AIDS Campaign to End at L.A. Auction

Art Against AIDS, a campaign that has already raised $4.7 million for AIDS research, education and patient care through art auctions and other fund-raisers in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, returns to Los Angeles in September with a four-day auction featuring contemporary art from about 90 artists.

Organizers of the Sept. 7-10 auction, which will be the final event of the Art Against AIDS/Los Angeles campaign, hope to raise an additional $300,000, with proceeds going to AIDS Project Los Angeles and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR).

“We have more than $300,000 worth of work in the auction, including a new Larry Bell painting (valued at $12,000) called ‘The Shower,’ and a brand-new Laddie John Dill valued at $8,000,” said Susan Martin, a New York publicist who helped launch the effort. The auction, which is being held at Butterfield and Butterfield, 7601 Sunset Blvd., will begin with a free reception on Sept. 7 from 7-9:30 p.m. A silent auction will also begin at that time, continuing on Sept. 8 and 9 (the exhibition is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on both days, but the silent auction closes at 3 p.m. on Sept. 9). The event will culminate Sept. 10 with a buffet dinner and live auction at 5 p.m.

“Only ticket holders (who donate $50, $125 or $250 each) can bid at the live auction, so the ticket holders have the last chance at the works.” said Martin, who explained that the live auction will continue the bidding where the silent one leaves off. “Obviously, we want to get as much for these works as we can.”

Other artists whose works have been donated for the auction include David Hockney, Richard Diebenkorn, Peter Alexander, Carlos Almaraz, Fred Fehlau, Steve Galloway, Ronnie Landfield, Peter Lodato, Masami Teraoka, Robert Yarber and Andy Warhol.

Tickets for the Sept. 10 live auction may be obtained by calling AmFAR at (213) 857-5900 or can be purchased at the door.

ANNIVERSARY: The University Art Museum will help Cal State Long Beach kick off its 40th anniversary festivities with “Framing Four Decades: The University Art Museum Celebrates the Collections 1949-1989,” which opens Tuesday.

Included in the show, which is devoted to works of art on paper, are “Ansel Adams and Edward Weston in the Ester and Fred Modern Collection,” featuring 400 works including vintage and seldom seen images by both artists; “Contemporary Masters: Works on Paper,” including prints and drawings by Jim Dine, Eric Fischl, Sam Francis, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Hockney and Warhol; “The ‘80s: Recent Acquisitions,” focusing on the museum’s photographs, prints and drawings by American and European artists, and “Photographers in Long Beach, 1900-1980,” including views of the city by both noted and little-known photographers.

Also in celebration of its 40th anniversary, the university is offering tours of the campus site-specific sculpture. They can be arranged through Sally Kurnick at (213) 985-5761.

CONSERVATION: More than $140,000 has been awarded to seven art institutions in Los Angeles and Orange counties for conservation projects. The museums and galleries receiving the federal Institute of Museum Services grants are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ($25,000), Natural History Museum of L.A. County ($25,000), UCLA Museum of Cultural History ($25,000), Laguna Beach Art Museum ($10,046), Newport Harbor Art Museum ($5,980), Wight Art Gallery ($24,997) and the California Museum Foundation, Los Angeles ($24,995).

The institute’s yearly Conservation Project Support grants are intended to help museums with such activities as developing long-range conservation plans for their collections, improving their environmental conditions, treating specific objects, and researching conservation methods and techniques. The grants must be matched by each institution.

Other California institutions receiving grants included the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco ($10,437); Chaffey Communities Cultural Center, Upland ($20,282); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco ($25,000); Kern County Museum, Bakersfield ($25,000); Mendocino County Museum, Willits ($7,415); San Diego Historical Society ($24,991); Santa Barbara Botanic Garden ($24,997); University Arboretum, Davis ($25,000); University Art Museum, Berkeley ($24,060); University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley ($22,028); Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum ($3,523), and the Zoological Society of San Diego ($25,000).

Nationwide, 1989 Conservation Project Support grants went to 243 recipients and totaled $3.2 million.

APPOINTMENT: Andrea Van de Kamp, wife of State Attorney General John Van De Kamp, has become the director of Sotheby’s West Coast operations. The appointment involves running Sotheby’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, as well as handling all business development on the West Coast. Van de Kamp was the first director of development for the Museum of Contemporary Art. She has also served on the executive committee and board of the County Museum of Art and as honorary co-chairman of the Los Angeles Task Force on the Arts.