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HOUSTON [[column 1]] Harithas feels houses have as much to do with the generation preceding as with the current owner's own aesthetic appetites. "I grew up in a Victorian thing," she says. "It had three floors and secret closets, all the things you love. It was my mother's rebellion against the formality of my grandmother's generation, really. [Haritha's mother was an O'Connor of the legendary Victoria, Texas, family.] She had grown up in a very formal house where you couldn't touch anything. My mother, I think, deliberately made her own house just the opposite. I think I probably fall somewhere in between." And so she does - in both Houston and New York houses - with important blue-chip art always leavened by such inevitable tongue-in-cheek touches as the special banister artist Larry Fuente constructed out of antique firearms for the New York apartment and the magic-carpet bed in Houston. "Actually, the bed used to be much better," she says, "because the children were allowed to scribble all over the [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] posters and leave their initials and teeth marks. One day, I came home, though, and the maid had painted them. Of course, she was quite proud of her handiwork, but we were just sick." The collectors have opted to keep most of the Texas artists' work in the Houston house, changing it from time to time as the mood strikes. "People from out of town are always stopping by, and they usually want to see some Texas art," Harithas explains. "This way, the house makes a sort of little museum of surprisingly indigenous artists." The same paradox that makes her two addresses part museum, part fun house also makes Harithas a force to reckon with in the art world. Outspoken, flamboyant, and deliberately unconventional, she delights in the shock effect that results from simply being herself. And yet, as the fuel behind a growing fire, she is making an invaluable contribution to late-20th-century arts not only by putting together critically successful shows, but also by garnering the in- [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] terest of museums and art foundations, thereby allowing those shows to travel internationally. "My whole life has been devoted to a belief in art," she says, "but I really consider myself more of a curator than a collector. As a curator, you have input; you can direct what's created by artists to a certain extent - not by telling them what to create, but by working out a concept that they will often work from scratch to be a part of. I'm interested in ideas that expand on our preconceived ideas about art, and I want to share those ideas. As a collector, you're just collecting what's already been done, buying after the fact." The fact that Harithas works feverishly to accomplish her artistic goals offers an interesting flip side to the zany, often unorthodox, facade she presents. One senses she has paid some mighty dues for the right to be controversial. "I probably couldn't afford to be so crazy," she says, "if I didn't know what I was doing." [[/column 3]] [[image]] advertisement with picture of mantel. text reads: Marbleized "Bordeaux" Gregor's Studios To the Trade Only One of 22 XVIII Century mantel design handcrafted by Gregor's Studios. (catalogue request $6.00) 1611 Dragon St., Dallas, Texas 75207 214/744-3385
