Artists Put Their Fears on Display in Santa Monica

Hundreds of people have attended the L.A. Gun Show in Santa Monica, but the visitors don’t exactly fit the National Rifle Assn. mold.

The hanging-plant-and-quiche crowd, in fact, came out in force for this occasion--a show of “art” guns at the Julie Rico Gallery on Main Street. The show featured wooden Uzis, sweet-smelling shotguns made of soap and--for those with a sweet tooth--chocolate pistols.

Its curator, Tricia Watts, said she wanted to highlight the encroachment of guns on the art community.

“Many artists are living in cheap lofts downtown. They need the affordable space, and because they’re living in a war zone they’ve had to arm themselves,” she said.

One piece attracting attention is a vulture/dragon sculpture made out of weapons that have been confiscated and destroyed by the LAPD. The skeletal figurine hangs from the ceiling and is constructed with gun parts ranging from barrels to cylinders to triggers.

The show also includes airbrush paintings, audio displays, and photographs illustrating the artist’s personal relationships with L.A.’s “tools of ill omen.”

The exhibit runs through May 8, and prices for the artworks range from $20 to $7,000.

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FALLEN ANGEL: One of “Charlie’s Angels” has fallen in her bid for Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee.

Shelley Hack, who once played Tiffany Welles on the ABC detective show, was set to compete in the 41st Assembly District for a seat on the committee, which--among other things--conducts fund raising and recruits candidates.

But a signature-gathering snafu has caused her to be disqualified, returning the race to a contest among lesser knowns. The disqualification was the result of a series of problems. The two main ones: Hack came down with the flu and the man who took over her signature-gathering did not live in the 41st District, which technically rendered the signatures invalid.

Hack notes that county election officials had previously told her surrogate signature-gatherer that he did live in the district. Still, she was not overly disappointed.

“My concern is less elective office and politics,” she said. “My concern is community service, and there’s plenty to do.”

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AD CAMPAIGN: Laura Huxley’s conference, “Children: Our Ultimate Investment,” starts April 28. But the 82-year-old widow of author Aldous Huxley got off to an early start last week by staging a demonstration to denounce a jeans advertisement.

Her target was a sign on Sunset Boulevard showing a baby with a leash around its neck and the message, “A child is the ultimate pet.”

“This depiction of children is the kind of thing which contributes to the abuse and neglect of children,” says Huxley, a writer, therapist and lecturer. “(It) shows the lack of awareness people have about children’s sensitivity and intelligence.”

Not so, says Heiner Maasjost of Backer Spielvogel Bates Inc., the advertising company running the Joop Jeans campaign.

“This is a satirical interpretation of an attitude some people have in our society that use children as props,” he said. “. . . The purpose of the ad was to put a mirror on the face of society to show that this is not right.”

Huxley, who is organizing her conference on children this month to celebrate the centenary of her husband’s birth, plans to urge a boycott of Joop Jeans.