Richard/Bennett, Kimberly Galleries Close

The recession continues to take its toll, with three more galleries closing up shop in recent weeks.

Gone is Richard/Bennett Gallery, which had left La Brea for smaller Santa Monica digs six months ago. But owners Richard Heller and Bennett Roberts will continue independent curating and dealing while looking for possible backers to reopen a future space.

And Kimberly Gallery, which had opened on Melrose Avenue last fall as part of “Mexico: A Work of Art,” has also closed, but will continue to operate at its original Washington location.

Biota Gallery on Melrose has also closed, but is showing works by Diana Jacobs by appointment.

The news isn’t all bad, however. Diana Wong, a painter who operated Merging One Gallery in Santa Monica for several years before closing up in early 1990 to concentrate on her own artwork, has decided to reopen her gallery space at 1547 6th St. on March 26.

Wong acknowledged that she had chosen a “curious time,” but says that because she owns the property, she won’t need to depend on making a profit. She noted that she’d met several new artists she wanted to show while exhibiting abroad, such as her opening artist Saverio Terruso, an Italian she met while showing in Milan.

Also back on the scene is Lisa Feldman, formerly with early recession victim Andrea Ross Gallery. Feldman is director of the just-opened Caplan Gallery in Santa Monica. The gallery at 2224 Main St. shows emerging and mid-career artists including Jerald Silva, Jan Isak Saether and Randall Deihl, and in April will begin Saturday evening salons featuring music, poetry, performances and discussions.

In other changes, Santa Monica’s G. Ray Hawkins Gallery has moved next door to 908 Colorado Ave., the space formerly occupied by Pence Gallery; and Venice’s Human Art Gallery Studio has undergone a name change and is now known as Zeneta Kertisz-Art.

DEADLINES: Applications are due March 27 for 1992 Brody Arts Fund grants and fellowships. Fellowships of up to $5,000 each will go to as many as 14 individuals, who must be emerging, multicultural artists working in the visual arts. About 10 organizations, working in any discipline and with budgets of up to $150,000, will receive grants of $2,500 to $5,000. Information: (310) 413-4042.

Visual artists, architects and designers who live or work in Santa Monica or Venice have until April 1 to be included in an arts registry which will be used by the Santa Monica Arts Commission this year to acquire new art works. Information: (310) 458-8350.

The Jewish Federation Council’s emerging artists competition deadline is March 30. Winning works will be shown at the Finegood Art Gallery June 4-July 26. Information: (818) 587-3207.

EVENTS: Textiles, paintings, puppets, carvings, sculpture, vases and other works from Indonesia, China, Japan, Tibet, Burma and Korea are among the offerings at “The Arts of Pacific Asia Show,” at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium March 21-22. Tickets are $6. Information: (310) 455-2886.

About 25 print dealers from the United States and abroad will offer original woodcuts, intaglios, screenprints, lithographs and drawings from the 15th-20th Centuries at the Eighth Annual California Fine Print Fair, at Butterfield & Butterfield auctioneers, March 20-22. Admission is $5. Information: (213) 850-7500.

Thieves Market 1992, the main fund-raiser for the Wight Art Gallery, Grunwald Center for Graphic Arts, and other UCLA art programs, will be held March 20 at the Santa Monica Air Center. Tickets for the gala dinner, preview sale, auction and silent auction are $150. Information: (213) 825-3264.