Venice Art Colony Opens Its Doors Again to the Horde of 5,000

THE SCENE

More than 50 artists will participate this year in the annual Venice Art Walk, which will be held next Sunday from noon-5 p.m. Organizers say they expect more than 5,000 people to attend the event, at which each guest will be given a map of Venice for a self-guided walking tour of studios of such noted artists as Laddie John Dill, Fritz Scholder, John Okulick and Daniel J. Martinez. Tickets for the event are $45 each and include admission to 24 special exhibitions ranging from kinetic art, to a billboard installation, to photography shows.

Among other activities included during Art Walk will be a silent auction--featuring more than 300 works by contemporary Southern California artists including Carlos Almaraz, Billy Al Bengston, Jonathan Borofsky, Sam Francis, and Lawrence Gipe; a food fair featuring samplings from 13 Westside restaurants--including Campanile’s, Chaya Brasserie, 72 Market Street and DC3; and the sale of the Art Walk ’90 poster by Peter Alexander and the T-shirt by Jeffrey Vallance.

But while the main activities will be held next Sunday, Art Walk --which engages the services of 500 volunteers and benefits the Venice Family Clinic--actually begins on Saturday. The first activities will be docent tours--led by familiar art figures such as curator Josine Ianco-Starrels, gallery owner Jan Turner and arts lawyer Sylvia Haimoff White--to artists’ spaces in Santa Monica, West L.A. and downtown L.A. The tours will visit studios of artists including Lari Pittman, Lita Albuquerque, George Herms and Robbie Conal. The cost for each tour--there are a total of six, three each on Saturday and next Sunday--is $90 and includes a catered lunch. Also on Saturday, the Art Walk ’90 dinner will be held at the Santa Monica Airport from 6:30-11 p.m.. Tickets are $225 each.

Art Walk’s starting location and registration center will be at Westminster School, 1010 W. Washington Blvd., Venice. for information or reservations, call (213) 392-WALK, Ext. 343.

Jenny Holzer isn’t just for the museums any more. In fact, even couch potatoes can now be privy to her art. Today through Saturday, TV spots by the artist will be shown during regular commercial and program breaks on Los Angeles stations KCOP Channel 13 and KTLA Channel 5.

The works were originally conceived and created by the New York-based Holzer for cable video network MTV in 1989, as part of the network’s “Art Breaks” program. Consequently, newer versions have been produced for Italian TV in conjunction with the upcoming Venice Biennale, at which Holzer will represent the United States.

The 27 spots, running from 6 to 14 seconds in length, will be aired in the early-morning, daytime and late-night slots, and are expected to be seen by nearly a million viewers. Like the rest of her work, the TV spots present deceptively simple sequences of text--such as “Private property created crime”--that mix provocative social commentary with resonant poetic reflection.

Television isn’t the only direction the Long Beach Museum of Art is branching out into. Beginning this Friday, the museum is holding a mystery/dinner theater production that will be held every Friday when exhibitions are up in the museum. The play, “Consequences,” features a tangled maze of clues that takes the audience through the Museum and its sculpture garden as they strive to solve the crime. The event costs $49.50 per person, with dinner and hors d’oeuvres included. Advance reservations are required. Information: (213) 439-2119.

OVERHEARD

“People still think the entertainment world is sexier than the arts . But if they could just hear the stories circulating these days--about things like all the older women having affairs with younger men--they might not still think so.” --A certain well-connected L.A. arts figure during a recent private reception.

CURRENTS

Noted artists Laddie John Dill, George Herms, Jill Giegerich and Peter Alexander are among the nine-person faculty selected for Santa Monica College’s new College of Design, Art and Architecture, which is scheduled to open this fall at the Santa Monica Airport. Other artist/faculty members include artist William Tunberg, graphic designers Roland Young and Deborah Sussman, furniture designer Robert Wilhite and architect Jeffrey Daniels.

College officials, who say the two-year program is the first of its kind in an U.S. community college, are currently recruiting a first class of 60 students, who will be admitted by portfolio. Tuition will be $50 a semester, and will lead to an associate of arts degree.

DEBUTS

The first solo gallery exhibition in California by artist Alfredo Jaar opens at Meyers/Bloom Gallery on Saturday. The show will serve as a followup to those who saw this winter’s exhibition of Jaar’s works at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. The gallery show, which runs through June 16, features light boxes and cibachromes depicting Asian boat people.

Twenty-two-year-old Texas-based artist Terrel Moore’s first show outside of his home state opens Thursday night at Cure Gallery. Moore, who paints large Abstract Expressionist canvases and cites the works of Mark Rothko as his main inspiration, works in oils, charcoal, acrylic and spray enamel. The show runs through June 12.

The first comprehensive U.S. show of drawings by master Japanese printmaker Utagawa Kuniyoshi opens at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design on Saturday. The touring exhibition, “Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi: Sketches for Japanese Prints,” includes 75 drawings as well as woodblock prints. It’s on view through June 16.

HAPPENING

A special benefit viewing of L.A. Municipal Art Gallery’s “The Indomitable Spirit,” which features photographic works by noted artists including Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, John Baldessari and Annie Leibovitz, will be held Thursday from 7-10 p.m. Tickets to the champagne reception are $75 per person, with proceeds going to AIDS Project Los Angeles, AIDS Hospice Foundation and City of Angels Hospice. Information: (213) 962-1600, Ext. 214.

In conjunction with the free public opening of “The Indomitable Spirit” and another Muni exhibition, “Raging at the Visible: AIDS in the City of Angels,” a performance piece by Michael Kearns and Dale Raoul called “Forget Me Not: A Collection of AIDS Letters,” will be presented at the gallery next Sunday at 4:45 p.m. Information : (213) 485-4581.

“Thomas Hart Benton,” a 1988 film narrated by Jason Robards documenting Benton’s life and work, will be screened Saturday at 3 p.m. at the L.A. County Museum of Art. The screening is free.