ART NOTES : 21st Century Redesign for Old Glory

San Francisco’s Capp Street Project is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a forward-looking benefit exhibition and sale. Executive Director Linda Blumberg has invited 80 artists, architects and designers to redesign the American flag for “Old Glory, New Story: Flagging the 21st Century,” on view through Feb. 4.

The coming of a new millennium seemed a good time to examine a hallowed symbol of the country and to think about possible models for the future, Blumberg says. She encouraged participants to create a new flag or symbol of the United States for the 21st Century, with no restrictions on forms or materials.

A widely varied array of unorthodox works fills two floors of Capp Street’s building at 525 2nd St., near the soon-to-open San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Some pieces are fairly faithful renditions of the flag, fabricated in odd materials. For his work, “Strikes Anywhere,” Doug Hollis constructed a flag of matches; Ray Beldner’s patchwork creation, “For Calvin Coolidge,” is made of fabric from business suits.

Joe Sam, on the other hand, used a real sombrero for his canvas, painting red and white stripes around the brim and covering the crown with white stars on a blue background.

“It’s a great show,” says Blumberg. “It showcases an abundance of talent while exploring the elasticity of a 200-year-old icon.”

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BUILDINGS R ART: An upcoming panel discussion on “Architects, Artists and Public Art” will air issues that have been a subject of hot debate during Culver City’s ongoing deliberations over whether to consider architecture as art in percent-for-art development projects. Joe Lewis, an artist and arts administrator, will moderate the discussion with architecture critic Joseph Giovannini, public arts administrator Barbara Goldstein, artist Mark Allen Lere and architect Eric Owen Moss. Sponsored by the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, the free event is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Box, 8520 National Blvd., Culver City. Information: (213) 852-7145 or (310) 574-1123.

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GALLERY MOVES: The intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Berkeley Street, in a Santa Monica industrial zone northeast of the Bergamot Station arts complex, is shaping up as the Southland’s newest gallery enclave. Robert Gunderman and Randy Sommer, formerly of Food House, have opened their second show at Acme, 1800-B Berkeley St., featuring works by Monique Prieto,Michael Norton, Tammy Rosen and Tim Tattu. Just around the corner, at 3026 1/2 Nebraska Ave., Dan Bernier, former director of A/B Gallery, has launched a gallery under his own name with a show of drawings by Russell Crotty. The cooperative gallery Hello Artichoke has moved from Hollywood to 3028 Nebraska Ave. And coming soon is Marc Fox, who has left Angles Gallery to open his own space later this month at 3026 Nebraska Ave.

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HELP IS HERE: The latest edition of “The Visual Artist’s Business and Legal Guide,” compiled and edited by attorney Gregory T. Victoroff and underwritten by the Beverly Hills Bar Assn. Committee for the Arts, is off the press. The 338-page paperback book, available from the association and at bookstores, includes sections on “Legal Protection for Art and Artists,” and “The Economics of Art,” Information: (310) 553-6644.