L.A.’s ‘Art Against AIDS’--A Creative Contribution to Financing the Battle

The Los Angeles art world is mobilizing for “Art Against AIDS,” a fund-raising campaign to benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles and the American Foundation for AIDS Research. More than 200 artists have contributed paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures to the campaign, which will be capped with a VIP dinner at the home of campaign co-chairs Ted and Susie Field.

Plans--including entertainment and guests’ names--are still in formation for the Jan. 29 celebration. Tickets are $1,000.

An inaugural exhibition/reception at the Murray Feldman Gallery on Dec. 14 raised $700,000 and drew top names from West and East Coast society, as well as dozens of artists, buyers and browsers.

Works have been donated by artist committee co-chairs David Hockney and Sam Francis, as well as Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Jonathan Borofsky and Dennis Hopper. In addition, the campaign and benefit committees include many of the city’s notable philanthropists and arts patrons, including Jane and Michael Eisner, Edythe and Eli Broad, David Geffen, Ariadne Getty, Veronique and Gregory Peck, Richard Koshalek and Rusty Powell.

Said Hockney: “It is particularly poignant that the creative community so ravaged by AIDS has rallied together to fight the disease.”

The exhibition is free and open to the public through Jan. 29 before moving to San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and other U.S. cities. For information about “Art Against AIDS” or the Jan. 29 dinner, call (213) 552-6922.

“Art Against AIDS,” The Murray Feldman Gallery, 8687 Melrose Ave. (in the Pacific Design Center), West Hollywood. Open Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.

BRAUER’S HOUR: More than 30 watercolors and gouaches by Arki Brauer will be on display at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts beginning Saturday.

Among the most renowned of modern-day Viennese artists, Brauer was a co-founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. His works, characterized by visionary Utopias populated by amorphous creatures, have led to exhibits in many of the modern art museums of Europe. Brauer is designing the Brauer House, an architectural commission from the city of Vienna.

The exhibit concludes Feb. 28.

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, 357 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles. (213) 938-5222. Open Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

DOUBLE VISIONS: The real world rendered surreal is the link between painters Malinda Beeman and Christopher Warner, whose works will be on display at the Koplin Gallery until Feb. 4.

Beeman’s work, reminiscent of Henri Rousseau, manipulates natural landscapes with vibrant color and varying perspective. Warner uses composites of differing natural scenes, from the Los Angeles River to the mountains of his native Montana, to produce paintings that contrast the traditional American West with man’s alteration of the landscape.

Beeman is an instructor at the University of Houston; Warner was recently featured in a group exhibition at the Otis Art Institute. This is the first Los Angeles solo show for both artists.

Koplin Gallery, 8225 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 656-3378. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.