Legacy for the Art of Controversy

The controversy over “Moon Dial” in Beverly Hills is the loudest public-art battle in the Westside and San Fernando Valley area, but there have been others:

In Burbank critics said “Requiem,” a sculptural tribute to war veterans, looked like a giant bra. Sculptor Erwin Binder created the work at the request of City Councilman Michael Hastings, who came under fire from his fellow council members for encouraging the project. Bob Hope, however, held benefits to raise $50,000 to pay for it. When the abstract sculpture was unveiled in May in Buena Vista Park, even the critics admitted it was appropriate and impressive.

In West Hollywood a sculpture called “High Wire Act,” by Adam Leventhal, portraying a man made out of dollar bills walking a wire between half a head and a large hand, prompted ridicule when it was erected on the median strip of Santa Monica Boulevard. The exhibition weathered the storm and stayed for its full six-month commitment. But as a result of the controversy, said Ian Tanza, arts administrator who helped organize the exhibition with other West Hollywood officials, a new fine-arts advisory board will oversee such matters.

In Santa Monica government and private funds are being used to purchase 10 works of art for the beach. Each one must first be approved by the City Council. “My biggest objection is where they are putting the stuff,” says satirist and longtime Santa Monica resident Harry Shearer, who has taken the city arts program to task on his nationally syndicated public radio show. “The beach is a very scarce resource.”

He suggests placing the art on Lincoln Boulevard instead: “Then people stop for a red light, they’d have something more than retread ads to look at.” The city’s arts administrator, Henry Korn, calls Shearer “one Philistine in a sea of educated people” and says there has been little other negative comment.