A Place for the Unpredictable

Virgil Polit likes his art to talk to you. Actually, it screams if you get too close. A house frame built around a television set, Polit’s “Personal Space” is an interactive installation that explores human behavior.

Dynamic and raw, it’s part of “Spurgeon Experience II,” a visual orgy of bold, experimental works by creative minds from Orange County, Los Angeles and abroad. Polit is one of 114 artists featured in 100 rooms in the historic Spurgeon Building in Santa Ana. The exhibit continues Saturday and Sunday.

“This show is full of energy because the artists are given complete freedom,” said Polit, 18, of Santa Ana. “A lot of my art is computer controlled, and I thought how cool it would be to make it seem nervous and react as if it were human.”

Organizers say “Spurgeon Experience II” is just the kind of showcase to put Santa Ana’s Artist Village on the map.

Max Presneill, an artist and founder of Raid Projects, the group producing “Spurgeon Experience II,” hopes to make the Artist Village a destination where the avant-garde spirit thrives. Most of the artists are invited to participate by word of mouth. Presneill then selects the most impressive, unconventional works to show.

“I look for art that is conceptual and theoretically based,” Presneill, 37, said. “I look for ambitious paintings, something I haven’t seen before. I don’t want the art in the show if I’ve seen it in a dozen other places.”

While he talks, Presneill waits for the paint to dry on his wall-size, abstract canvasses. He’s created a paint bubble in one and wants to see how gravity affects it. In another series he explores negative space, shaping abstract forms from pictures he has cut out of magazine ads.

Janice Ledgerwood of La Mirada loves to build assemblages using anything and everything from a hair dryer to car parts.

“I like using things--that are made from parts of other things--to create something new,” Ledgerwood, 35, said. She is the co-founder of Raid Projects.

Each artist occupies his or her space. One room is meticulously wallpapered with glossy magazine cutouts. Another is filled with ash trays and cigarettes. Many works deal with themes such as identity, culture, human behavior and perception.

Presneill takes pride in producing a show driven by imagination and creativity rather than profit.

“This allows us to make decisions based on the art work itself unencumbered by its commercial viability,” he said. “We can stage shows that take chances and encourage risk-taking in art.”

Presneill, who lives in the Artist Village, pulled the plug on his gallery, The British Lime, to dedicate more time to Raid Projects.

Formed in 1999, the organization began as a loosely knit group of artists and curators who wanted to create a climate of excitement, inquiry and dialogue for progressive art.

Presneill began to put together small, low-budget exhibitions with local, up-and-coming artists for one-night shows in vacant buildings.

The success of the first “Spurgeon Experience” in January created such a buzz that curators and gallery owners flew in from across the nation and Europe to see the talent for themselves.

The group decided to register as nonprofit so it could obtain grants, sponsorships and endowments.

Even with the recognition and its nonprofit status, Raid Projects is still operating on a shoestring budget. There isn’t enough money for hotels for the international artists, who either room with friends or crash in sleeping bags in the galleries.

“We don’t have a bank account for the shows,” Presneill said. “We’re trying to scrounge up the money where we can, like asking the artists to put in $10 for the cost of the promotional postcards.”

Since Raid Projects does not charge artist entry fees or admission fees, it relies on ingenuity to stay afloat financially. Organizers get their office space rent-free in exchange for producing shows that generate more foot traffic through the Spurgeon Building, which in turn brings in prospective tenants.

Generous sponsorships by local businesses, such as the Pacific Law Group, also keeps Raid Projects going.

The group has plans to open a permanent gallery in Santa Ana by September and establish an international art exchange program by 2001.

Artist Sonia Rynhout of Holland looks forward to having a stimulating environment to showcase her deconstructionist paintings.

“ ‘The Spurgeon Experience’ is an opportunity to create works in environments that are unpredictable, and that adds to the art,” she said. “That’s part of the experience, and that’s what’s most important.”

* “Spurgeon Experience II,” at the Spurgeon Building, 206 W. 4th St., Santa Ana. Saturday and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Admission is free. (714) 541-5114.