O.C. ART / CATHY CURTIS : Putting Accent on Variety, Museums Face ‘90s Issues : A LOOK AHEAD: This year’s exhibition sound tantalizingly diverse

It might be a figment of my flu-fevered brain, but it’s almost as though Orange County’s art institutions conspired to mount a wide range of exhibitions that give most every special-interest group something it wants this year.

At the moment, we’re still living in the twilight zone of last year’s museum schedule because of programming vagaries and the longer-lasting new breed of exhibitions.

But if you hang around for the new-in-’94 schedule, you’ll find an unusual number of shows dealing with vital contemporary issues: race, gender, ecology, consumerism and changes within ethnic communities. (See “Also of Special Interest” and “Promoting Differences” below.)

Some of these shows are highly intellectualized. Others are obviously meant to appeal to a broad audience. Some may turn out to be overly didactic. Others will likely offer fresh insights and memorable imagery. But it seems clear that these--far more than purely aesthetic themes--are the art issues of the ‘90s, the stuff artists and the rest of us are most engaged with on a day-to-day basis.

For viewers who do yearn for lovely objects, Newport Harbor Art Museum has a large craft show on tap. Those who prefer to revisit the past can choose between the familiar landscapes of the plein-air set and the more exotic, abstracted world of Augustus Vincent Tack.

Fans of full-scale historical surveys, however, will notice such shows are rarer than ever, perhaps a recessionary sign. Only the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art’s import of an exhibition on ancient Nubia really fits the bill this year.

But we are getting a long-awaited retrospective of seminal modernist painter John McLaughlin, at the Laguna Art Museum, whose exhibition roster admirably balances diverse interests and provides the largest single concentration of strong-sounding shows.

Yet solo shows of contemporary artists also seem to be on the decline for some reason. So far, the only two I’ve heard about are Tony DeLap’s at Cal State Fullerton in February and Tim Hawkinson’s at Chapman University in March.

When Newport Harbor Art Museum releases its full 1994 schedule (it doesn’t officially commit itself to shows these days until it has funding for them), there will be more to report. Other venues will be filling up their schedules, too. But even with this partial outlook, the pickings don’t seem too lean. Hey, this may even be a terrific year in art. Watch this space for the play-by-play.

Best Bet “John McLaughlin: A Retrospective” (Laguna Art Museum, Oct. 14-Jan. 15, 1995). About 60 paintings by the first major postwar modern artist to emerge in Southern California.

Shortly after he moved to Dana Point in 1946, he developed a rigorous geometric style based in part on the theoretical views of Russian Suprematist artist Kasimir Malevich and in part on the Eastern concept of “the void.” By the mid-’50s, he had eliminated volume, shading and texture from his paintings, leaving only exquisitely calibrated flat rectangular shapes. Curated by Charles Desmarais, director of the Laguna Art Museum.

Also of Special Interest “Partial Recall: Photographs of Native North Americans” (UC Irvine Fine Arts Gallery, Jan. 11-Feb. 12). How have traditional photographs of Native Americans shaped our conception of who they are? Reproductions of such images were presented to several Native American writers, artists and activists as points of departure for essays.

Another group of photographs were taken by contemporary artists specifically to challenge the biases of the older images. Organized by the Tyler Galleries of the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia.

“Tony DeLap--The House of the Magician: An Installation of Reconstructed Works, 1967-1975” (Cal State Fullerton, Main Art Gallery, Feb. 5-March 13). Works from a key period of the dean of Orange County’s contemporary artists, a longtime fixture of the UC Irvine art department, with a smaller show of his drawings and prints in the East Gallery (Feb. 5-25).

“Grammarians” (Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Feb. 7-March 11). Artist and art critic Michael Anderson has assembled work by nine Los Angeles and New York artists whose writing--fiction, poetry, plays or art criticism--is integral to their art-making. Featured are Kenneth Goldsmith, Benjamin Weismann, Gabrielle Jennings, Tyler Stallings, Lisa Auerbach, Frances Stark, Alexis Hall, Raymond Pettibon and the late Guy de Cointet.

“Tim Hawkinson” (Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, March 21-April 29). A solo show of work by the young Los Angeles artist whose extraordinarily original work has a nutty logic of its own is always a happily awaited event.

“Commodity Image: Photography, Sculpture, Installation” (Laguna Art Museum, May 13-July 24). Photographs by contemporary artists, social documentarians and commercial photographers record and comment on aesthetics, fashion, celebrity, commerce and money in our consumer society.

With work by Lee Friedlander, Mitchell Syrop, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler and many more. Organized by the International Center for Photography, New York.

“Fragile Ecologies: Artists’ Interpretations and Solutions” (Laguna Art Museum, July 29-Oct. 9). Drawings, models, photographs, videos and multimedia installations of public projects by 12 artists collaborating with community groups, engineers, architects and scientists.

The projects, which date from the late 1960s to 1990, range from a proposal for reclaiming a garbage landfill to systematized replanting of native vegetation in urban areas. Artists include Alan Sonfist, Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison, Mel Chin, Buster Simpson and Patricia Johanson.

Promoting Differences “Baking Cookies” (Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Jan. 5-Feb. 4). Feminist-themed work by 26 Southern Californian artists, members of the Orange County Satellite of the Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art.

“Erika Rothenberg: House of Cards” (Laguna Art Museum, April 1-July 10). Rothenberg’s satirical greeting cards invert the usual Hallmark pieties by addressing embarrassing situations, unspoken prejudices, political issues and personal conflicts. Organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

“A New Generation: Vietnamese-American Contemporary Art” (Cal State Fullerton, Main Art Gallery, April 10-May 15). Work by nine artists.

“Outside/In” (Fullerton Museum Center, April 22-June 5). Paintings, drawings, prints and ceramics from artists with developmental disabilities, many of whom are part of the First Street Gallery and Art Center in Fullerton, co-organizers of the show.

“Celebrating the Life Cycle: Rites of Passage in America” (Fullerton Museum Center, June 24-Aug. 14). Photographs and artifacts examine how Americans from 18 ethnic backgrounds celebrate the “big four”: birth, coming of age, marriage and death.

A major theme: How ethnic traditions have been lost or changed during the past century. Organized by the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia.

The Lighter Side: Hats, Crafts and Baseball “Contemporary Crafts and the Saxe Collection” (Newport Harbor Art Museum, March 12-June 5). Organized by the Toledo Museum of Art from the collection of Dorothy and George Saxe of Menlo Park, the show contains 122 objects in glass, clay, fiber, metal and wood by 98 artists--one-quarter of whom are Californians.

“Haute Hats” (Fullerton Museum Center, April 26-June 26). The history of millinery, illustrated with historical hats and contemporary artists’ hats that illustrate the utilitarian and creative aspects.

“Major League/Minor League: Photographs of America’s Baseball Stadiums by Jim Dow” (Fullerton Museum Center, Sept. 24-Nov. 13). Forty panoramic views, circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

Looking Backward “Past-Present: Mythology of the Gods” (Severin Wunderman Museum, Jan. 8-April 8). Works on mythological themes by Francoise Gilot and Jean Cocteau.

“First Anniversary Exhibition” (Irvine Museum, Jan. 19-indefinite). About 70 paintings by artists who were founders and early members of the Laguna Beach Art Assn., including Franz A. Bischoff, Anna A. Hills, Joseph Kleitsch, Edgar Payne and William Wendt.

“Seven Decades of Modern Mexican Art” (Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Feb. 13-April 25). Loaned by Bernard Lewin--a longtime Latin American art dealer in Beverly Hills, since moved to Palm Springs--a group of several dozen works by such artists as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Sequeiros and Rufino Tamayo.

“Augustus Vincent Tack: Landscape of the Spirit” (Laguna Art Museum, Feb. 25-May 8). The first retrospective of the American visionary painter. During his lifetime (1870-1949), Tack was known for landscapes, portraits and mural commissions inspired by the Tonalists, the Arts and Crafts movement and the Japanese-influenced aesthetic of John La Farge. In the early ‘20s, his increasing spiritualism merged with a style of thin washes of color forming abstract patterns. From the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

“Cocteau Among the Musicians” (Severin Wunderman Museum, April 22-July 22). Costumes, set designs, portraits, props, paintings and scores by artists in Jean Cocteau’s circle, from Igor Stravinsky to Ned Rorem.

“Ancient Nubia: Egypt’s Rival in Africa” (Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, May 14-Aug. 15). Explores the development and artistic achievements of Nubian culture from 3100 BC to AD 500 with 200 pieces in metal, glass and ceramic. (Nubia was a kingdom in Northeast Africa.) Organized by the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.

“Permanent Collection” (Newport Harbor Art Museum, July 2-Oct. 23.). Highlights from the museum’s holdings of California art made after World War II.

“A Life in Art: Kate T. Steinitz” (Severin Wunderman Museum, Aug. 1-Oct. 28). Retrospective of an obscure German-born photographer and writer connected with the Bauhaus, the famous design school founded in Weimar in 1919.

“California Paintings: The Golden Years” (Bowers Museum, Sept. 11-Jan. 2). Plein-air paintings dating from 1900 to 1940 by California artists, from the permanent collection.

“William J. and Alberta Binford McCloskey: a Retrospective” (Bowers Museum, Sept. 11-Jan. 2, 1995). The Bowers claims to have gathered the largest single compilation to date of paintings by William J. McCloskey (1859-1941) and his wife, Alberta Binford McCloskey (1863-1911). They collaborated on portraits, and each painted exquisitely lifelike citrus still-lifes.

“Vaslav Nijinsky” (Severin Wunderman Museum, Nov. 7-Feb. 7, 1995). Memorabilia loaned by the family of the famed Russian dancer, with art from the museum’s collection.

For Children “Nineteenth Annual Florence Arnold Young Artist Festival” (Muckenthaler Cultural Center, March 20-April 3). Named for a painter who was a longtime Fullerton resident and advocate of art in the schools, the festival provides a non-competitive atmosphere for Fullerton’s elementary and junior-high school students to display their artistic, musical or acting talents. On “Festival Day,” March 20 from 1 to 4 p.m., various children’s arts activities will be offered.

Children’s Mural Workshops (Bowers Museum, Feb. 19, March 19, April 9, between noon and 5 p.m.). Children can add color and detail to mural sketches prepared by Higgy Vasquez, son of Mexican muralist Emigidio Vasquez. $5 per child includes refreshments, painting supplies and take-home photo.

Talks and Trips Times and prices listed when known:

Jan. 11, noon: Margaret Honda, an artist in the “Fourth Newport Biennial: Southern California 1993” speaks on her work in the show, at Newport Harbor Art Museum. Free.

Jan. 13, 11 a.m.: Art historian Norman Neuerberg, professor emeritus at Cal State Dominguez Hills, will discuss the attraction of the California missions for many 19th-Century artists, in conjunction with the exhibition “Loners, Mavericks and Dreamers: Art in Los Angeles before 1900.” Free with museum admission ($3 adults, $1.50 students and seniors).

Jan. 18, noon: San Diego Union art critic Robert Pincus gives a slide talk on painter Oliver Jackson, a selection of whose works are at the Newport Harbor Art Museum. Free.

Jan. 25, noon: Peter Frank, an Orange County free-lance art writer, discusses the “Fourth Newport Biennial: Southern California 1993,” at Newport Harbor Art Museum. Free.

Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m. (repeated Jan. 27, 10 a.m.): “Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Maurice Braun,” by his daughter, Charlotte Braun, at the Irvine Museum. $15.

Jan. 29: Bus tour to Watts Towers in Los Angeles, sponsored by the Irvine Fine Arts Center.

Feb. 4: Bus tour to see Orange County “outsider” artists’ studios and collections, sponsored by the Irvine Fine Arts Center.

Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. (repeated Feb. 10, 10 a.m.): “Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Millard Owen Sheets,” by his son, David Stary-Sheets, at the Irvine Museum. $15.

March 12, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.: Shifra Goldman, Blair Paltridge, Felipe Ehrenberg, Barbara Braun and Esther Acevedo participate in a dialogue on Mexican art and its history, at the Bowers Museum. Free with museum admission ($4.50 adults, $3 seniors and students, $1.50 children 5-12).

March 23, 7:30 p.m. (repeated March 24, 10 a.m.): “Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Alson S. Clark,” by Irvine Museum executive director Jean Stern, at the museum. $15.

April 24, 2 p.m.: Composer and music writer Nicolas Slonimsky, who will turn 100 this year, will speak on Cocteau and music on at the Severin Wunderman Museum. $15.

Exhibition Sites

Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. (714) 567-3600.

Cal State Fullerton, Main Art Gallery, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton. (714) 773-3262.

Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell, Orange. (714) 997-6729.

Irvine Museum, 18881 Von Karman Ave., Suite 1250, Irvine. (714) 476-0294.

Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N. Pomona Ave., Fullerton. (714) 738-6545.

Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach. (714) 494-8971.

Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. (714) 738-6595.

Newport Harbor Art Museum, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 759-1122.

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, 3621 W. MacArthur Blvd., Space 111, Santa Ana. (714) 549-4989.

UC Irvine Fine Arts Gallery, Fine Arts Village (off Bridge Road), Irvine. (714) 856-8251.