Davis & Davis and the Undemocratic Democratic National Convention Show

Article by Naomi Spellman

Art curating is thankless work in Los Angeles. Exceptional artists abound, but the art-going public is relatively small, and gallery clusters are few and far between. With the exception of museum shows, exhibitions garner little attention. In spite of this-or because of it-Los Angeles artists have a history of making trouble. Home to the Feminist Art Movement and birthplace of Conceptual Art, the Southland breeds artists that challenge accepted notions of art.

When Denise and Scott Davis, an art making and curating duo from Los Angeles, were presented with the opportunity to assemble an exhibition inside the National Democratic Committee Headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, they were intrigued. Their audience was guaranteed: the day-in day-out traffic at the headquarters during an election summer. The conditions: no budget was allocated for the exhibition, and work that was deemed "too political" could be removed by the committee.

The first condition was predictable. Artists in Los Angeles operate with little support. But "too political"? Why would anyone in politics be afraid of "political"? To everyone inside the Election Committee-and most of us without-the answer is obvious. The National Conventions are tightly controlled media campaigns designed to consolidate the electorate base for November. And given the highly visible stunts of activists/artists at past conventions (Remember the 1968 Democratic National Convention? Or the WTO demonstrations in Seattle last November?), campaign committees are wary of political activity generated outside sanctioned walls.

Nevertheless, Davis & Davis took on the task. When three of the works chosen for the show were censored due to "inappropriate" content, there was little surprise on the curators' part. Some of the artists, however, were incensed. Several of them balked. A mini campaign was waged to boycott the show. One artist penned an essay on censorship. (The creators of the censored work were Sally Stein, a prominent Los Angeles cultural historian and a professor at UC Irvine, and Stephen Callis, a Los Angeles-based photographer)

Davis & Davis decided the show would go on. They faced a dilemma many curators face: an exhibition is subject to the concerns of those who own or control the space. The question is: does the value of exhibiting in a given space override the limitations imposed by the space?

For most of the artists, the answer was yes.

The opening was a success. Interest in the show was substantial. For the curators, it seemed a worthwhile investment in time and effort.

Then things turned strange. Boxes were piled in front of Randy Gavazzo's "Bushcamp" photographs, a series depicting homeless camping beneath the 405 freeway. A request was made to move two of Harris Hartsfield's looming portraits of African-American men away from a worker's sight line, because they "seemed lonely" away from the main grouping of photographs. And then the exhibition was closed to the public, phone calls went unanswered, and credit for the exhibition went to a lobbyist who acted as liaison to the Democratic Committee in an article in the Los Angeles Downtown News.

Most recently, the paper machÈ donkey head installed by Davis & Davis as part of their "Pin the Tail" installation (a spin on the children's party game) was discovered missing. The culprit? A Democratic Committee worker, who thought the donkey head would be a perfect wallpiece at the Convention. The worker was routed out after bragging about his find; the donkey head has been returned to the artists.

Davis & Davis have printed a limited edition catalogue and generated an online version of the exhibition. As the Convention date nears, interest in the Show that Can't Be Seen is heightened. Artists include Stephanie Allespach, Michael Arata, Randy Gavazzo, Harris Hartsfield, Mark Housley, Kanji Ozawa, and Barbara Strasen. Racism, housing, healthcare, women's rights, gay rights, free trade, immigration, military recruitment, campaign financing, and other issues are addressed in photos, painting, sculpture, text, and video.

If you want to see the show online-including Sally Stein and Stephen Callis' "Cornering the Millennium with a New Round of Monopoly"-log onto: www.davisanddavis.org/dncshow.