Angel Feud : Rift Over High-Rise’s ‘Unity’ Mural Develops as Viewers Say Faces Show Anglo Bias

The artwork hidden beneath the cloth in the West’s tallest skyscraper would become Los Angeles’ “new symbol of ethnic diversity and harmony . . . a symbol for our city,” officials promised.

African-American, Latino and Asian-American schoolchildren stepped forward and pulled cords to unveil the 90-foot-wide mural.

But when the invited guests in the lobby of the 73-story First Interstate World Center looked up Wednesday evening, they saw three white angels.

The female figures, two blondes and a brunette, were hovering about 20 feet above the polished marble lobby floor in the $500,000 mural, titled “Unity.”

There was a brief moment of silence, then applause from the crowd that minutes earlier had heard the mural described as an expression of a unified Los Angeles, a “city of many cultures.”

“We commissioned this long before last year’s painful events,” said Robert F. Maguire III, managing partner of the company that built and owns the high-rise. “We think it is a wonderful symbol of diversity and, ultimately, unity.”

To those left scratching their heads as to how the three white figures “depict L.A.’s past, present and future,” as a company statement put it, Maguire explained that the center angel combined symbols from many cultures that have made up Los Angeles since its early days.

A gold-colored part of the backdrop represents an ancient Mexican deity, a mahogany headpiece was inspired by Nigerian masks, the angel’s wings represented American Indians’ bald eagle, and a banner was adapted from a 10th-Century Buddhist painting.

Chains that roped off the lobby Wednesday night were gone Thursday morning when the skyscrapers 4,000 workers filed in. Many who stopped to inspect the artwork that they have been waiting three years to view were shocked by what they saw.

“When I first walked in I thought to myself: ‘There they go again. The world is white,’ ” said Bernette Hubbard, a secretary who lives in Inglewood.

Office worker Robin Chow of Baldwin Hills asked: “I don’t see Asians or blacks. I just see three white angels. How does this depict our diversity?”

Real estate banker Steve Dorian of Encino scoffed at the “Unity” label. “I see three white people and each one of them is looking a different way,” he said.

“I’m sure there are ways to really show the diversity of L.A. Does this do it? No,” said another banker, Luis Rojas of Alhambra.

But James Anderson had a different view when he stopped in the lobby on his way to lunch. He is a vice president of Maguire Thomas Partners, owners of the West 5th Street skyscraper. He oversaw the commissioning of artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid to fulfill a city requirement for public art in new downtown developments.

He said Komar and Melamid, Russian immigrants who live in New York, were chosen for the project from a list of 120 artists after a plan to hire local artist David Hockney fell through.

Anderson said the pair picked the images, theme and name for the work. He said the angels are based on European Renaissance angels painted in an Italian chapel from which Los Angeles’ name is drawn.

“They are 12th-Century angels. You can’t depart from that,” he said.

Anderson predicted that visitors to the high-rise will understand the theme if they read a small plaque that explains the center angel’s backdrop. It is attached to a wall behind the huge mural.

Others were not so sure.

“I don’t think most people passing through this lobby will take the time tostudy it,” said Marcus Torrano, a lawyer who works in a nearby high-rise who stopped in to look at the mural.

Linda Poverny, a USC professor of social work who is an expert on cultural diversityand the workplace, said the mural probably will never accomplish what it sets out to do if the artwork does not communicate its message.

“There are plenty of other images they could have used if the message is multiculturalism. I’m a little shocked myself,” Poverny said.

USC colleague Martin Krieger, an authority on ethnicity and ethics and professor of urban planning, said the Russian artists may not have fully grasped Los Angeles’ culture.

“In Russia, ethnic minorities look the same. The differences are seen in their language,” Krieger said.

The artists were defended by Mickey Gustin, arts planner for the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which signed off on “Unity” through the public art donation requirement.

“There is not a requirement that they hire local artists,” Gustin said. “I love the work. I think it’s marvelous.”

Komar and Melamid said they tuned in to the oddities and agonies of their adopted country when they started the project. In December they told The Times that while the side angels would essentially be Renaissance images, the central figure would personify America’s melting pot.

They may have anticipated controversy, however.

In the future, Melamid told the unveiling’s crowd, “I hope all of our (public) art is as strange as the city in which it’s placed.”