ART FOR DOWNEY'S SAKE

An Interview with Roy Anthony Shabla

Tell me about yourself as an artist.

I am a painter and a poet. I paint large abstract paintings in the tradition of the American Abstract Expressionists. My artwork is held in both public and private collections. I write lyric poetry and non-narrative narrative poetry and language poetry. I currently have four poetry books and three books of prose in print. I also have a cd of spoken word with music and a dvd of poetry films and I create multi-media happenings alone or in collaboration in Downey and beyond. I am also enamored with printmaking and work with prints in various media.

Did you settle in Downey for the art scene?

I am laughing right now. I was raised in Downey and there was no art scene in those days. There were a few events like concerts in the park, arts-and-crafts in the park... but I don't remember any actual culture. I remember a scandal with the Downey Museum of Art where an exhibit of nudes was closed because of public outcry. I thought I lived in the most provincial of towns ~and maybe I still do! My mother regularly took me to museums ~especially art museums~ and the idea of my hometown closing an exhibit of diaphanous, abstract nude figures was an embarrassment. You really couldn't see any of the good stuff but, nevertheless, it was banned. My professional biographies still state I am from the “Los Angeles area”!!!

But Downey is like quicksand, you never really get out. When I started college, I lived in other cities. And when I dropped out of college, I lived in Europe for a couple years. Those were very productive times, creatively, and I miss them. I miss the culture of those years. But personal matters brought me back to Downey and here I am.

Several years ago, I attempted to connect with local artists. I posted on craigslist, I put fliers at the Downey City Library, I explored transitional areas around Downey... with very limited results. Even though I had season tickets with my mother to the Hollywood Bowl and then, when it premiered, the Los Angeles Opera, I felt alienated from the Downey Symphony and the Civic Light Opera. I wasn't looking in my hometown for what old people had created; I was looking for kids like me who were right now scraping out some new sort of art... and I couldn't find it.

Since that time, the internet and social media have changed the world. After lecturing a dear friend and collaborator in Portland, Oregon about art culture and his artwork, I told myself I needed to listen to my own words. And I found the newly-formed Downey Arts Coalition via google. It has been a distraction ever since.

What do you think of the art scene in Downey now?

It is true that things are happening here. Some wonderful things are happening. But the community of artists and the community at large and the City government are not working together in any reasonable way to support the arts. That aspect is disheartening.

While the Downey Arts Coalition has a few hundred “soft members”, the same handful of core members show to the arts events. Many DAC board members do not show up for DAC events. And that is consistent with the Downey Museum of Art and the Stay Gallery ~ the people running the shows don't seem to have any interest or support for the arts. Neither the members of the board of the Downey Museum nor the Stay Gallery showed to the last free lecture on modern art, VIEW FROM THE EDGE, given by a world-class artist we are privileged to have speak for us. This, by the way, is a Downey Museum of Art function and yet, no one from the museum was able to attend. No one from the Downey City Council has ever attended the free lecture series and the venue is next door the council chambers and City Hall.

While the Mayor of Downey complained that local artists did not step-up to paint the public utility boxes, the Downey City Council removed the Committee for Art in Public Places (removing the avenue for public arts petitioning) and then painted over the utility box I spent three weeks turning into a piece of art. (A documentary on my utility box artwork, WE ARE NOW, is posted to my website, roytube.com) And the Downey City Council has done nothing to return the Downey Museum of Art, after many years without a site, to its home nor get it into another home. Despite regular petitioning. These are not steps in a positive direction.

There are now several arts groups and a city-funded art gallery (Stay Gallery) in Downey. Yes, things are beginning to happen. But I feel that for this movement in the arts to survive, two things are needed. One, education. And two, arts-community alliances.

Many of the people running the arts groups have no arts education whatsoever. There are board members of several groups making decisions who have never been to an art museum. So I started the VIEW FROM THE EDGE free monthly lectures on modern art. World-class lecturers on various aspects of modern art have donated their time to lecture for free in Downey. Attendance has been poor.

I also put together a community art fair, STATE OF THE ART, to introduce the different arts groups to each other and to the community. But apathy prevailed. Our local art gallery, Stay Gallery, was a no-show. The only art store in Downey, Neil's, refused to participate. Other arts groups in Downey would not even respond. It was a lovely day for those who attended (live music, poetry readings, art vendors, crafts for kids...) but once again, attendance was poor.

I realize I sound negative about the arts culture in the City of Downey. It is the current trend to be a cheerleader for everything Downey but that is neither honest nor realistic. And thus far, sugar-coated cheerleading has not produced a positive result. Affirmations are a lie. If this arts renaissance is to survive, we must all work together and support each other. I have been working to make this happen.

What is working in the local arts scene is surprising, however. I started two different poetry groups in Downey and each is thriving with little crossover. I manage only one group now, the green salon, but the other is also going strong. No one expected the only monthly fine arts events in Downey, especially from the Downey Arts Coalition, would be poetry series' and yet, there it is. (Please note: the Downey Arts Coalition also produces the Movie Club, a free monthly screening of movie-lover type movies ~which, incidentally, has also had poor attendance despite its excellent and enthusiastic curation.)

The play reading series, Urban Acts, also worked well. Live readings of the work of local playwrights were well attended and good evenings. One reading was in conjunction with a graffiti show I curated, AMERICA IS AN ILLUSION.

It will be interesting to see how the arts scene in Downey evolves over the next few years. I curated free public arts events in Downey and elsewhere in the past and am currently curating the green salon, THE VIEW FROM THE EDGE (both the lectures and a tv night), and have tried to initiate Downey artist studio tours, fine art exhibitions, avant garde outdoor events... but enthusiasm doesn't equal participation. The best single day of art in the recent history of this city is MAKE MUSIC DOWNEY. We need more of that kind of thing.

In the future, I am hoping to see in Downey the production of good quality avant garde theater and music. I am hoping to see the art museum find a home. And I am hoping we attract other art galleries ~especially fine art galleries~ so we can begin a monthly artwalk with our community gallery. But a bright future is not something that happens without work. It takes a committed local government and community and a spark of creativity!