CAA Unveils Revamped Art Collection With Emphasis on Works by Local Artists

Since its opening in 1989, the sleek marble and glass building designed by architect I.M. Pei as Creative Artists Agency’s headquarters in Beverly Hills has housed a contemporary art collection. “Bauhaus Stairway,” a 26-foot-tall painting by the late Pop master Roy Lichtenstein, dominates the atrium lobby, as always, and a familiar bronze figure by New York sculptor Joel Shapiro still balances on one foot, off to one side of the airy space.

But as the agency has gone through changes, so has its art collection. Tuesday night the company and its philanthropic arm, the CAA Foundation, held a private party to unveil a brand-new holding--some 200 works by 92 local artists. This Los Angeles-centric collection replaces trademark works by “the usual suspects,” as CAA general counsel Michael Rubel describes the big-name New York artists that used to hang on the agency’s walls.

The idea, says Rubel, a contemporary art aficionado who has overseen the agency’s purchases, is to celebrate the creative energy of Los Angeles and support the city’s art schools--an outgrowth of the company’s program of educational philanthropy that has evolved under the leadership of CAA President Richard Lovett. He took charge in 1995, when founding partner Michael Ovitz left to head Walt Disney Co., ultimately taking most of the original CAA art collection with him.

Predominantly young, hip and little-known, but backed up by prominent veterans, the newly collected CAA artists are based in L.A. and connected with local art schools--either as past or present students, or as teachers. Linda Besemer, Ingrid Calame and Salomon Huerta, who were tapped for this year’s Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, are represented. So are Lee Mullican, Emerson Woelffer and other influential members of earlier generations.

“Birth of an Idea (With Eleven Rejects),” a 6-by-27-foot mural by renowned conceptualist John Baldessari has a place of honor in the lobby; the rest of the works are distributed throughout the building, mainly in hallways and conference rooms. The eclectic array encompasses jazzy geometric constructions by Jim Isermann, now in mid-career; mysterious photographic landscapes by Tito Sanpaolesi, an emerging artist; and striking mixtures of Japanese woodblock imagery and Latino graffiti, painted by Gajin Fujita, a Japanese American who grew up in East Los Angeles and is doing graduate work at Otis College of Art and Design.

CAA’s emphasis on art and education is underlined by a new CAA Foundation-sponsored program, scheduled to begin in the fall. The program will fund scholarships for graduates of the Los Angeles Unified School District who wish to study art at Art Center College of Art and Design, CalArts, Otis College of Art and Design, UCLA and UC Irvine.

The agency’s current leaders established the CAA Foundation in 1996 “to give something back to the community and the schools and to continue what we do each day, which is to help people realize their dreams and accomplish their goals,” said Bryan Lourd, managing director and partner of the company. The foundation has already formed partnerships with Coeur d’Alene Elementary School, Mark Twain Middle School and Venice High School, all located in Venice, and Whitsett Elementary School in Nashville, where CAA also has an office. The foundation provides equipment and services to the schools; more than half of CAA’s employees participate in mentoring programs and field trips.

Two Important Pieces Stayed

CAA’s decision to invest in local art is part of the ripple effect of its change in ownership that began in 1995 with Ovitz’s departure. By the time the dust settled, a number of the founding team had left, but the collection they had invested in stayed behind, at least at first. The Lichtenstein and the Shapiro were retained because they were designed for the building and installed as permanent fixtures. The rest of the collection was loaned to the new management for four years before being transferred to the owners.

Finally faced with the prospect of bare walls, about a year ago, current company leaders decided to do something different, Lourd said. “Southern California doesn’t celebrate itself art-wise in a focused way, so we thought it would be interesting to create a space for both young artists and more established people. I really hope the collection will set a good example for other companies to connect their giving with their aesthetic taste.”

The collection will be refreshed over time, Rubel said. “It should not be static.”

Rubel enlisted the help of independent curator and critic David Pagel, who frequently contributes art reviews to The Times, and Bruce Guenther, former chief curator at the Orange County Museum of Art. They identified artists for consideration and Pagel wrote short descriptions of the works selected.

As is often the case in corporate collecting, the collection isn’t open to the public. But a catalog of the images and text is available to CAA staff on the company’s intranet, Rubel said. Those who look up “Changes” by Carlos Estrada-Vega, for example, will discover that the composition of brightly striped squares is made of many tiny canvases, separately stretched over wood and painted, then assembled.

Rubel declined to state the cost of the collection, which was purchased by the company, not the foundation. The total outlay probably amounts to less than the market value of the Lichtenstein alone--much smaller paintings by the artist routinely bring more than $1 million at auction--but the collection has other advantages.

“It’s not power art, so it reduces the intimidation factor,” Rubel said. “It’s OK not to know about it and to ask questions.”