Under Fire

Woe to the artist who works with this town.

First there was the copper curtain conundrum. Then there was “Nude Decorating a Civic Arts Plaza Staircase,” a scrape over paintings that some considered too risque for the city’s performing arts center.

Now Thousand Oaks has another public art controversy: “Remnant of the ’93 Firestorm,” a piece some City Council members consider too offensive for their town.

The assemblage of charred bicycles, window frames and other debris is intended to memorialize the 1993 Green Meadow fire, an event that forever scarred the lives of many Southern Californians.

But the mere concept of art that uses the detritus of disaster to make its point gets Councilman Andy Fox, a Los Angeles Fire Department captain, a little hot under the collar.

What was expected to be a routine decision turned controversial late Tuesday night when Fox and Councilman Mike Markey voted not to display the 39-by-30-by-12-foot sculpture. The creation of Malibu artist Arlene Waxman is to be put on display in Thousand Oaks for a year.

“A lot of people lost their homes, some people died, and a lot of people spent a lot of time in the burn ward,” Fox said. “It would be like building a piece of art out of the Oklahoma federal building.”

Upon hearing Fox’s rationale, Markey, who worked as a Compton policeman during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, sided with his colleague.

“Thinking back to the riots of 1992, I would be offended if there was an artwork on that,” Markey said.

However, Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Linda Parks voted to show the sculpture, saying art sometimes evokes painful memories as well as the joyful things in life. It was approved on a 3-2 vote.

“I’m not an art expert,” Parks said. “But art doesn’t have to be a thing of beauty.”

Waxman, 59, who had been displaying the piece in a Malibu shopping center, agreed to loan it to Thousand Oaks after being approached by city Arts Commissioner Jane Brooks. An undisclosed donor agreed to cover the moving and assembly costs of the artwork, appraised at $75,000.

Waxman said she was stunned to hear some council members found her creation offensive, saying its dual purpose was to remind people of nature’s dangers while symbolizing the tragedy and subsequent renewal.

“I think it’s immature, I think it’s ignorant,” Waxman said. “I think it’s like trying to say the Vietnam War didn’t happen or the Holocaust didn’t happen just because millions of people died and it’s unpleasant to discuss.

“Part of the healing is acknowledgment. People need to confront these things, not put them in the closet.”

The Arts Commission voted 6 to 2 earlier this year to bring the piece to Thousand Oaks, but the decision required City Council approval. Where it will be displayed has yet to be determined, though some are pushing for a park area beside the Civic Arts Plaza.

Brooks said Wednesday that she was taken aback by Fox’s views, noting that fire victims gave Waxman many of the pieces used to create the sculpture--including heat-deformed steel I-beams and a ceramic angel whose wings were damaged in the disaster.

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinions about art,” Brooks said. “Obviously, he does not have the same criteria of art as others, because we would never have any artwork if it was up to him.

“The reaction in Malibu was very positive for [Waxman],” Brooks added. “People were moved by it. The piece got people to think about the fires, and people appreciate that. The point is, it was part of the healing process.”

Waxman said one of her biggest concerns with the piece was how the people who had lost their homes would react to seeing bits of their lives assembled in the name of art. To gauge their reaction, she brought many of the fire survivors together and captured their emotions to the sculpture on video.

“It was painful for them to see this finished work,” Waxman said. “But they accepted it as I hoped they would. It was a testament to the human spirit and their ability to pick up the pieces and move on.

“I even had firestorm survivors say to me afterward, ‘I’m so glad something has survived, even if it is these fragments,’ ” she added. “This is the history of this part of the state. Don’t we want to maintain public awareness? I don’t understand that at all.”