NEWPORT HARBOR ART MUSEUM SERIES : SHOW TO FEATURE ‘EMERGING ARTISTS’

In the highly competitive world of fine art--where quality artists can languish as no-names for years--it is uncommon for unknowns to be honored with solo exhibitions in major museums.

Such spotlight exposure usually is reserved for established artists whose reputations legitimize the time and expense needed to mount such a show.

But Los Angeles-area painters Charles Fine and Lavi Daniel, whose exhibitions open today at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, are being featured as “emerging artists” whose reputations are now in the making. Both are the latest choices for the museum’s “New California Artist” series, designed to introduce budding artists and their work to Orange County.

“We look for those people who have a track record, even if it’s a small one, but who have not had a solo exhibition,” said Paul Schimmel, the museum’s chief curator. “We look for entry level people with talent. . . . The exhibitions are expected to improve their status” in the art community.

For Fine and Daniel, the shows that run through July 26 may well push their fledgling careers to a higher level. The museum, while it is not a nationally known showcase, has gained much attention for ambitious curating, especially in Southern California.

“Being associated with it is definitely good for my future--I guess I can call this my big break,” said Fine, 35, of Santa Monica. “The museum is highly regarded, and this is a heavily populated area (so many people) will get a chance to see my paintings. . . . I can’t downplay the importance of it all.”

Daniel, 32, of Venice, is less effusive, but no less “hopeful” about his exhibition’s prospects.

“You have to hope it attracts people and interest, and you realize the impact can be significant,” Daniel said, but he added, “You can’t have a preoccupation” with what can be gained.

“I want to seize the moment, but I am ultimately less concerned with making it as an artist than making art,” he said.

The museum chose to exhibit Fine and Daniel because of a commitment and the energetic imagination of their work, said Anne Ayres, an associate curator who directs the New California Artists series.

“In their own ways, they both are very accomplished and exciting. . . . They show real potential, which is (a requirement) of the series,” Ayres said.

But while both artists may share those qualities, their styles are distinctly different.

Fine’s large oils are monochromatic and extremely abstract. He often paints a recognizable object, then covers it with layers of wax, resin and paint to give it a hazy, evanescent quality.

One untitled work, for example, features a representation of the classical Greek sculpture, the Apollo Belvedere torso, barely visible under several coats of whitish paint. The observer must look closely to see the hidden image.

“I want people to look beyond the familiar, and I’m really interested in what is not obvious,” Fine said. “My paintings seem to suspend things in a dematerialized state. . . . The key is to look beyond the surface and use the imagination to have an emotional reaction.”

Daniel, on the other hand, asks viewers to decipher the surrealistic, metaphysical symbols that are central to his smaller gouaches. He places literal figures--people, animals--in unreal settings to inspire personal associations for the observer.

“I try to fill my work with signifiers of things that are common in life,” he said. “I want to be suggestive of things that are inner. . . . The paintings are what you see and about what you don’t.”

Both artists were “discovered” about a year ago--Daniel by Ayres and Fine by Schimmel--during regular searches for talent. Although both men work in Los Angeles, Ayres and Schimmel have traveled as far north as the Bay Area, and south to San Diego to seek young artists. Schimmel said he and Ayres usually hear of artists through their museum contacts or sometimes stumble upon quality work while visiting galleries.

Exhibitions such as the “New California Artists” series are expensive--it costs about $12,000 to mount each show. Almost all of the series is financed by the California Century Club, an informal Orange County-based group composed of art patrons and collectors, museum officials said.

Despite the club’s financial support, Schimmel said, there is an understanding that the decision on which emerging artists are selected for exhibition rests with museum curators.

“We say, ‘Go and see this, we hope you like this,’ but we can’t be too subtle about telling them that this is good and worthy,” Schimmel said. “They appreciate our insights and, I think, are comfortable about it because of our expertise.”

Judy Slutzky, a founding member of the group, agreed.

“One of the main things we all get out of this is ideas on what art is good and worth buying,” Slutzky said. “Sometimes we end up getting pieces by the artists who are in the shows. . . . It helps us, the museum--and the artists.”