Artists Get Real in Santa Barbara : Art: A realm of addictive behavior goes on view today in ‘Addictions’ at the Contemporary Arts Forum.

Drug dealers, power-trippers, serial killers, money-launderers and other social pariahs are here. So are workaholics, substance abusers, gamblers and neurotics who mainly prey on themselves and people they love. Miserable and out-of-control, they are the subject of works by 24 artists in “Addictions,” an exhibition opening today at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum.

Forum regulars who are accustomed to more restrained fare may be in for a shock, but artist Walter Gabrielson, who co-curated the show with psychologist Ed Wortz, thinks it’s high time for this unorthodox exhibition.

“I have no problem with art that’s only concerned with itself, but I think a certain amount of art should be about real life,” says Gabrielson, who has been painting the pock-marked human landscape for more than 30 years. He moved to Santa Barbara in 1983 after 28 years in Los Angeles--15 of them spent teaching art at Cal State Northridge--but this is his first curatorial venture in his adopted home.

“I’ve been in this business myself for a long time, and one thing I know is that it’s very difficult for artists to show this kind of work. When I got involved with the exhibitions committee at the Contemporary Arts Forum, I thought that an exhibition about real life was something I could contribute,” he says.

When Gabrielson’s colleagues accepted his suggestion, he had to come up with an idea. He considered such self-defeating compulsions as taking drugs. “But that’s part of a larger problem. Doing a show restricted to substance abuse would beg a larger question,” he says.

Determined to examine artists’ reactions to a whole realm of addictive behavior, he enlisted an old friend. As a psychologist, Ed Wortz knows his way around the subject of human behavior, and he is well acquainted with the art scene.

Dictionaries tend to define addiction rather benignly, as “giving oneself up to a habit,” but Gabrielson and Wortz adopted a more ominous definition: persistent behavior that is self-damaging or self-destructive.

With this theme in mind, they drew up a list of artists, contacted likely candidates, assembled pieces for the show and worked with Forum staff to raise funds and produce an illustrated catalogue. The National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council provided challenge grants. All but few of the artists created new works specifically for the exhibition, which continues to Jan. 11.

Among the artists represented, James Doolin tackles Las Vegas in a big painting of a lurid casino that seems to suck zombie-like creatures into its maw. David Hall takes on religion in a mixed-media diptych, “Saint and Sinner Worship the Same Crummy God.” Hitting close to home, F. Scott Hess explores his own “addiction” to painting in a portentous interpretation of an artist’s studio.

Karen Carson’s horrific “Powermaster” depicts a cute little cowboy who is likely to turn into a monster, in a charcoal drawing covered with green plexiglass. In “Peter Pan,” on the other hand, Carole Caroompus presents a chilling indictment of precocious, power-happy boys who refuse to grow up.

Ed Nunnery takes a demonic view of a corporate boardroom brawl in “Monument to Testosterone,” a roiling scene in watercolor, pastel and charcoal. Sculptor Michael Speaker employs bronze to depict a pregnant black woman smoking crack cocaine in “Dream On.” Meanwhile, Jeffrey Vallance throws symbols of every addiction he can think of into a drawing, “Addicted Man.”

For viewers who prefer social messages in subtler form, such artists as Shiro Ikegawa, Gilah Hirsch and Gretchen Corners offer relief from the predominantly literal works.

No one is likely to miss the point, however. Gabrielson has designed a skull and crossbones logo and painted it large at the entrance of the gallery. Around the top of the walls is a border of “denial statements,” such as “I can handle it,” “Gonna cut back next week,” “I never keep any live ammo in the house” and “I can’t stand the violence but he really needs me.” A structural column in the gallery is painted black and labeled “Pillar of Denial.”

The catalogue, containing Gabrielson’s lively, impressionistic essays about the artworks, comes with a rubber glove. The publication’s plastic cover encases nasty yellow splotches and a mess of brown granular material. “You don’t want to know what it is,” Gabrielson says, but he’s pleased that the catalogue “will go out into the world” and possibly generate other socially concerned shows.

“There seems to be power attached to this idea. We’ve had an enormous response from artists all over the country who have heard about the show and want to be in it. We could have included 100 artists instead of 24,” Gabrielson says. (All the artists in “Addictions” are Southern Californians, except for Speaker, who has moved from Los Angeles to Portland.)

“It will be interesting to see if this leads to more exhibitions about real issues, and if artists can really hack it. That’s a very good question to pose,” Gabrielson says. “People generally think artists can’t deal with real life. This is one way to find out: Put up a show and see what artists have to say.” A public reception for the artists will be held today, 5-8 p.m. Composer Joyce Lightbody will present a related concert of vocal and instrumental music at 8 p.m. next Saturday at the Presidio Chapel, Canon Perdido and Santa Barbara streets in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, 653 Paseo Nuevo, Chapala Street and De La Guerra, Santa Barbara, (805) 966-5373. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Sundays, Mondays and Dec. 24-Jan. 2. To Jan. 11.