Jose A. Collazo takes a personal interest in Native American art, and he’s brought that interest to the workplace.

The president and chief executive of Infonet Services Corp. a computer networking firm started collecting textiles, baskets and pots from the early to mid-1900s to enliven the company’s El Segundo headquarters.

By starting out six years ago and adding pieces little by little, the company has assembled a collection worth an estimated $1 million, he said.

“It makes for a very interesting workplace. The employees find it very pleasant to work by real art rather than the stuff put out by factories,” he said. “We also get a lot of foreign visitors, and it educates them about the work being done in the 1900s.”

Collazo is lucky. Not only have the company’s Native American artifacts appreciated in value, he’s been able to build a lasting collection to suit his personal tastes without a lot of bureaucracy.

Assembling a corporate art collection today can be a frustrating experience. Often, companies form art committees with as many as two dozen members who bring to bear wildly differing tastes and opinions.

“When you have a large committee of men and women, the whole program becomes diluted by the many voices and esthetics you have to please,” said Rosalind Seena Pastor, a Los Angeles-area art consultant. “A large percentage of the people have never taken art history.”

Pastor uses her background as an art history teacher to give corporate committees a crash course in the subject, but she finds that companies can assemble a more focused and pleasing collection if they limit decision making to one or two people.

Tressa R. Miller, an art advisor who runs a company of the same name, said when she helped the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher choose a theme for its collection in the early 1980s, 18 people sat on the art committee.

“You can imagine when you have a table full of lawyers, you get 18 different opinions,” she said.

Committee decision

Out of that process, the firm hit upon an enduring theme: California landscape paintings and photographs. Gibson was celebrating its 100-year anniversary at the time, and the committee saw landscapes as a way to underscore the company’s history.

The law firm of Latham & Watkins prefers to keep the selection process simple as well. Its committee consists of just four people, a partner, an associate, a secretary and a paralegal, said Barry Sanders, the partner who heads the group.

The lightweight structure has made decision making easier, and along the way, the firm has assembled an extensive collection of original photography.

“It adds a sense of pride and esprit de corps for people in the firm,” Sanders said. “It’s a particular art form that’s very accessible. People stop and look at photos, while they tend to treat even fine oils as wallpaper.”

Art resurgence

For most companies, buying art for the workplace took a backseat to survival during the recession of the ’90s, but the improved economy has fueled resurgence in corporate art collecting.

“Clients are starting to take an interest in their spaces again,” said Barbara Dunn, a vice president at Gensler, the Santa Monica interior design and architecture firm. “It seems to have exactly followed the economy.”

But instead of simply plastering their walls with so-so paintings, executives today are more discerning and apt to know the names of accomplished artists, Pastor said. Contemporary artists such as David Hockney, Ed Moses, Frank Stella and Ed Ruscha are particularly popular, and limited-edition prints of those and other artists can be had at a reasonable price, she said.

Faced with smaller budgets or dwindling space, many executives are looking for other ways to help express who they are. Photography is increasingly popular, and a lot of companies, especially the dot-coms, are using graphics and other creative means to enliven their workspaces.

Douglas Martin, an L.A.-area graphic artist and owner of Design & Direction Inc., said the beauty of paint is that it can be redone when employees tire of a particular effect.

Direct Partners, a Marina del Rey direct marketing company, recently hired Martin to design a wall graphic that incorporates elements of the company’s logo. Martin came up with a design that gives the illusion of changing shape when viewed at different angles.

“Instead of sticking something on the wall, why not make the wall more interesting?” asked Martin.