Funny, Sunny Beach Exhibit : Design: A lighthearted exhibit of artful whimsy is offered at the Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica. It's a witty parody of what's out there.

Funny, Sunny Beach Exhibit : Design: A lighthearted exhibit of artful whimsy is offered at the Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica. It’s a witty parody of what’s out there.

By LEON WHITESON

Aug. 6, 1990 12 AM PT

<i> Whiteson is a Los Angeles architect and author whose most recent book is "The Watts Towers of Los Angeles."</i>

While watching a weenie roast on a fork jutting from the center of his dish-shaped solar barbecue, artist David Gale ran through the many uses he imagined for his fanciful fryer.

“The barbecue could double as a hot baptismal font,” he said. “All I want to do is to stimulate ideas for enjoying our plentiful beach sunshine.”

Gale’s “Dogmaster 2400” solar barbecue, priced at $1,950, is included in “A Day at the Beach,” an exhibition of beach objects created by artists presented by the Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica through Sept. 10.

“We wanted to set up a lighthearted summer show,” said gallery owner Lois Lambert. Pointing to a pair of scantily clad skateboarders rolling along the sidewalk past her Main Street gallery windows, Lois added: “The stuff in here relates to what’s out there.”

A witty parody of “what’s out there” is reflected in Phil Garner’s made-over 1973 Toyota Corolla. Stripped of doors and roof, its motor exposed, the Toyota is painted sunshine-yellow outside and blood-red in its interior. Renamed “Restless Nature,” the “beachified” car has a electric horn mounted on its windshield and a rear fender stenciled with the gentle message: “Protect the Innocent.”

At $3,995, Garner’s Toyota is a steal compared to Peter Schroff’s $18,000 untitled surfboard.

Described by the artist as “a home entertainment center for the beach,” Schroff’s shocking pink fiberglass surfboard includes: an aquarium with live fish, a Sony TV, a bubble-gum vending machine, a radio, a beer keg, an electric guitar, a fan, a clock, an ashtray with cigarette lighter, and a live parrot.

“It’s a total beach environment--the ultimate party board for you and your friends,” Schroff said. “Everything you need to survive on the sand is here, for body and soul.”

If 18 grand is a trifle too steep for your body and soul, Schroff offers $2,600 customized surfboards to suit all tastes. Some are painted with Day-Glo sunsets. One, fit for an Indian fakir, is studded with sharp orange spikes.

In a solemn mood, Lambert said that Schroff’s surfboards represent “totem-like sources of language, music and fashion for an entire subculture” by “turning the tables on one of the most potent of all California beach icons.” Cracking a smile, she added: “They’re also terrific fun.”

Also great fun are Jim Ganzer’s $1,500 “Palm Chairs,” cleverly constructed of screwed-together, seasoned palm wood, and Philip Miller’s “Heal the Babe,” a welded steel rocking chair that looks as if it could survive both earthquake and tidal wave.

And if the present drought lasts long enough to wither palms, you could sit on the sand under Ty Bowman’s “Utilities,” a tree whose trunk and drooping fronds are made of recycled black rubber tires.

For beach cyclists, architect Gregg Fleishman has crafted an $11,500 reclining bike made of plywood and steel.

Fleishman’s low-slung cycle marries the curved, laminated wood of his well-known line of furniture with racing bike technology. “The bike has a low center of gravity for safety, and the plywood seat flexes with the movements of your body,” he said.

“Most bikes look as if they’re either impaling their rider or putting him to sleep. I wanted to make a bicycle that was both stylish and comfy to ride.”

Comfort seems less crucial to artist David Flynn. His $1,800 rocker, “Chevy ‘37,” is actually a wooden park bench mounted on the suspension of a 1937 Chevy he found lying in the street near his Wilmington studio. Also scavenged from his junk-fertile neighborhood are bolted and chained railroad ties that have been turned into a giant folding beach chess set. Entitled “Chest” it looks as if it were designed for sun-loving giants.

“I’m interested in the implications of chairs,” Flynn said. “Ever since people stopped squatting on the ground, they’ve played a million variations on the idea of sitting.”

An earnest intention to recycle abandoned objects and conserve natural resources is a theme that preoccupies many of the designers whose works are on display in “A Day at the Beach.”

Sheryl Weinberg’s sheet-steel, multi-tiered fountain is designed to make a strong ecological statement.

“My fountain incorporates both the need to keep reusing our precious water and the warning that the man-made world will rust if we don’t take care of it,” she said. “At the same time it gives pleasure during a hot day at the beach, giving out negative ions that recharge the spirit and soft sounds that soothe the mind.”