arts Gallery, UC Irvine. Vivid, sociopolitical zingers in paint on canvas by 10 women artists, organized by Deborah Kass, a New York painter.

* “Thrift Store Art” at the Laguna Art Museum’s South Coast Plaza satellite. Artist Jim Shaw’s amazing, amusing gallery of amateur art.

* “I Thought California Would Be Different” at the Laguna Art Museum. Sharp works by younger artists, acquired for the permanent collection.

* “Ralph Eugene Meatyard: American Visionary” at Newport Harbor Art Museum. A retrospective survey organized by the Akron (Ohio) Art Museum that reveals Meatyard as a photographer able to conjure up secret currents of the psyche.

* “Jackie Winsor,” at Newport Harbor Art Museum, organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum. A sober 20-year survey of work by an artist who added her own sense of mystery and metaphor to minimalist sculpture.

* “the frame: multiplied and extended,” organized by Mark Johnstone, curator at the now-defunct Security Pacific Gallery. An invigorating survey of works by 23 American artists who each incorporate a series of separate objects or images to tell a story, set a mood or make a point.

Writing It Down: Best Catalogue Produced by a Museum

“Proof: Los Angeles Art and the Photograph,” by Charles Desmarais, director, Laguna Art Museum. Clear, informative, well-researched and almost too modest about pressing the author’s own ideas.

Writing It Down: Best Catalogue Produced by a Smaller Gallery

“Bedroom Eyes: Room With a View,” Cal State Fullerton exhibit dealing with the complex socio-politics of bedroom activities, curated by Patricia L. Watts, with an essay by Buzz Spector. Good thoughts, good design, great idea for a show.

So Whose Idea Was That?

Newport Harbor Art Museum’s temporary outpost at a Fashion Island storefront last summer, a ploy to attract more paying guests to the Black-and-White Ball fund-raiser, came as a most unwelcome surprise. Using the collection as a marketing tool--only black-and-white works were on display--trivialized and misappropriated the art, the museum’s chief reason for being. Inane label copy didn’t help matters.

Friendship, the Perfect Blendship?

Newport Harbor Art Museum and the Laguna Art Museum shared a couple of things this year (besides fund-raising headaches). One was a welcome joint policy of staying open evenings during the summer. The other was a much-ballyhooed joint exhibit of videotapes by Skip Arnold--part of the L.A. Freewaves video festival--that consisted of just two tapes, a different one playing in the lobby of each museum. Next time, guys, how about putting a little more effort into the project and moving repetitive, noisy work out of the lobby in deference to your front desk staffs?

Speak to Me, Tell Me Something New (Best Lectures)

* Robert Storr, curator of contemporary art at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on art of the ‘80s at Newport Harbor Art Museum. He chooses art with a superb eye and keen intelligence, he writes elegantly, he lectures without a trace of cant or pomposity. How come we can’t get him to work here? (Just kidding.)

* Los Angeles painter Kim Dingle in the Art Forum lecture series at Rancho Santiago College. Her off-the-cuff remarks offered a hilarious and meaningful look at the view from inside one artist’s head.

* Los Angeles artist Allan Sekula discussing his own and other photography-based work (some of which is included in the exhibit, “Proof: Los Angeles Art and the Photograph”) in the “Good Morning Laguna” series at the Laguna Art Museum. A laser-like intelligence honing in on the question of truth and the photographic image made for an extraordinarily challenging and compelling hour.