Graceful Sculptures Convey Artist’s Enjoyment of Their Creation

If there were ever sculptures that trumpeted the delight their creator had in making them, it is the wood, metal and plastic artworks of Dutch-born artist and inventor Jan de Swart (1908-1987).

They come with names like “Magic Cube,” “Wizard’s Workplace” and “Tunisian Evening.” Hidden drawers emerge from the sensuous curves of wood boxes. Doors of small cabinets open to reveal sleek interior carvings, intriguing partitions, or possibly a piece of jewelry. Fancifully textured works in aluminum or bronze may twirl around to surprise the viewer with a wholly different surface.

From the early 1940s until his death, de Swart lived in a simple bungalow-style house--dubbed “Allegro”--on a hilltop in Eagle Rock with his wife, Ursula. In a workshop separate from the house and surrounded by a garden filled with his sculptures, he sequestered himself to contemplate and create inventions for industry and his graceful, joyous artworks.

As an artist who had little interest in selling his work and no interest in exhibiting it in galleries, he kept most of it in his house. He made his living doing commissions for architects and inventing such things as fasteners and joint seals for aircraft, appliance shelves and doors and innovative container tops used in food and medicine packaging.

Last year, after Ursula’s death, the de Swarts’ son, Jock, sold the house, and took his father’s art to a warehouse. One can now see an exhibit of more than 30 sculptures at the Louis Newman Galleries. Most of the works on view were made between 1961 and 1979.

“I consider Jan de Swart one of those great cultural treasures in Southern California who is often overlooked,” said Louis Newman, the gallery director. “I have wonderful feelings about the work. His innovative point of view and approach to non-traditional materials--cast aluminum, plastics and concrete--are particular to Southern California, both in the craftsman and fine art traditions. He obviously had a deep involvement with materials.”

Along with the plastic “Magic Cube,” the wood “Tunisian Evening” cabinet and the wood “Wizard’s Workplace,” one will find the inner workings of a revolving, cast aluminum “Egg Head.” It swivels atop a stand or fits nicely within it. “Two Heads,” made of wood, seem to bob happily along together.

The presence of the wood “Key Box” changes considerably when its center is removed. “Moroccan,” a three-foot tall Indian-like figure sculpted from Brazilian rosewood, comes complete with a head scarf.

An orphan since he was 11 years old, de Swart’s design and art career really began with his employment in the studio of a famous carver of liturgical sculpture in Holland when he was 15. In 1929, he left Holland for the United States, determined to come to California. During his early years in Los Angeles, he worked for an Italian furniture maker, and renewed his study in Holland of new materials such as plastic.

“He was not taken up with popular currents. He was not creating art objects for the purpose of being in museums,” Newman said. “He worked in a personal way and had a personal vision for creating beautiful and very mysterious objects for individuals to enhance their everyday environments.”

“Jan de Swart: A California Visionary,” is open 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, through May 27, at Louis Newman Galleries, 322 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. Call (310) 278-6311.

FUNCTIONAL ART: Everyone’s invited to come in and sit for awhile at the fifth annual “Chair as Art” show, on view at the Gallery of Functional Art. Gallery director Lois Lambert said the whole idea of the exhibit “is to show as many views as we possibly can.”

There is something here to suit almost anybody’s taste. Bruce Gray puts a spin on the director’s chair by fashioning it in steel fabric. For those who prefer color in their chairs, there is Marlo Bartels’ tile chair or Jon Bok’s olive oil can chairs made from attractive olive oil cans, bottle tops, keys and locks.

Joel Stearn’s cool-looking cardboard rocker is not recommended for short people unless they don’t mind dangling their legs. The charming, solidly made willow chair by Clifton Monteith, who Lambert said has been recognized as the most important willow artist, would be a better fit for them.

The fan-like backs of Derek Davis’ chairs are elegant, yet humorous with their quirky legs. One can’t help but be amused at Phil Garner’s “Futurustic” vibrator chair, James McDemas’ ironing board chair, Djordje Krstic’s foldable phone chair with built-in phone, and Johanna O. Goodman’s painted canvas, not entirely recognizable, chair likenesses of Eleanor Roosevelt and Frida Kahlo.

“Chair as Art” is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays through June 12 at Gallery of Functional Art, 2429 Main St., Santa Monica. Call (310) 450-2827.

THEN AND NOW: The L. A. Art Assn. and MOCA’s outreach education program, First Visit and Beyond, have collaborated to present one of the more compelling exhibits that muse on life in Los Angeles since last year’s riots.

“Then Becoming Now,” organized by Richard Campbell and Camille O’Leary of the L. A. association and Bob Kitzmiller and Lana Norton of MOCA’s Education Department, presents 76 artworks in a variety of media by association artists and participants in the museum’s First Visit and Beyond program. In that program, museum staff members conduct eight sessions at community sites, leading workshops designed to introduce contemporary art and MOCA to diverse audiences. Participants ranging from elementary-school-age children to adults have opportunities to create their own artworks. They also tour the museum.

Artists represented in “Then Becoming Now” vary in age from 16 to the late 80s and come from diverse backgrounds and areas of the city. While the show gives them an opportunity to express their feelings, several interactive works also allow viewers to make their feelings known. Among them is Clement Hanami’s “World Record” (pronounced ree-cord), a video installation project tucked away in a small room.

Visitors of all ages can enter, start the videotape rolling, face the camera and record their personal statements. In doing so, one adds her or his voice to the tape of people who have come before them, and contributes to a quilt-like oral history of life in Los Angeles in the ‘90s.

“Then Becoming Now” is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through May 29 at L.A. Art Assn., 825 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. Call (310) 652-8272.