ART BENEFIT RAISES MONEY FOR HOGAN

A festive benefit Saturday night at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Temporary Contemporary facility raised an estimated $125,000 for artist Patrick Hogan and presented a Texas man with an instant art collection.

Chris Bancroft of Denton, Tex., who did not attend the party, was the top winner in a raffle of 159 works donated by artists, totaling about $250,000 in value. When his name was drawn by museum director Richard Koshalek, Bancroft acquired 79 pieces of art, roughly half the cache of donations.

Reached by telephone Sunday morning, Bancroft said: “I’m stunned. I don’t win things. I bought 10 tickets because a friend in Los Angeles mailed me a raffle brochure and said, ‘You should do this.’ I just thought it would be a nice, generous gesture.

Subsequent winners each received half the remaining pieces until all paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs and prints were dispersed to people who had bought $100 raffle tickets.

The second winner, William Belzberg of Beverly Hills, received 39 works; Michael Joliette and Rene Robbins’ third-place ticket brought them 20. Edward Alendinning of Los Angeles won 10 pieces, and Interactive Machines, a business based in Westlake Village, landed five artworks.

Nora Klein won three pieces; Gail and David Nochimson, two, and Nancy Louise Jones won the last work given by a Hogan supporter. The final ticket drawn gave one of Hogan’s paintings to Tom Friedman and Shan Emanuelle.

The benefit party and raffle was organized by the Los Angeles art community, under the name Artists for Artists, to raise funds for Hogan. He is a highly respected artist who has risen to prominence despite being a quadriplegic who suffers from a rare neuromuscular disease.

Friends who became aware of his financial debts and his need for a van that will accommodate his wheelchair initiated the benefit. The idea attracted widespread support--bringing donations of art and services from hosts of Hogan’s admirers and yielding a far greater financial return than organizers dared anticipate.

About 1,000 raffle tickets were sold. Attendance numbered between 1,500 and 2,000, with all but artists paying a $25 admission. “It’s almost incredible,” said Stanley Grinstein, one of the benefit’s prime movers, as he announced the estimated take from the evening.