Conventions 2000: A Tale of Two Art Cities

SPECIAL REPORT--The trees are trimmed, coats of paint are dry, banners are waving, and the colors red, white and blue are seemingly everywhere in evidence. Welcome to Democratic and Republican Conventions 2000, playing out this summer in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where political drama will be silhouetted against a backdrop of arts, culture, history and festivities.

Art dealers are among those enthusiastically embracing the two political conventions, hoping the events will jump-start an often slow sales period. "We're always excited about people visiting from elsewhere, even for something like a Republican Convention, because there will be a percentage of attendees who discover there's a vital art scene in Philadelphia," said Larry Becker of Larry Becket Contemporary Fine Art. Every summer, he observed, "many of our collectors leave the city to go to the shore or are traveling--but we always do a survey show of the artists we represent so visitors to Philadelphia can get a feel for what we do. And the Republican Convention will bring not just a cross-section of Americans, but many media people."

In Los Angeles, art dealer Jack Rutberg, who specializes in Modernist art, also welcomes the politicos who'll attend the Democratic Convention. "I think people who are politically engaged are often culturally sophisticated, and we look forward to having great numbers of people visiting our gallery," he said.

Elephant Fever

The City of Brotherly Love caught elephant fever early. "People in Philadelphia have been so excited about hosting this convention since the day we popped the champagne cork after learning we were selected to host the Republican National Convention," recalled Danielle Cohn, public relations director for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The city's non-profit convention host committee, Philadelphia 2000, will spend more than $40 million buffing up the town and entertaining some 45,000 attendees of the Republican Convention from July 31 to Aug. 4. The city will host political art exhibits, elephant art, "liberty bells" from every state and territory in the nation and to elephant-shaped flower planters and cookies reflecting the political party's floppy-eared symbol, just to name a few plan. So Republican Convention delegates, their families and other visitors to Philadelphia will be barraged with themed exhibits, special events and myriad decorations throughout the city.

The art scene in Philadelphia is flourishing, with more than 100 galleries clustered in several neighborhoods and districts. The $500 million Avenue of the Arts and performing arts center downtown is also home to top notch restaurants and performing arts venues.

But it is the four-square-block Old City section, Philadelphia's newest cultural district, where art galleries are really thriving. The 50-plus art galleries located in Old City have formed the Old City Arts Association and jointly host a monthly art exhibit reception event called First Friday. And, said Cohn, "In honor of the Convention, they are going to do an additional event, `Extra Friday' on July 28."

In addition, many art galleries and the city's art institutions are sponsoring special exhibits this summer that run through the Convention period and beyond.

The Philadelphia Art Alliance showcases"Fin de Siecle Philadelphia 2000" an exhibit of hand-colored vintage postcards dating from 1904 to 1914. Artforms Gallery in Manayunk presents "Red, White and Blue" an exhibit containing political and patriotic subject matter. On display at The Clay Studio is "Political Clay," ceramic art from 20 local and national artists designed to "inform" the political process. Newman Galleries presents a special exhibit of artwork by Elizabeth Washington (the grand niece of George Washington), Antonio Martino and Fred Wagner, three of Philadelphia's early 20th century artists.

But perhaps the best display of elephant fever will be the abstract paintings created, literally, by Asian elephants and on view at the Goldie Paley Gallery of the Moore College of Art and Design. Truly unique, the 50 paintings in "Komar & Melamid's Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project" were actually painted by elephants holding brushes with their trunks.

Whether the elephant-crazy Republican delegates will go nuts for paintings by endangered Asian pachyderms is anyone's guess, of course. But their appetite for all things elephant will surely be satiated by the time they leave the nation's birthplace--and if not, they can take a departing taste at the Philadelphia International Airport, which has commissioned 100 elephant-shaped plant holders.

A Political Angel

In Los Angeles, the City of Angels, officials of LA Convention 2000 employed an angel descending from the ceiling to promote their pitch, in 1998, to the Democratic National Committee. Their proposal promised that "Los Angeles is the Entertainment Capital of the World [and] these same artisans will apply their talents to the 2000 Democratic Convention. The very studios that have charmed the world with motion pictures and television programs, creating an economic giant in Los Angeles, will ensure that images of the convention are immortalized."

Unlike Philadelphia, Los Angeles isn't planning the patriotic furbelows of its fellow host city. In fact, the host committee had just reached the $30 million fundraising mark by mid-June--not all of this figure representing cash donations--and the city of Los Angeles had reneged on a pledge to commit $300,000 in public monies on new benches, flowers and tree lights to dazzle conventioneers. Indeed, commented Ben Austin, communications director for LA Convention 2000, "In the past, hosts have taken hits for spiffing up and making their city some wonderland that isn't real. We didn't want to create a city that wouldn't exist a week after the convention left town."

Luckily, the brand-new Staples Center, the site of the convention, is already quite spiffy. And downtown Los Angeles, where it sits, is home to many well-received new restaurants and longtime cultural venues, along with a thriving artist loft community, including the Brewery Arts complex and the Santa Fe Art Colony. And, said cultural tourism expert Robert Barrett, a vice president of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, "There are more museums in downtown Los Angeles alone than are found in most major American cities." Among these are the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), with two facilities, the Japanese-American National Museum and the Museum of Neon Art (MONA), the world's only museum devoted to the luminous tubes of color.

Los Angeles city officials also rushed to complete the restoration of its historic center city El Pueblo in time for the Convention. This historic site includes 27 landmark buildings and museums.

Plus, several gallery owners have joined a promotion targeting the Democratic National Convention. "Each delegate will get an ARTS Card LA and a brochure identifying galleries such as mine, and will be entitled to many special discounts on cultural attractions," said L.A. dealer Rutberg.

Moreover, said historian Greg Fischer, who leads Angel City Tours of downtown Los Angeles, "there are many venues, old and new, which make downtown a destination. These include Union Station, the Watercourt at California Plaza, with a 100,000-gallon water display in fountains, geysers, waterfalls and pools, and the restored and expanded Central Library. And, there's an enormous amount of public artwork in downtown."

Still, when Democratic delegates, other conventioneers and the 15,000 expected members of the media converge to shine a spotlight on Los Angeles in August, civic boosters worry that Los Angeles might fall on its you-know-what (think about the Democratic symbol). But the Convention & Visitor Bureau's Barrett is upbeat.

After all, he said, "The city everybody thinks has no culture at all actually has more culture in downtown alone than other major cities. The MTA [subway] stations are extraordinarily art-filled, and the transit system is now connected to not just Hollywood Boulevard but also NoHO [North Hollywood] with its art scene. And though it's not completed, it's certainly impressive that the new downtown Los Angeles Catholic cathedral, The Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, has four major artists involved in the project, including Robert Graham, who is designing the doors, and Lita Albuquerque, who is doing the fountain. Overall, we've seen a beginning of a change in the international perception of L.A.'s culture."

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