Joel Wachs Draws the Art Vote : Politics: The mayoral candidate appears to be cashing in on his extensive involvement with the art community.

Of the 52 candidates for mayor of Los Angeles, only one--City Coucilman Joel Wachs--counts the art community as a major source of support. And his mayoral campaign reaches well beyond Southern California. A coast-to-coast spate of fund-raisers for Wachs includes everything from cocktail parties sponsored by Los Angeles’ cultural movers and shakers to a gathering of New York artists in a TriBeCa restaurant.

The art world is not known for taking a collaborative interest in local political races, but Wachs is making the most of what he sees as a strong advocacy group. “Everyone who runs for public office goes to their strength when they need support. I went to the art community,” Wachs said. “These are people I know--artists, dealers, collectors, patrons--people I thought could help, people who believe in me. I began to call them, and they said yes.”

Indeed, so many art-world people have said yes to Wachs that several fund-raisers already have taken place and others are in the works. “They range from inexpensive parties to $1,000-a-plate dinners. A lot of artists are doing things, too, and this is only the beginning,” said Wachs, whose competition in the April 20 election to succeed Mayor Tom Bradley includes fellow Council members Michael Woo, Ernani Bernardi and Nate Holden, millionaire businessman Richard J. Riordan, state Assemblyman Richard Katz and Bradley’s former deputy mayor Linda Griego.

About half of the $300,000 raised for Wachs’ campaign so far has come from the art community. “I started later than some of the other candidates,” said Wachs, who represents a district in the San Fernando Valley. “We’re just getting organized, but there are about 15 fund-raisers planned for the next six weeks and about half of them are sponsored by people in the arts. The art community is by far the group that gives me the most support.”

A long-time art collector and arts advocate, Wachs spearheaded the Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts in 1988 and chaired the advisory board of ART/LA91, the 1991 version of the annual contemporary art fair at the Convention Center. Now he appears to be cashing in on his extensive involvement with the art community.

“Joel is one person in the art field who has been involved with collectors, art institutions and the politics of art,” said Frederick M. Nicholas, chairman of the board at the Museum of Contemporary Art. “He is a great collector himself, he is on the board of MOCA and he is responsible for the city’s arts endowment, so we all support Joel.”

The fund-raising events began in mid-November with a dinner sponsored by art dealer Ruth Bloom, her husband, entertainment attorney Jake Bloom, and collectors Robert and Linda Gersh, which raised about $20,000. More recently, Nicholas, MOCA board member Lenore Greenberg and television producer Douglas Cramer, who is president of MOCA’s board, have hosted parties for Wachs.

If backing from Los Angeles’ moneyed art crowd is to be expected, Wachs’ support from artists is highly unusual. Many local artists are political activists who rally behind causes--such as support for AIDS research and facilities--but their support for a mayoral candidate seems to be unprecedented.

Among other projects, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Sam Francis and David Hockney have designed prints to be published at Gemini G.E.L. and sold for $1,000 apiece to benefit the campaign. The prints, which will be available in a week or so, will be presented at a reception at Gemini on Feb. 17. And several artists, including Alexis Smith and John Baldessari, are creating unique items for a $75-ticket party and auction at the Margo Leavin Gallery on March 6.

“Joel is a good friend of the arts. I would like to help him have a chance to lead the city,” Leavin said. When Wachs solicited her help, she conferred with other dealers who saw an opportunity to raise their profile while doing a good turn for the councilman.

“We decided to make it a West Hollywood event, and we wanted to make it fun,” Leavin said. Dealers Pat Faure, Rosamund Felsen, Kiyo Higashi, Jan Kesner, Burnett Miller, Jan Turner and Gemini G.E.L. have joined Leavin in selling tickets and preparing for the party. Art patrons Donald and Phyllis Epstein, Gil Garfield and Lewis Baskerville also have given major support to the event, Leavin said.

Meanwhile, the Wachs bandwagon has also traveled to New York, where artist Christopher Wool has designed big black-and-white campaign buttons. The buttons, which are being handmade by homeless people as part of a New York employment program, will be sold for $10 apiece in art galleries.

Among other events, a $50-ticket fund-raiser at Barocco Restaurant in TriBeCa recently brought in about $6,000 from New York’s downtown art crowd. A far more expensive affair, priced at $500 per person, is planned for Feb. 7 at the loft of publisher Gabriella De Ferrari and Raymond Learsy, a major art collector and trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art. The party, called “Artists Cook/You Eat/For Wachs,” features a meal created by 13 well-known artists including Robert Gober, Peter Halley, Sherrie Levine and Terry Winters.

Manhattan might seem rather far afield for a Los Angeles mayoral campaign. Not so, according to artist Gary Stephen, who helped to promote the Barocco party and came up with the idea for “Artists Cook.” Wachs has a strong constituency in New York “because he knows so many people and is so knowledgeable about the arts,” he said.

To make the point, Stephen offered an anecdote: “I remember one night when I was having dinner with a group of artists, and Joel was there. The conversation was rolling along as it usually does with artists, and suddenly I realized that Joel was so comfortable with our language we had forgotten he isn’t one of us. I could count on one hand the number of collectors like that. As for politicians, he’s probably the only one.”