[poll id=”115″]
The Santa Ana Artists Village celebrated ten years of existence yesterday. How sad that the anniversary was marked this year by the expulsion of the Vietnamese art exhibit FOB II, by the City of Santa Ana, at the behest of Assemblyman Jose Solorio.
What does that say about the Artists Village? Censorship is anathema to artistic expression. Yet there was not a peep from anyone in the Artists Village when the FOB II exhibit was shut down.
Has the Artists Village made a tremendous difference? And does the City of Santa Ana really support it?
The city spent $7.5 million to purchase and rehab the building which houses the Grand Central Art Center, which opened on Feb. 28, 1999. It is owned by the city and leased to Cal State Fullerton for $1 a year, according to the O.C. Register.
If you look at the Grand Central Arts Center staff page, you won’t find any Latino surnames. That reminds me of the Bowers Museum Board of Governors, which sports exactly one Latino, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
How many public libraries could we have opened up with the millions spent on the Artists Village? We still have only one fully functional library and it is still closed on Sundays.
And our city is exploding in crime this year. So really, has anything changed? I think the jury is still out on that one.
Don’t get me wrong. I support the arts. But spending public money in this arena remains highly questionable. And I really don’t know if this development has been that much of a benefit to the people of Santa Ana.
Art, would you please quit pedaling this falsehood that the FOB exhibit was held in the Artist’s Village? It was not. Was it held in Santa Ana? Yeah…but that’s not the same as being in the Artist’s Village.
“Yet there was not a peep from anyone in the Artists Village when the FOB II exhibit was shut down.”
Really? Would you care to amend that to “AS FAR AS I KNOW, there was not a peep from anyone in the Artists Village when the FOB II exhibit was shut down.”?
Another example of you stating something as fact when you can’t even make that claim with certainty.
As for the ethnic makeup of the Grand Central staff, how exactly is that determined by the City of Santa Ana?
#1,
I never said that the FOB II exhibit was IN the Artists Village. Why don’t you admit that it was a few blocks from the Artists Village?
If you are aware of ANY criticism by Artists Village denizens, of the closure of the FOB II exhbit, why don’t you post the links here so we can read that info?
I have not seen any such criticism on the Internet.
Art,
No, you never literally said that the FOB exhibit was in the Artist’s Village. You just keep implying it by linking the two. And if you call Broadway and 17th just a “few” blocks from the Artist’s Village, then I dare say you can’t count and again are trying to portray the two as somehow related by some sort of close proximity that doesn’t exist.
I never said that there WAS criticism by anyone associated with the Artist’s Village. How could I make such a ridiculous claim? Does any one person know every single person associated with the Artists’s Village? And would any such criticism have to appear on the internet to be somehow valid? Where do you get these odd notions?
#3,
Nice squirming. Broadway and 17th is not far from the Artists Village. It is a two minute bus ride.
I would be happy to accept any media accounts of protests by artists in the Artists Village re the closure of the FOB II exhibit. But there aren’t any, are there?
Locally, Gustavo Arellano and I wrote about this. My blog revealed that Solorio and Pulido conspired to close down this exhibit.
Squirming? Now it needs to be a “media account” of a protest in order to qualify as someone from the Artist’s Village protesting? Nice added condition there!
Again, just because there is no media account does not mean that nobody associated with the Artist’s Village protested. You really need a class in basic logic.
And now the VAALA Center is not a “few” blocks from the Artist’s Village…but it’s “not far”. LOL. Yeah, a lot of things are “not far” from the Artist’s Village. That doesn’t imply association.
Anon,
I was very interested in the story about the exhibit being shut down. I did do some searches on it and could not find anyone defending the artist or the exhibit. Really.
Lately, someone did comment on several things about the VN community and made a reference to the backwards ways of some of those who protested the exhibit, but seriously, there was no story that I could find that showed there was local art community support against the shut down.
Do you know of a link for that kind of story? I wasn’t able to find one.
RV,
Again, I’m not claiming that there is an internet link or media story, or that any single person associated with the Artist’s Village expressed outrage over the FOB exhibit closing. That would be claiming as fact something I can’t claim with certainty. Is getting media coverage the only proof that someone expressed outrage? No.
By the same token, Art cannot claim that “there was not one peep” from anyone associated with the Artist’s Village.
Anon: This is how it stands. Don Papi Pulido’s minions shut down F.O.B. II. I wrote a blog post challenging artists in SanTana (not just those in the Artists Village) to offer up their gallery and host F.O.B II. To date, I’ve heard of no such gallery. Privately, I’m told artists were outraged at what the city did but didn’t bother to speak out for their own reasons and didn’t want to host F.O.B. II because they didn’t want to attract controversy.
I don’t see where Art ever said F.O.B. II was held in the Artists’ Village. But him tying it to the censorship fiasco is a valid point, and one I also make. If Santa Ana cares so much about the arts and has invested so much money in an Artists’ Village, then it’s perfectly valid to assume a reaction from its denizens on all art-related matters in the city.
Anon,
If you say Art Pedroza can not claim there was a peep, then you can not claim that there was a peep.
RV has done a search and supports Art’s claim. His claim now is not just an opinion. Yours is.
The artist Village actually is associated with an area that incorporates the Discovery Center down to the Bowers, the Cribb Theater, Harrah’s Pavilion, other artistic type venues and ending at the Artists Village.
There are lamp post banners advertising the Artist Village on Broadway and Main from the Discovery Center to the Artists Village.
So, the gallery that did the exposition is associated with the Artists Village concept the city has adopted which includes those venues mentioned.
The creation of the Village was part of a movement to commercialize the arts through government (Redevelopment) subsidy. The idea is to create an artistic and commercial synergy (sorry) that ends up being a “destination.”
Many bureaucrats and pols who love the abstact idea of “the arts” are keen to innoculate artistic endeavor with government subsidy. When one indulges oneself in this sort of philanthropy, one does not ask for an accounting or expect a monetary dividend. The reward comes in knowing you are helping a process that the great unwashed will never support voluntarily.
Art, expecting any sort of principled protest from a Chamber of Commercized art community is unrealistic. They’ve had their shots against that.
It’s a bad trend. Not only won’t it pay for itself but it immediately converts the artistic impulse into a commercial one. It al
con’t
It also exerts government authority and government taste where it doesn’t belong (as recently demonstrated in SA).
Dr. Lomeli,
“If you say Art Pedroza can not claim there was a peep, then you can not claim that there was a peep.”
LOL. That’s exactly what I said above. Can you not read?
Art’s claim IS an opinion. He simply cannot prove that absolutely NO person associated the Artist’s Village spoke out about the exhibit closure. Neither can you. Neither can I. That makes his claim an opinion.
And your banner example is really quite laughable. Those banners do not tell a person to stop and experience the Artist’s Village at the VAALA Center or any of the other venues you mention, do they?
Gustavo,
So you’ve “been told” that artists (I assume you’re speaking of artists associated with the Artist’s Village) were outraged? Really? And are those people you spoke to able to speak for every other person associated with the Artists Village in such a way that would allow you to conclude that “there was not a peep” from anyone associated with the Artists Village and that no single person expressed said outrage in any manner possible (including kinds that didn’t receive media coverage)?
And Art has very definitely tried to associate the VAALA Center with the Artists Village. He’s tried to link the two, simply by virtue of the fact that they’re in the same city, and within a mile or so from each other.
anon,
I see where you are having trouble with all the assumptions and claims made. Fair enough.
But does it bother you at all, that not one studio or group of people came forward to assist that artist and the exhibit? SA has an art community, but that exhibit never settled in the city. It was run out of town. If anyone was protesting the closing, it wasn’t obvious.
So what’s better…a downtown full of illegal and poor mexicans or struggling artists that actually have potential and want the area to be nicer…It’s not that hard of an answer.
Johnny H,
You are so right!! It’s not that hard of an answer at all!!!
If you qualify as one of the “struggling artists that actually have potential and want the area to be nicer”, I’ll take the “illegal and poor mexicans” all day long. At least they are not self-righteous, self-absorbed racists!
And guess what…there are some amazing struggling artists who are actually Mexican!!! and believe it or not…they would like to see things improve also. That’s probably hard to comprehend in your small inbred mind however.
Go back to your patrol post along the border with the Minutemen…We don’t need your type in the SA.
Hmm, seems to me to be an “issue”. In Gustavo’s blog posting about FOB II, he specifically states that the building it was housed in was NOT zoned to exhibit art. That’s the final legal position the mayor based the closure on. Anything else is purely emotional. Expecting other galleries to host the exhibit eschews that other galleries have time and space (usually) already scheduled for months in advance (it takes time to set up exhibits). That would mean that other artists would have to be shifted from THEIR schedules to accommodate FOB II. Oddly there are always other considerations to public events that preclude a “gut reaction protest” to unfairness.
Art and Gustavo are on point here. Johnny H is on point too, only insofar as his rationale is the unofficial, unspoken one which is why AV after 10 years has largely failed the city.
Curious is also right. There is tremendous homegrown talent that gets ignored and pushed out of the city. It’s no wonder why a lot of people feel they have to bail out to Los Angeles…
Anon #12,
Art pedroza stated his opinion. He never presented it saying it was a documented fact. You flew off attacking his opinion.
A banner mentioning a venue has the purpose of suggesting to readers to visit the venue – the Artist Village with it’s many astistic venues not specific galleries or venues. If not why place a manner for the public to notice.
There is advertisement for the Main place without specifcally saying shop at any one store within the Mall – same with the banners that you find laughable.
You seem like a very angry person, chill out.
Anon: Yes, really.
Johnny: Those illegals were the ones who actually saved Fourth Street back when the Artists Village was just a spark in Cribb’s imagination. You can look it up.
California Will: Please. Art shows can be put up at the drop of a hat. And so funny that Don Papi Pulido and Solorio cared about permits with VALAA, when Thomas Gordon (back when he posted here) showed again and again how Mike Harrah did as he pleased, damn the permit process.
Dr Lomelli,
“Art pedroza stated his opinion. He never presented it saying it was a documented fact.”
Wrong. Art said “Yet there was not a peep…”. Please explain to me where that statement is not made as if it is fact. This is why I suggested he amend the statement to “As far as I know, there was not a peep…” You’re smart enough to see the difference.
And I’m sorry, but the venues you mention previously are not part of the Artists Village. The only possible relationship you can draw is that they are arts-related. If someone asks you “can you tell me how to get to the Artists Village”? are you going to send them to The Cribb Theater? I’m sorry, but the Artists Village is a very specific destination…not a loose affiliation of “arts” venues.
Gustavo,
Uhh, OK. You talked to some people.
Oh, and I can attest to Gustavo’s observation about Fourth Street; I worked downtown around 1990 and it was dead as a doornail down there. The Artist’s Village AND the Fourth Street retail corridor have played important parts in helping downtown bounce back.
Anon 20,
I am smart enough to take ” yet there was not a peep” as an opinion. Those smarter or less smart can perceive it differently. I am only giving you my opinion.
You atated that the protested art was not associated with the Artist Village because it was far from the AV.
I presented to you that other artist venues are far from the AV but are associated with the AV.
So arguing simply of a disconnection due to distance is not a good argument.
Dr. Lomelli,
“I am smart enough to take ” yet there was not a peep” as an opinion. ”
You call that smart? I call it gullible. We’ll have to agree to disagree.
“I presented to you that other artist venues are far from the AV but are associated with the AV.”
Yeah, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that too.
pinche grinogos. callate johnny h pendejo.
well said curious. i just don’t like these pinche gringos.