Act III – The Art Olympics

Art Document #23 – “Medusa” by Andi Alameda in Spring 1984

“The Art Dock is like a TV,” states Andi, “so it seemed appropriate to place a TV into the Art Dock. ‘Medusa’ is a commentary on the effect television has on every male I have ever known who, once they sit down in front of the TV, turns instantly to stone.”
I listen to Andi’s words and recall her sly smile and laugh as she spoke while I lie in the Art Dock on a lazy Sunday afternoon in May with the sunlight beaming in, making the gold lacquered installation shimmer. I have my earphones on, listening to my tape of the conversation between Andi and me.

When I turn off the tape, I ponder all the media attention that is coming to Downtown, but not to the Art Dock. There was the story in the L.A. Times in April about the pioneer settlers of the newly named Loft District. The artists of the Citizens Warehouse were not mentioned. There was LACE’s open studio tour, which didn’t include the Art Dock, and LACE’s Cotton Exchange Show. I think about real estate and art and my work on the Economics Exhibit for the Olympics. I am designing the Reward Show enclosure, a postmodern composition of rectangles, columns, capitals and simplified pediments. The Reward Show is an IBM game that, once completed, will spit out a certificate verifying that the visitor has completed a quickie education in Economics. I wonder if my education in art and artist housing is coming to an end. MOCA, the Art Dock dog, lies on the sidewalk in front of the loading dock. I give the dog my opinions on all these events, but she never talks back. Good dog.

My conversation with Andi took place at Vickman’s Restaurant and Bakery, a local artist and produce-district hang out. Vickman’s was one of the sponsors of LACE’s Cotton Exchange Show, along with the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), the California Institute of the Arts, Roark – the local art store, Linda Burnham and Steve Durland of High Performance/Astro Artz, amongst and many others. On the tape Andi and I discuss her piece over coffee and Danish. I ask Andi about the theory of the Art Dock as a metaphor for the commoditizing of art and the significance of its statement about Los Angeles Urbanism.

“What theory?” Andi states, “The idea is to kick back, have fun, and have an opening.” I point out to Andi the Art Dock doesn’t have openings, it has closings.

“No matter,” Andi responds, “I like to think of the Art Dock as positive generator of ideas. It is serious and fun at the same time.”

“It does have a humorous quality,” I say, “and so does ‘Medusa’.”

“Medusa” is a small television covered with a fleshy and flashy gold substance, from which project small pointed spikes and breasts. “Medusa” is positioned on a table in a network of gold-lacquered telephone poles and antennae. The television screen is almost entirely covered in gold, allowing only small areas of image to be seen. Static plays on the TV.

“What were the telephone poles and antennae supposed to be?” I ask.

“The telephone poles represent technology, language and dialogue. The antennae are a way of transmitting data. It is a whole piece about information,” Andi replies.

“That is heavy,” I say.

“Other artists and critics have said that my work uses a low vehicle for a high purpose. I use elements of the science fiction thriller and the horror movie for generating an alternative meaning. Bad taste is employed, but mitigated and inverted by a sense of humor, which can turn pessimism into optimism.”

“‘Medusa’ is optimistic?” I ask.

“It is optimistic in that it is funny. ‘Medusa’ recognizes that TV is the foster mother of my generation. It is our babysitter, companion and teacher. We are its children. TV is the thing through which we stare off into space. It is our God.”

The tape is silent for a few moments. I remember Andi’s wistful look, like she was staring off into space.

“Don’t turn into stone on me now, Andi,” I joke. “Tell me again what you liked most about the Art Dock.”

Andi looks up and responds slowly. “In the Art Dock I was free to do what ever I wanted. Audience was only your peers.”

“Well, we always have the homeless audience and some people who came for the open tours got to see it, when they got lost in the back streets or saw the flyer,” I state, “but that was in the daytime. Didn’t you want your piece to be displayed mainly at night?” I ask.

“I think my pieces in general function best in dramatic lighting. They do function in regular light but I have a hard time figuring out how to light them so I use corny theatrical lighting, like you would see in a horror show at an amusement park. Dramatic lighting is not very fashionable in the art world. ‘Medusa’ has its surrealist shadows as in the movie ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari.’ I think ‘Medusa’ at night mimics the surreal quality of life in downtown.”

‘Medusa’ at night

“Is this the side show as art?” I ask. “The bearded lady, the elephant man and the coochie-coochie girls come to Center Street?”

“Could be,” Andi replies, “but we were the side show in more ways than one.”

“That’s right, the open studio tours and the Cotton Exchange Show are the main events,” I say.

At this point I switch off the tape, and lie in the loading dock thinking about the open studio tours, the Cotton Exchange Show, and the relationship between art and real estate.

The LACE open studio tours took place over the weekend of April 28 and 29. The studios open were generally clustered east of LACE’s exhibition space on Broadway in a small area surrounded by Main, 2nd, Central and 6th. Another small group of studios were bunched around San Pedro and 8th. I knew few of the 60 artists in this show except for Kim Abeles, Sheila Elias and Marguerite Elliot, who is scheduled to show in the Art Dock in the fall. The tour was a big success. Many people came. Many of the artists who weren’t included in the show tried to steer visitors toward their studio buildings on the perimeter of this central area. Artists are starved for attention, and will do almost anything to get it. Artists on Molino Street, around the American Hotel on Traction Avenue and in the Citizens Warehouse on Center Street put up instant signs proclaiming their existence and availability for viewing. I spent Saturday papering the tour zone with the Art Dock flyer, while other kept the loading dock open. A few intrepid souls found their way to Center Street, the Citizens Warehouse and the Art Dock.

Art Dock Flyer

I remark to the dog that my advertising effort was generally an exercise in futility, but fun. The dog looks at me, giving a brief bark. I take that to mean the dog agrees with me.

I think about the quote I read in the L.A. Times on April 15th where the head of the Getty Museum, Harold Williams, stated:
The history of art is really the visual and tangible history of Civilization. It’s the only record that gives us their version of how past societies saw themselves and the world. Art can provide an understanding of the values and forces that shaped other societies and act as a guide for us.
How would the art of Downtown be viewed in the future? What kind of guide is the Art Dock? Is it a truly a commentary on the commoditizing of art as recorded in the Art Dock Manifesto? Are the artists who show in it of any great import? Does the drive-by gallery really matter? I didn’t have answers to all these questions, but I did know that it spoke – perhaps quietly – about the history of civilization in late 20th Century America in a funny way. Whether that voice from the low-powered transmitter of the loading dock would ever be heard by a larger audience than the peers of artists in Downtown was yet to be seen. What is seen is all the commotion about the new settlers of downtown – architects and young professionals mainly – and LACE’s Cotton Exchange Show. The spotlight on the new settlers is in contradiction to idea that the loft scene is dead and the Cotton Exchange Show is razzle-dazzle, covering the true facts of redevelopment in downtown.

In April the Los Angeles Times carried a story about Eve Steele, an architect, who is renovating the Old Challenge Dairy Building, and Michael Tolleson, an architectural and furniture designer, and Jan Rowton, a fashion designer, who live in the renovated Canadian Consulate Building on 432 South Main Street.

This building housed Exile gallery and many artists before it was renovated. Eve Steele is quoted as saying:
New York does have a level of sophistication we don’t have here, but Los Angeles has a raw kind of creativity and real textural quality. In the past couple of years it is the young urban professionals who are moving here, not only because of the relatively competitive prices but because of the possibility of having a great personal freedom in choice of their environment.

Eve Steele estimated that there are 2,000 people now residing in the area inside the four freeways. This is the beginning of gentrification. The developers are coming. The artists who rented for fewer than 20 cents a square foot are being replaced by those who can renovate and pay 75 cents to a dollar a square foot. I ask the dog if she thinks we are a goner. The dog is silent. I guess the jury is still out.

The Cotton Exchange Building at 3rd and Main Street

LACE’s Cotton Exchange Show, which started April 17th and will extend through June, is an amazing event for what it is and what it implies. The Cotton Exchange Building is soon to be demolished, a sad fate for a concrete-reinforced building of historic interest. The building is the first step in cleaning up the area called the Historic Core, currently overrun by the homeless who sleep and carouse in a small park on 3rd Street across from the building. The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) plans to replace this building with a state office building. Prior to its demolition, the CRA, with LACE and other sponsors, is allowing artists to display their work in the doomed building. More than 200 artists respond to this free opportunity to display their work and transform the building’s interior. Tom Heller describes the situation thus in his article “Rattling and Rough Cut….,” which appears in the mini newspaper that is distributed for the show:

Artists are taking the representation of art into their own hands. A whole new generation is becoming increasingly aware of the social aspects of art. … Projects … have been approaching art as a radical communications medium rather than as a self-referential signifier of art historical trends.
He further adds:
Today’s younger generation of artists are compelled to put their art back into the world from which it took its inspiration. … The feeling is evident whenever you walk into an artist’s studio, see graffiti in the street, or when you think of Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” in Utah’s Great Salt Lake.

I look at the situation differently. I see a building stuffed with art of all kinds, most of it bad and some of it quite interesting. The exhibition isn’t for me about art as a radical communications medium, a self-referential signifier of art trends – although there was plenty in the show that mimicked this stance – or the compelling need to put art back into the world from which it gained inspiration. It was about the fanatical desire of artists to find any venues for their work. There are too many artists and too few places to show their work. The artists may say they are making radical communication, but in reality they are being used by other powers for their own ends.

Cotton Exchange Building First Floor Plan showing Artist Locations

In spite of my assessment, I have to say the Cotton Exchange Show was marvelous fun. The whole of this six-story building was given over to artists. The artists swept over the building claiming the rooms, the staircases, the hallways, bathrooms and retail shops for their work. Many did installations – some very political – others displayed their paintings and sculptures. Peter Zecher displayed “Marilyn” again in a storefront window. Pamela Burgess placed a gigantic aluminum foil snake in a niche next to the fire-sprinkler riser. Bob Gibson hung one of his works in the entry hall next to the main stairway. Jeff Kaisershot made a spray-painted wall of silhouettes from the same kind of small objects he exhibited in the Art Dock. Artists whose names I did not know painted whole rooms in their style. Every inch of this building was covered or altered by works of art.

LACE’s Cotton Exchange Show – Exhibit in an old restaurant

Brett Goldstone, an artist soon to exhibit in the Art Dock, made what I think is the ultimate statement on this art event. In a room on the ground floor, way in the back of this cavernous office building, he placed a mechanical monster that gorged on cans. The figure was made of open welded wire fabric, the inside of which was stuffed with garbage. The head was an enormous open mouth. One arm moved, descending from mouth to side in a slow, jerky, robotic fashion. The arm grasped a crushed can, simulating the monster stuffing itself with goods. Again and again the arm moved from side to mouth and back. Amidst all the clamor of competing art, the monster of the midway with its insatiable appetite was the most entertaining. At the opening, attended by thousands of people swarming all over the building, Bret’s monster collected the biggest crowds. The Cotton Exchange show was a carnival of art. I can’t help but think that somewhere in this I am being conned by the old shell game. I ask the dog if this is true. The dog gives me two quick barks. I know I am onto something.

Artists are being used – and they abet willingly – in a political game, which diffuses focus from the destruction of a perfectly good building, a building that, had the sentiment been there, would have made excellent artist housing. As I lie in the sun I ponder the thought that if you want to destroy a structure, give it over to the artists first. I think of Andi’s idea – that we live in Oz. I would like to think of myself as a wizard, but I know that the real wizards lie in City Hall and in the high-rises blooming on Bunker Hill. I am just a lizard of Oz, lying on my dock in the sun consulting with this dog, my wizard.

Daily Diary Page by Carl Davis

Postscript 2010: Andi Alameda became an art gallery curator. Today she is an Exhibition Project Manager and Traveling Exhibit Coordinator of the Autry National Center, a museum in Los Angeles named after Gene Autry. Her art today is jewelry making. Andi says her life is art.  Kim Abeles remains a well-known Los Angeles artist. Sheila Elias moved to Miami, Florida, where she pursues her art career. Eve Steele, architect, industrial designer and real-estate developer, is the founding chair of LAXART, and a board member of REDCAT, UCLA Live and Creative Capital, an organization that provides integrated financial and advisory support to artists. Michael Tolleson, architect, now pursues his career in Emeryville in Northern California. Jan Rowton owns a fashion shop in Malibu, California. Tom Heller is a film producer, who with co-producer Oprey Winfrey produced the movie “Precious.” The Cotton Exchange building was demolished and replaced by the Ronald Reagan State Office Building. The state of California plans to sell the Reagan building along with other state office buildings to raise 2.2 billion dollars to cover part of the state’s current $128 billion deficit. The state will then lease back the building for 20 years. The Reagan building houses several works of art, including a mural by Elsa Flores and Carlos Almaraz called “California Dreamscape,” a grizzly sculpture by Mary Chomenko, a wall piece by Billy Al Bengston, and works by other artists. When Eve Steele estimated there were 2,000 people living in Downtown in 1984, it was just the beginning of Downtown settlement. In 2010 there are over 50,000 people in the central city. The homeless still hang out in the park at 3rd and Main Streets behind the Ronald Regan State Office Building. Men still turn to stone in front of the Television.

‘California Dreamscape’ mural and ‘Grizzly Bear’ at the Ronald Reagan State Office Building