Art From Soul for Sale

Step into an ordinary ‘60s office building across the street from John Wayne Airport and get ready for an extraordinary assault on the artistic senses.

Near the entrance you’ll see Brian Sanghyun Kim’s “Chicken Baby,” the remains of a plucked and lacquered chicken with the head of a doll, mounted on a white shag carpet canvas accompanied by rows of shiny silverware.

That’s just the beginning of some of the strange pieces viewers will find at AAA Electra 99 Co-op Art Museum and Gallery, an open-forum artists’ cooperative in which almost anything goes.

“I would like to point out a piece from Neil Parker’s ‘My Cat Loves Me’ series to share the rules for putting up art here,” Richard Johnson explained, pointing to a dead rat shellacked to a painted panel.

“It can’t be on fire, contain live animals or have an overpowering odor--therefore, this piece is totally acceptable.”

Johnson, the 28-year-old founder of AAA Electra maintains a cavalier attitude about the works displayed at his Newport Beach gallery.

AAA stands for Any Art Accepted. There is no approval process, no portfolio or slides required and no commission taken for the sale of the art. Artists can display their works for a fee of $30 a month. “If your art’s not worth a dollar a day to you, it must really [stink],” Johnson said.

The gallery is affordable for viewers, too. Admission is $1, a lifetime membership is $10. For special events--live bands, poetry readings and game show-style entertainment--prices range from $1 to $5.

The gallery’s 21 artists are featured in a mid-size, sometimes cluttered room with a three-wing center divider surrounded by additional wall space. Artists are in charge of their space; they hang their work and are responsible for its upkeep.

Johnson, who is also head curator of the gallery’s exhibitions, admits he is drawn to artists who express disgust with conventionality, in life as much as in art. “It’s all about expression,” he said. “You can really learn a lot about a person by their art.”

Take one piece currently on display. In “My Father Died for My Right to Hang This Picture,” a photograph of Ho Chi Minh is framed in a wooden box with an American flag draped over it. Johnson said it was donated to the gallery by an anonymous woman. She wanted to share her political views with the Garden Grove man who hung a flag from communist Vietnam and a poster of Ho Chi Minh in his Little Saigon video store, setting off 53 days of violent protests.

The gallery contains more than 52 pieces of art that vary wildly in style. The artists range from students to professionals to weekend dabblers.

“Electra 99 has made art accessible to the public by displaying pieces you can either appreciate or hate,” said Sandra Callan, a Rancho Santa Margarita resident who shares a booth with her husband, Tim.

The Callans have displayed their art at the gallery for two years. Their booth offers a few drawings, photographs and collectible items, including 3-D “Star Wars” bubble gum cards from the 1970s.

“Not only does the gallery accept any art, but people who go to the gallery are willing to appreciate the things that aren’t normally considered art,” Tim said.

Sandra, 26, is a part-time mixed-media artist who has an associate degree in art from Fullerton College. Tim, 38, has a background in graphic design. He calls his art “infrastructurism”--a mix of construction materials, concrete, electrical wiring, galvanized pipe and discarded lamps.

“Selling our art was something we always wanted to do but just thought that most galleries would be judgmental of our work,” said Tim.

The Callans say they’ve had no problems selling at AAA. A gloomy photograph by Tim of Stonehenge went for $20. Sandra said her figurative drawings do especially well; she sold a pastel for $30, which just about paid the couple’s monthly rent at the gallery.

Art That Doesn’t Fit a Mold

“I bring my art to the gallery so it doesn’t sit at home,” John Lucero said.

Lucero, 42, is a resident artist at the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival who in recent years has won the city’s Banner Award and Palette Award for his three-dimensional paintings.

Lucero uses acrylic paint to create long, colorful spheres that he sets in a deep-space background. Each piece costs $20 and includes a set of 3-D glasses. Lucero also makes sphere sculptures from foam rubber.

“The art at Electra 99 is created from the soul, not for the sake of selling it,” said Neil S. Parker, 26, who lives in Laguna Beach and has been a resident artist at AAA Electra 99 for two years. His primary contribution to the gallery is hosting “Spinning Head of Big Prizes,” an open performance-poetry game show held Wednesday evenings at AAA Electra.

“Parker is the epitome of the artist that Electra was created to nurture,” said Johnson, pointing to one of seven pieces from Parker’s “My Cat Loves Me” series. In each, expired rats and lizards are mercilessly shellacked to painted panels. They sell for $399.

“Neil doesn’t kill them himself,” Johnson said, immediately clearing up any misconceptions about the artist. “He shellacs animals his cat kills and brings in the house. The crazy thing is, people buy it,” he said.

Parker’s oeuvre also includes “trash sculptures” and “doll art,” such as a piece with two doll heads with protruding eyeballs and radio wires, mounted on part of a bicycle frame.

“I began making art at an early age from garbage or things handed down to me because they were broken,” Parker said.

There are also some mainstream pieces at the gallery. Annie “Pokey” Allen is an artist who, until a few months ago, lived on a boat with her dog in Long Beach Harbor and focused on political art. Since then she’s moved to Tustin and started working with ceramics.

“It’s alternative art; it doesn’t fit into any particular mold,” said the 25-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate.

“Everyone has a different style. It’s not like walking into a gallery and finding everything looks the same.”

A Place to Absorb Creative Energy

In addition to the exhibits, AAA hosts a reception every Sunday evening for resident artists. On some nights, a dozen or so curious patrons come to the gallery and absorb its creative energy. Johnson said he generally receives positive responses from guests, although he admits that not everyone “gets it.” Still, he says, AAA has recruited 140 members since it opened in 1997. The money the gallery receives from admissions, memberships and artists goes toward rent and utility bills.

Johnson doesn’t intend to make the gallery a nonprofit venture. “The gallery was created to nurture and provide a haven for the oft-abused and neglected ‘artiste,’ ” Johnson said. “It’s a place where artists can display and sell their work without restrictions. If the gallery were a nonprofit organization, we couldn’t have punk rock bands or show Charles Manson films.”

* AAA Electra 99 Co-op Art Museum and Gallery. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.-1 a.m.; and Sunday, 6-11 p.m. Also by appointment. 4320 Campus Drive, Suite 110, Newport Beach. Admission: $1. Visitors younger than 18 should be accompanied by an adult. (949) 833-7718.