FACES : Pettibone Combines Three Elements Into One Show

“What they have in common . . . is their excellence and their attempt to get to some sort of spiritual end,” says artist Richard Pettibone of the three elements that make up his newest works, which go on view at Michael Kohn Gallery on Thursday.

The show--which differs greatly from his well-known miniature repaintings of works by artists such as Andy Warhol and Frank Stella--includes paintings and sculpture that combine Pettibone’s longtime interest in Shaker furniture from the mid-1800s with his three-year interest in works by poet Ezra Pound, and his respect for the works of sculptor Constantin Brancusi.

“I don’t know why I put them together; it just happened naturally,” Pettibone said of his work, which consists of Shaker tables inscribed with Pound’s poetry and in some cases topped with Brancusi replicas, as well as small paintings of Shaker chairs.

“I’ve been interested in Shaker furniture for much longer than (I’ve been interested in Pound or Brancusi), but I have never incorporated it in my work before,” said Pettibone, 52, who noted he’d been working on his “versions” of Shaker “tables and stuff” for about three years.

“For the Shakers, woodworking was a spiritual experience. . . . Those furniture pieces are actually expressions of religious beliefs,” noted Pettibone, as he talked by telephone from his Charlotteville, N.Y., home. “The Shakers didn’t believe in making art, but they did it in spite of themselves.”

Pettibone is so interested in the delicate Shaker furniture that he has his own “modest collection” of original pieces, including nearly a half-dozen chairs, one of which will be on display during his show at Michael Kohn. “I live near the source,” noted Pettibone, who has resided near the Shaker villages in the New York countryside for 21 years.

“But I’m looking forward to coming back to California; I’m going to the beach,” said the Alhambra-born Pettibone, who last showed here at Tortue Gallery in 1987, and will arrive in Los Angeles on Monday. His show runs through May 14.

CURRENTS

The California Afro-American Museum has received two large sculptures by acclaimed Chicago-based sculptor Martin Puryear. The pieces, “She” (8’ by 3’6” by 9’11”) and “Her” (5’6” by 8’ by 9’6”), are constructed of red cedar and Douglas fir, and are on view at the museum. An official dedication ceremony, which will be attended by the donors of the works--New York-based collectors Harry and Linda Macklowe--will be held at the museum on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies is soliciting proposals from artists, curators, critics and others for a series of exhibitions in 1990 on the topic of censorship as it relates to current events, or within a broader historical and/or philosophical framework. One-page proposals should be sent by May 1 to the LACPS program committee, 1048 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, 90017. Information: (213) 482-3566.

THE SCENE

Ever wonder who the man with the slightly-long pageboy and ever-present camera who keeps popping up at openings around town is? “When I started coming to these things I noticed that the art crowd is, well, different,” said Erik Beckjord, who is putting together a photography show called “Art People” in which he hopes to put on view about 150 large prints of attendees of art functions. Beckjord says he has been working on his project, for which he hopes to amass a total of about 1,500 slides, for two years, and that he catches about three gallery openings each week.

OVERHEARD

An insight from an East Coast museum curator overheard at a recent Westside gallery opening: “In New York, we’re all looking forward to the next show at Larry Gagosian Gallery: ‘Selections from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.’ ”

DEBUTS

In his first Southern California showing, new paintings by Bay Area artist Patrick LoCicero are on view at Saxon-Lee Gallery from Friday through May 19. Called “Redeeming Dreams,” the works dramatize recognizeable objects, creating a dialogue between the objects and their environment.

EARLY WARNING

The San Jose Museum of Art is organizing a May 21-June 2 art tour of northern Italy. Highlights of the trip will include a day at the 1990 Venice Biennale, a visit to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and a tour of Count Panza’s private villa and art collection in the Lake District. Cost for the trip is $2,775 per person. Information: (408) 286-2633.

The Smithsonian Institution is holding a three-day seminar on French Impressionism in Washington from May 18-20. The seminar features illustrated lectures on the history of Impressionism and its effects on 20th-Century art. Also included will be tours of two major Impressionist exhibitions opening next month at the National Gallery of Art. The exhibitions are “Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection” (at the National Gallery May 6-Aug. 5, and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Aug. 16-Nov. 4), and “The Passionate Eye: Impressionist and Other Master Paintings From the Collection of Emil G. Buhrle” (at the National Gallery May 6-July 15). Seminar information: (202) 357-4700. Exhibition information: (202) 737-4215.

Those who can’t get to the Soviet Union to see the holdings of the Hermitage and Pushkin museums might want to visit “From Poussin to Matisse: The Russian Taste for French Painting, a Loan Exhibition From the U.S.S.R.,” which will be in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 20-July 29. The show includes 50 French paintings.

UCLA Extension is offering five courses on art connoisseurship and art history at Sotheby’s auction house in London this summer. The classes are “Assessing Works of Art” and “The Birth of Modern Art and Design,” both of which will be held from June 30-July 21; and “The Art of London’s Past,” “Collecting Antiques: An Introduction” and “Vienna 1900: The Age of Art Nouveau,” which run from July 7-21. Course fees, which range from $2,095-$3,500, include tuition, tutorials and course-related field trips. Meals, accommodations and plane fare are not included. Information: (213) 825-9676.

ETC.

Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies is seeking entries for its 1990 Annual Exhibition to be held at USC’s Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery from June 6-July 13. Juror for the exhibition is Thomas Rhoads, executive director of the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The exhibition is open to all LACPS members (entrants can join at time of application for $35). The slide deadline is April 20. Information: (213) 482-3566.

Times staff writer Christopher Knight contributed to this column.