Venice painter, sculptor, and printmaker Charles Arnoldi has been making art in Los Angeles for nearly 50 years. He began his career after dropping out of L.A.’s now-defunct Chouinard Art Institute in 1968, and by his reckoning has produced more than 5,000 works. Early in his career, the abstract artist gained fame by incorporating tree branches and twigs in his pieces. His work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Norton Simon Museum, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art, among many others.
NAME: Charles “Chuck” Arnoldi
AGE: 70
HOMETOWN: Dayton, Ohio
RESIDENCE: Malibu
How often are you in the studio?
I work six days a week basically. I get up about 5, 5:30 a.m. In the old days, I used to stay up all night, but I don’t do that anymore.
How do you stay productive?
I reinvent myself constantly. I had lunch with Jasper Johns when I was a very young artist. He’s very intimidating. I went to his studio and it was just the two of us. I’m sitting there trying to think, what do you ask Jasper Johns? I had heard he had a dream about painting the American flag. So I said, “Did you really have a dream about painting the American flag?” And he said, “Yes, Chuck, and I wish I’d have another dream.”
Are you happy with your place in the art world?
I’m not a very famous, successful artist in the art world. Do you know they sold a Basquiat the other night for $58 million at auction? That’s serious money. All the news you hear about art has nothing to do with the art. It’s about the prices. When I came into the art world it was the art world. Today it’s the art market. If you’re not a million-dollar artist you’re not really any good.
So is that your goal? To be a million-dollar artist?
I don’t even think of the value of my paintings. They have no value until they leave the studio. If I was selling paintings for $1 million, I’d be scared to death.
Why?
The secondary market is very scary. People are constantly evaluating you by how much you sold something at auction for. For an artist, it’s frightening because if the auctions don’t do well, people look at that and say, How can you possibly ask that much for your paintings when they sell for less at auction?
How did it get this way?
(Dealers) like Larry Gagosian have these huge egos. I’m sure he wants to be the first guy to sell a painting for $1 billion. These power guys have realized that people buying all this stuff don’t have an art background. When they get successful, they start to buy clothes, cars, houses. Art’s usually the last thing.
Do you want to be associated with one of those major dealers?
I’m hoping some (dealer) is going to come along and knight me. If you’re in the fast-food business, you have to pick a store in exactly the right place. A half a block can be the difference of a half-million dollars in sales a month. The same thing holds true in the art world. If you took a $40 million painting over to Bergamot Station, there’s not a dealer there that can sell it. Because he can’t talk to billionaires. They don’t have a connection.
Does this affect your process?
When I’m making stuff, somehow I can get a very clear head. I never think, does this color sell? I don’t give a shit. What I’m thinking is that someday, someone’s going to say, Chuck Arnoldi was born in 1946 and died whatever year it was and he did this.
What do you make of L.A.’s place in the art scene these days?
I went to see Hauser Wirth & Schimmel (in downtown Los Angeles) the other day for the first time. They do handle a couple of million-dollar artists, but I don’t know if this can sustain itself. There are very few collectors in Los Angeles, big ones. People have tried to get Hollywood to collect, but in general they don’t. It’s exciting, and I hope it happens, but I don’t know how they can survive.
What do you think of the Broad museum?
I’ve known Eli Broad for 40 years. He and I have always gotten along really well. When he opened his museum, he did not invite me to the opening. He ignored the art world. The idea that Eli Broad would open a major museum in Los Angeles and not invite Billy Al Bengston, Ed Moses, Tony Berlant, (L.A. Times art critic) Christopher Knight – he only invited Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari, the California artists he collects – I consider that an insult. Why wouldn’t he, out of respect, invite the art scene? They started the art scene here. They made it exciting and put it on the map.
