Los Angeles, N.Y. Art Scenes: More Than Just Miles Apart : Trends: Four whose works are on display at Newport Harbor museum see West Coast as freer, less doctrinaire place for creativity.

So let’s hear it for the Los Angeles art scene--a much freer, less doctrinaire place than New York, which is generally assumed to be the center of the art universe.

That seemed to be the consensus of a panel discussion Saturday at the Newport Harbor Art Museum with four of the 18 artists in “Fourth Newport Biennial: Southern California” (through Jan. 30).

The panelists agreed that the L.A. art world is highly fragmented and fosters a sense of isolation among artists. But they view this state of affairs as a good thing--in fact, they and their colleagues all chose to stay on this coast after graduate school, rather than (as was once de rigueur ) heading for New York.

“I kind of revel in obscurity,” said painter David Lloyd. “You can go for three months and not see any (artists). You can go into your own head. A lot of art coming out of L.A. is very eccentric and interesting. I’ve made a choice to live here for that reason.”

Painter John Millei, whose articulate and frequently voiced points of view tended to dominate the hourlong discussion, said: “In New York, (artists) live in six-story walk-ups with other artists. My studio is on Adams Boulevard. There are only two or three other artists in a five-mile radius.

“I have to consider every day what other people do in a proletarian sense--welders, junkyard (workers), the Crips and Bloods. . . . I enjoy the fact that I work in paintings; the guy next door makes brake shoes.”

Rachel Lachowicz, who works in various media, said there were two daunting things about New York. “No. 1, you see these big shows and you say to yourself, ‘God, I’m nothing.’ No. 2, there is all this back-stabbing and people making the same kind of work. In Los Angeles, since everything is spread out, a natural difference (among artists) occurs.”

Millei agreed. In New York, he said, artists are apt to say things like, “ ‘Now we’re all thinking about (painter Robert) Ryman.’. . . What happened to thinking about what makes you make art?”

After the hugely successful Picasso retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1980, Millei added, “Neo-Expressionism blasted through New York City. (Picasso’s art) became the model for a whole new way of dealing with the figure. . . . In Los Angeles, museum exhibitions don’t have that impact. The conversations I have (with other artists) are very diverse. We’re not a large group pushing toward a single goal.”

“It’s easier to go to (art) openings here,” remarked Lachowicz. “In New York, it’s like a power thing--who’s at the opening? If (sculptor) Richard Serra attended your opening, you’re a success. In L.A., at Food House (an alternative venue in Santa Monica), people play basketball and drink beer out of kegs and have conversations like this.”

Mara Lonner, a conceptual artist who had been listening with a thoughtful expression to the barrage of pro-L.A., anti-New York comments, suggested that L.A. artists need to jettison the whole idea of a comparison between the two cities and stand up for who they are.

The tendency is for art world people in other parts of the world to think of Los Angeles art in terms of such beach culture cliches as “sun and flowers,” she said. Confronted with something different, outsiders tend to think, “ ‘We can’t evaluate this by what we know, so we’ll ignore it.’ ”

Millei noted that curators of group exhibitions tend to take a “myopic view” of art in Los Angeles. Such major shows as “Helter-Skelter” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles last year (which included work by Jim Shaw, Mike Kelley, Meg Cranston, Nancy Rubin, Chris Burden and others) do not represent the entire L.A. scene, he protested.

Another difficulty on the L.A. scene is the dearth of a strong critical base, he said.

“We do not have correspondents who write for Art in America and Artforum (magazines) in a regular way,” he said.

Newport’s chef curator Bruce Guenther, who served as panel moderator, suggested that a strong collecting base is also missing in Los Angeles.

“A painting has equal value to a window in Southern California, maybe more,” he said, alluding to beachfront views that gobble up wall space that might have been used for hanging art.

The artists agreed that California collectors don’t buy in depth.

“In L.A., their ‘depth’ is two or three pieces,” Lachowicz said. “In New York, it’s 15 pieces.”

“Collectors here will hop around,” Lloyd said. They’re always wondering “ ‘Who’s hot?’ ”

The big money in Los Angeles is focused on the international art world, Millei said. Collecting work by local artists makes people feel as though “they’re out on a limb without proof that anything is important.”

Countering Guenther’s window-to-wall space theory, Millei said that New York collectors also have a dearth of wall space because their apartments are small.

“When you buy in depth, it’s not about wall space,” he insisted. New York collectors “have a lot of art, but a lot of it is on loan” to museums.

The conversation turned to the issue of the increased pressure on artists to be articulate about the theoretical aspects of their work.

“I’m a visual artist, not a writer,” Lloyd said. “There are a lot of artists who have trouble talking about their work. At CalArts (the highly regarded Valencia school from which he, Lonner and Lachowicz received their degrees), you had to puff it up . . . with this theoretical hodgepodge.”

“Being as honest as you can be about your work is what counts,” Lonner added. “Language is an incredibly powerful and beautiful tool. It’s very important to use it in a way appropriate to your work.”

“I don’t think artists are that aware of truly what post-structuralists are talking about,” Millei said. “What’s important is that (their writings) describe the social situation. Since we’re a part of that world, our work will ultimately address that.”

* “Fourth Newport Biennial: Southern California,” remains through Jan. 30 at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission: $5 general, $2 students and seniors, free on Tuesdays. (714) 759-1122.