chamber of commerce discovers way to help struggling Painters Karl Abramovic is explaining the meaning behind the painting he has just completed: It’s a king pushing a hot dog cart. “I did it for people starting their own business and striving to move up and do better,” he says. The symbolism might just as well refer to Abramovic and the 20 or so artists who are taking part in a first-of-its-kind meeting of the worlds of commerce and culture: an art show sponsored by the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce later this month. Until now, most of the artists have toiled in relative obscurity, showing their works on the sidewalks and small cafes of North Hollywood. Now they are hitching their stars to the chamber, hoping that, just as in the 15th century when the Medicis financed the Renaissance, they too can find benefactors in the business community. “Typically, we get 200 to 300 people (at our shows), but they’re artists who don’t have money,” said Kenney McCulloch, one of the show’s organizers. “This will be nice because the people can actually afford (the artwork).” Unlike the work they usually do, the pieces that the artists have signed on to do for the chamber exhibit focus on what for them is an unusual theme: business. The notion so far has resulted in an abstract painting of a $20 bill, a portrait of a construction worker, homage to Howard Hughes and a variation on the Absolut Vodka advertising theme called Absolut Woman. And the hot dog king, of course. “At first, it seemed really bizarre,” said McCulloch of the idea of combining art and business themes. “But there are a lot of ways you can go with it.” Joe Hooven, the chamber’s president-elect, came up with the idea for the show after seeing another exhibit McCulloch had organized. An art collector himself, Hooven wanted to bring the emerging artists’ colony together with the chamber’s membership. “Looking back, business people like the Rockefellers and Norton Simon and J. Paul Getty have always been very supportive of artists,” said Hooven. “It’s a kind of consciousness-raising effort so business people and the artists can meet and mingle and learn more about each other.” “The Art of Business,” which will serve as the chamber’s end-of-year mixer on Nov. 30, will cost about $2,000 to produce, an amount that will be offset by several sponsors who see the chance to attach their names to a worthy cause and broaden their reach at the same time. “It’s difficult for artists to get into galleries,” said McCulloch. “This gives artists the chance to be in that atmosphere.”
