Gift Horse or Trojan Horse?
By Lisa
Ezell
On April 16 in a Los Angeles
Times article, a reporter related the following story:
In 1994, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Alice Walker was awarded a Graham designed stauette of a nude female torso for
being a California "state treasure." Walker, who had just completed a book and a
film about female genital mutilation, was outraged. "Imagine my horror when...I
was presented with a decapitated, armless, legless woman on which my name hung
from a chain," she told the San Francisco
Chronicle.
Well, the City of Los Angeles has
accepted a Robert Graham headless and limbless nude female torso sculpture that
will stand 11.5 feet tall in the Venice Traffic Circle Island. I do not know
what Alice Walker did with her sculpture, but we won't be able to hide this one
under the bed or in the back of the closet.
From the top of the stump of the neck
to mid-thigh where the legs end, the statue's height is 6'. It is made of solid
cast aluminum, polished to a shiny finish, weighs 3,500 lbs. (yes, really 3,500
lbs!), and will be mounted on a 4.5 ft. steel base on top of a 1 ft. tall
concrete footing, standing altogether, 11.5 in height. It is so massive that a 2
ft. high and 8 ft. square concrete base is required underground to support its
weight.
Why look a gift horse in the mouth?
After all, this sculpture is a gift to our city (by generous Venice Peninsula
art collector Roy Doumani) and it is valued at $350,000. It is by an
internationally renowned local artist and requires solely the investment of an
estimated $75,000 of our city's funds for its complex installation.
This gift was accepted by local city
councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski (reputed to own a small Graham "Torso" or two,
herself), and the Windward Avenue Improvement Association has pledged to pay for
all future maintenance of the sculpture.
Well, first of all, it is
inappropriate for this location (literally our Venice Town Square). There are 5
streets that meet at the Venice Circle, and bordering its west side is the
Venice Post Office with its beautifully preserved W.P.A. mural by Edward
Biberman depicting the founder of Venice.
This site is not just another location
for public art. Art located at this site will be, by virtue of its historic and
central location in Venice, a civic monument, and as such, make a statement to
the world about our community.
The
Graham "Torso" is foremostly inappropriate as a civic monument for this location
by its similarity to the 2003 "Torso" commissioned by the Rodeo Drive Committee
for Beverly Hills (located in a median at the intersection of Rodeo and Dayton).
The Venice "Torso" has a more nubile
body, its hip cocked in a more eroticized pose (to see the Beverly Hills
"Torso," go to the artist's website, www.robertgraham-artist.com and click on
Public Works and then click on Torso at the far right of the screen).The Venice
torso's arms are cut off, their stumps level with the neck (to see both
"torsos," go to the Beachhead website at www.venice-beachhead.org and see the
April 2005 issue).
Should our civic
center sculpture match that of Beverly Hills? We don't have a lot in common with
Beverly Hills, which is a high-style, money-driven and manicured sort of place.
What makes Venice special is its diverse community. The environment here is a
little rough around the edges, but there is a large concentration of writers,
poets and visual artists; people who , in the words of Jimi Hendrix, "let the
freak flag fly" live next door to preachers and teachers, musicians and
skateboarders. Our community could not be more different than Beverly Hills and
we deserve unique art!
Secondly, art
for locations with civic importance is traditionally chosen by one of two
methods. Either an open call for entries, or by the invitation of a small group
of artists (the artists selected by a committee such as the Los Angeles Cultural
Affairs Department) to submit designs for the project.
Some residents are unhappy that the
community was not given any other options or choices for this important
location. Local artists are required to notify all residents within a two-mile
radius for their own proposed mural projects even on a minor street. They resent
the way the "Torso" project, by its designation as "a minor street or sidewalk
alteration,” was able to fraudently avoid many of the usual bureaucratic
requirements, and was made exempt from the provisions of the California
Environmental Quality Act.
For example, the
public hearing notices for the "Torso" were required to be given only to
residents and business owners within 100 feet of the project!
Thirdly, art related to Venice's rich
civic and cultural history would be more appropriate for the Venice Windward
Traffic Circle Island; and/or a fountain that would bring movement and music by
its falling water to a location where the entire area was originally a canal.
Lastly, the "Torso" is a
representation that is insenstive to the dignity of women. Its placement would
be one block from the Venice Foursquare Church where Pastor Regina Weller holds
meetings for battered women and former prostitutes. And seven local churches use
the Venice Traffic Circle Island on International Prayer Day to gather together
and pray. The "Torso" in this location is a choice of art that is insensitive to
our community.
The "Torso" has divided
our community. It is too bad that Robert Graham, who could possibly be the best
artist in our community to create a sculpture that would reflect upon and
celebrate Venice in its centennial year, has instead chosen to place yet another
"Torso", a recurring theme that expresses his ego and ensures his legacy, in a
location that would be visible to himself when he steps out the door of his
fortress-like home on Windward Avenue. If only he would make good on his
assertion to Venice Magazine in the May 2005 issue, where he was asked, "What is
the role of the artist in society today?" He answered, "Always the same thing.
To be able to make something that enriches peoples
lives."
Please join Venice residents
who believe that it is not wrong to "look a gift horse in the mouth," and would
like the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department to go about selecting art for
the Venice Windward Circle with more community involvement and include an open
call or at least have other options for this historically important civic
location in the heart of Venice. Please contact the Coastal Commission (200
Oceangate - 10th floor, Long Beach 90802 • 562-590-5071 • Fax:
562-590-5084) if you would like to file an appeal to the "Torso" permit. The
deadline for an appeal is June 22 (Permit # 562).
Lisa Ezell is a Venice resident and
says she has several nudes in her art
collection.
Posted: Wed - June 1, 2005 at 07:46 AM