A (Benefit) Show of Solidarity

Although the inspiration came from sympathy and grief, it was an ensuing wave of practicality that led to the timing of New York art galleries’ weeklong I{heart}NY Art Benefit for victims of the attack on the World Trade Center. It began Oct. 26 in order to avoid competing with the mid-November round of art auctions in the city.

The speedily organized benefit drew some 160 galleries and alternative art spaces, invited art dealers and artists to donate one or more works to raise money that would be distributed by the Robin Hood Relief Fund. So far, the event has raised more than $1 million.

For the same practical reasons, the sale’s Los Angeles offshoot, the LA{heart}NY Art Benefit Exhibition, is taking place after the auction season. The event, Friday to Dec. 22, also falls before Christmas--in hopes of taking advantage of any improvements in the dismal post-Sept. 11 economy, as well as the possibility of artworks being purchased as gifts or simply in the spirit of the holidays.

The Los Angeles event will kick off with a reception that is open to the public Friday at the Yamagata Studio in Malibu. Artist Hiro Yamagata will donate not only an artwork--a hologram piece, characteristic of his most recent work--but part of his gallery space to display the donated pieces.

A long list of participating artists, all of whom are donating 100% of the proceeds from sales of their artworks, includes Charles Arnoldi, John Baldessari, Laddie John Dill, Mari Eastman, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Gehry (who plans to contribute one of his architectural drawings), George Herms, Dennis Hopper, Martin Mull and Chris Burden.

Fred Hoffman of Fred Hoffman Fine Art, who is spearheading the benefit, said the idea occurred to him immediately after the Sept. 11 attack--and within 24 hours he was on the phone with New York gallery owner and friend David Zwirner, who had the same thought and became the primary organizer of the New York sale. Once Hoffman knew Zwirner was planning the New York event, he decided that L.A. should become part of it, but on a different schedule.

“The New York timing was way too fast [for Los Angeles to organize], and after that the cream of the cream were going around to the auctions,” said Hoffman in an interview at his home office in Santa Monica. “There was some sense that I should try to pull this off quickly, while people were still grieving, but frankly, in terms of getting it closer to Christmas, and if we can catch a break and world events turn in our favor a little, we might be able to make more money.”

In New York, sales were handled by each gallery individually. And some galleries outside of New York participated in I{heart}NY--including L.A.’s Manny Silverman Gallery, which sold a Bruce Nauman print via the benefit’s Web site to a buyer in Seattle, and an Edward Ruscha mixed-media piece to a local patron, independently of Hoffman’s effort. Unsold pieces will remain available for another six months on the sale Web site, www.ilovenyart benefit.org, and are expected to raise the total proceeds to $1.5 million.

In Los Angeles, all the works will be exhibited in one place, Yamagata Studio--which artist Burden sees as a big advantage (a few selected works may also be available on the Web site, but not the whole collection).

“It’s out at Hiro’s place in Malibu, where a lot of entertainment industry people live, and he knows a lot of entertainment people himself,” Burden said. “Maybe this is a good way for them to support New York and also get introduced to some art.”

When the original event was in the planning stages, offshoot events were touted for the same dates in San Francisco, Washington, Miami, London, Paris and Zurich; most did not happen.

Galleries in San Francisco did organize a benefit in which part of the proceeds were earmarked for the Robin Hood Foundation, but did not raise as much money as they’d hoped.

“We were so rushed, it was a superhuman feat; we probably could have raised more for the funds if we’d waited,” San Francisco art dealer Cheryl Haines said. Despite disappointing results with more expensive pieces, Haines said that a number of San Francisco galleries did brisk business with a new limited edition of prints of “New York, New York, 1979,” a 22-year-old photograph by artist Tseng Kwong Chi of himself in front of the World Trade Center. The prints, which sold for $250, raised $20,000.

From Oct. 24 to Dec. 8, Track 16 Gallery at Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station hosted a benefit exhibition for disaster relief called “Here Is New York,” an offshoot of a storefront exhibition in New York’s SoHo district featuring photos documenting the tragedy, mostly shot by amateur photographers at ground zero. The photos, available in unlimited editions, were $25 each, with proceeds going to the Children’s Aid Society WTC Relief Fund.

For that exhibition, the goal was to raise money--but in its tradition of social activism, Track 16 also wanted to document the tragedy. A gallery spokeswoman said the gallery was raising about $500 a day selling the prints.

In the case of the higher-end LA{heart}NY Art Benefit, where works will range from $1,000 to $25,000, Hoffman believes more money can probably be raised with pieces that are representative of the artists’ body of work, rather than those done in reaction to Sept. 11 or depicting its events. He said the goal is to raise about $200,000 in Los Angeles. “Knowing art collectors as well as I do, I think they would want more typical works if they are going to add them to their collection,” Hoffman said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, I want to support the Sept. 11 effort, so I’ll buy whatever I see.’”

Contributing artist Arnoldi agreed. “I’d give something that I would consider fairly sell-able: modest size, a typical piece,” he said. “I don’t want to give them something on a theme of terrorism that somebody may not want. The purpose is to raise money and make it as easy as possible.”

Hoffman added, however, that some artists are selecting works with the mood of the nation in mind. A few artists who will be making new pieces for the sale say that while they won’t be painting pictures of the World Trade Center, they can’t help but be influenced by the rawness of recent history.

Artist Eastman selected a painting of a swan to donate to the benefit. “I’m not going to tailor a piece specifically. I’m going to make the paintings I’ve been wanting to make,” said Eastman, a Westsider whose studio is in Lincoln Heights.

“But I did quite a lot of work right after Sept. 11, because my studio was the only place I felt safe--I don’t have a job, so it was the only place I could go,” she continued thoughtfully. “And it’s funny, because the paintings are landscapes, and animals, but they are all kind of dark and somber. I made one of the Hearst Castle, and even the indoor swimming pool looks kind of dark and scary.”

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Diane Haithman is a Times staff writer.