L.A. ART FAIR OFF TO A SLEEPY START

Los Angeles’ first International Contemporary Art Fair got off to a sleepy start Thursday as about 130 dealers began to display everything from the latest in Italian realism to glitzy constructions by America’s Post-Pop set. Sporadic queues formed at turnstiles in the Los Angeles Convention Center--where the fair continues from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., today and Sunday--but the cavernous space seemed largely populated by an eclectic assortment of artworks and worried dealers.

Top contemporary art dealers have come from as far as France, Germany and Zimbabwe--and as close as downtown Los Angeles--to show and sell their wares in what amounts to a fine-art trade show. The first such event ever to attract prestigious galleries to Los Angeles, the four-day fair seems to be enduring a painful birth as exhibitors question its viability and future.

Counseling patience, New York dealer Phyllis Kind said, “These things have a kind of seeding period.” A veteran of seven similar fairs in Chicago, Kind said she had watched that event grow into a show eagerly awaited by thousands of buyers who “save up all year and rush in to buy” as soon as the doors open.

“It takes two or three times at a fair before you can really tell what it has brought you,” agreed Myricae Merlo of Forni Galleria in Bologna. “The second one should be better.”

While the dealers reserved judgment, hoping that traffic will build to a big crowd over the weekend, the mood ran from quiet hysteria to cautious optimism.

Trying to account for disappointing attendance at Wednesday night’s “Gala Benefit Preview” (in support of the homeless) and early Thursday, some dealers blamed a lack of publicity. “Almost nothing has been done. It’s a scandal,” Merlo said.

In fact, the fair was promoted in full-page magazine and newspaper ads, radio and television spots and 78,000 direct-mail announcements, according to Brian Angel, who organized the event for Andry Montgomery, a London firm.

Other dealers wondered if scheduling the fair in conjunction with openings of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the County Museum of Art’s new Robert O. Anderson Building had been a good idea. In separate conversations, Phyllis Kind and Los Angeles dealer Rosamund Felsen speculated that the city might have planned too many major art events within too short a time span for people to attend.

“The phenomenon of all the museum openings may detract from this,” Kind said. “I hope your population is up to it.”

That hope has a serious ring, voiced by dealers who paid from $3,600 for a 200-square-foot space to $18,000 for 1,000 square feet, plus extra charges for lights, walls, furniture, telephones and cleaning services. Out-of-town dealers also had to pay stiff shipping and transportation fees.

Noting that it cost her Italian employer $37,000 to take part in the fair, Merlo said, “At that price, it isn’t just a public-relations venture. You have to sell and cover your costs.”

But the anxiety didn’t seem to dampen enthusiasm for the art itself, which has descended upon the Convention Center in astonishing variety and quantity. Los Angeles dealer Mallory Freeman was having as much fun admiring works by Emil Nolde, Oskar Kokoschka and Pablo Picasso--offered by the Galerie Thomas of Munich--as he was in selling the works of artists he represents at Tortue Gallery.

“Oh, I want everything,” enthused one wide-eyed woman. At prices ranging from around $1,000 to six figures, she had her choice of such creations as Viola Frey’s massive ceramic “Reclining Red Man,” at New York dealer Nancy Hoffman’s mini-gallery, or Expressionistic paintings by Wolf Vostell and other German artists in a booth sponsored by Berlin’s Wewerka Gallerie.

If nothing else, the fair gives artists, collectors and casual visitors a chance to see an assembly of modern and contemporary art from 15 countries under one roof. “No airplane ticket could do this for you,” said Alice Ovsey, whose La Brea Avenue gallery is part of the Los Angeles contingent.

Dealers who regularly participate in such fairs in Chicago, Paris and Basel generally gave good marks to the art shown in the Convention Center. “The quality is the best I’ve seen,” Kind said. “There’s an incredible range and nobody brought leftovers. The dealers are all good people.”

The fair is a first for many Los Angeles dealers, but some of the Europeans rent space at several similar events each year. “They are necessary if you want to build your market,” said Merlo.

“It’s a way to network with other galleries and to open up to collectors,” Ovsey said. “But most important, it’s a way for Los Angeles to be part of the international arena.”

General admission to the fair is $8, $6 for seniors and students. Two-day tickets are available for $12.