VENICE ART WALLS
BENEFIT ART AUCTION
Tuesday June 3, 2008
6:00-9:00 PM (Silent Auction Closes at 8:00 PM)

Presented by I.C.U. Art

At The G2 Gallery
1502 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, CA (@ Milwood. 2 blocks north of Venice Blvd.)

ARTISTS (in no particular order)
Axis, Robbie Conal, Swank, Slick, Asylm, Haste, Terrell Moore, Toonz, Eye, Emily Winters, Eric “Cre8” Walker, Barry “Twist” McGee, Kofie, Erick “Duke” Montenegro, Judy Baca, Randy “Relic” Legaspi, Edizen Stowell, Steve Grody, Mandoe, Kiino Villand, Ezra Li, Juan Carlos “Heaven” Muñozh, Sen, Tosha Grantham, Mark Sadlek, JoeX2, Man One, Dytch, Michael Rababy, Sonji, Miner, Duce, Flwent, Ping Ping, Zender, Mike D. Steele, Siner, Sano, Zuco, Andrew “Nomor” Huerta, Emma Ferreira, Ruth San Pietro, Dustin Otterbach, Pose 2, Alberto Garcia Vaca, Mario, Timoi, Jennifer Kaufman, Ernest Miranda, Vyal & more…

Auctioneer: Richard Montoya (Culture Clash)

Exhibition Curators: Jeanna Penn & Stash Maleski ICU Art

The Venice Art Walls are in Danger!
The Venice Art Walls need your help. The program that issues free permits to artists to paint on the walls is in desperate need of funding. City of L.A. funding for this program is being cut due to the City of L.A. budget crises. Without a permit program, the City of L.A. has made it clear that it will close the area to painting. The area will be in great danger if this occurs.

The Venice Art Walls is the only place in the City of Los Angeles where artists can paint graffiti art on City of L.A. property legally. The area was formerly known as the Venice Graffiti Walls or the Graffiti Pit. ICU Art helped to preserve this area from destruction in 1999 when the City was remodeling the Ocean Front Walk and tore down the Venice Pavilion. ICU Art has been curating the walls since 2000 as a free, non-profit program for the graffiti artists of Los Angeles and the residents of Venice.

Come help to preserve this important cultural and historic landmark and the spirit of free expression in Venice. This is a rare opportunity to see or purchase some incredible artwork by some of California’s most sought after artists at amazing prices.

Current Program Only Funded Through July 1, 2008
The program that has been issuing the permits for artists to paint is funded only through July 1, 2008. When these funds run out, the walls will be closed to painting. All funds generated will go to The Chrysalis Project – the non-profit organization that helps to manage the Venice Art Walls program. The money will go specifically to pay the artists and other people who work as On-Site Supervisors issuing free permits to artists on weekends and City of L.A. holidays.

Info about the organizing group: www.ICUART.com

For more information on making donations to the Venice Art Walls go to:

http://www.veniceartwalls.com/donate/

Please forward this invitation to your friends.

Event Info:
$10 Admission at the door (donating artists are the only people eon the guest list)

Gallery will be open for preview viewing of the artwork from 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM No charge to view or place bids on artwork during the day.

Info line: (310) 535-7729

Silent Auction closes at 8:00PM! (most artwork will be in the silent auction)
Live Auction starts at 8:15.

Artwork pick-up is from 9:00-10:30

Afterparty is next door at The Brig, 1515 Abbott Kinney Blvd (free) 9:00PM

Valet Parking available for a fee.
Free parking is on the street on Abbot Kinney, Electric Ave, (one block east of Abbot Kinney) or two blocks south on Venice Blvd.

We will be accepting cash and checks as well as major credit cards through Pay Pal.

ICU Art Direct: (310) 359-5108 (Jeanna Penn) jeanna@icuart.com or stash@icuart.com (310) 309-7756

The G2 Gallery is located at:
1502 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, CA
supporting art and the environment
The G2 Gallery is generously donating their beautiful new gallery space for this one day event. For more info on the gallery: http://www.theg2gallery.com/

Raffle Tickets for: Art, Goods & Services – $5
We will be selling raffle tickets at this event that will feature unique goods and services from artists and businesses.

Stash Maleski
Director
ICU Art – In Creative Unity
stash@icuart.com
www.icuart.com

Curator
Venice Art Walls
www.veniceartwalls.com
(310) 309-7756 cell

Dude did it the other night.

Granted, I wasn’t breathless enough to go all Breaking News on the story (read: Treat it like news worth racing to publish).

Still, a whacked out dude in a van going demolition derby on a reported ten parked cars before reportedly sticking emergency officials trying to subdue him with a reported syringe needle before he was reportedly Tasered® by LAPD — that, my friends, at least deserves honorable mention.

There were enough emergency personnel and vehicles, media crews and local yahoos at the scene of the crime (Washington Blvd and Strongs Canal) to make you think Britney Spears had fueled up on free liquor at Cabo Cantina (picture Best Buys with booze) before getting behind the wheel to head back to the Valley.

Alas, the paparazzi weren’t interested enough in the perp on the backboard being loaded into the ambulance for BS to be involved.

Still, the subdued dude put the aggro valets from the local Italian theme restaurant to shame. I mean, at least one car he slammed looked like it had been gang-banged by a group of depraved Transformers.

I almost wish I’d parked my car in the madman’s path. I’ve been dying for a cherry red Prius to roll around Brentwood in. The insurance money could have been my down payment.

Damn you, crazy man! Why’d you go sticking a cop with a spike? You’d probably be back on the street again if all you’d done is ram a bunch of cars without hurting anybody. I do it all the time. It’s called parallel parking!

Anyway, get out of jail soon and come start me on my way to that red Prius.

Despite the best efforts and baser inclinations of passing taggers, Buff Monster again reigns supreme at the intersection of Hampton and Indiana.

As with so many neighborhood alley productions and back street murals, Buff Monster’s are subject to local forces of entropy, also known as taggers. Buff Monster’s last big production at the Oakwood site was largely defaced by the time, in recent days, he got around to getting up again.

This piece — which may include untouched parts of the previous production, don’t quote me on that — features a throng of frowning faces with hooded eyes who may or may not be some sort of admonition to future taggers: We look unkindly on hater vandals they could be saying.

More likely they mean something else entirely. Or nothing at all.

To be continued…

Not only was the design unconventional, it was done by a female undergraduate student whose parents were Chinese immigrants, and there were many Americans, primarily Redneck-Americans, who didn’t like the way that added up. It’s no wonder that young Lin picked up some negotiation skills through the process, but who could have guessed her tactics would be so delicious?

The anticipation of residents along Venice’s 25th Ave., sometimes known as the Doggie Corridor, has been building for years for Lin’s latest masterpiece, a 7500-square-foot single family home.

Neighbors had questions that ran into the double digits: Will all of our names be etched in a marble wall out front? Will there be a guest room and can we use it on weekends? When they flush the toilets will the water swirl clockwise or counter-clockwise? Will there be video surveillance and, if so, where will the cameras be aimed? Given the opportunity, neighbors surely would have come up with even more questions.

Lin was recently the guest of honor at a neighborly get-together that featured the first public revealing of final blueprints and models of the house-to-be, and some change-hating residents showed up only to boo, hiss and throw peanuts, no matter how wonderful the design may be.

But Lin outfoxed them all by serving delicacies that she cooked up herself; Baby-back ribs, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, cornbread, banana pudding with Nilla® brand wafers and a 16 gallon beer keg—effectively allowing guests to stuff their complaint holes with tasty food while getting loaded on beer! She even baked a pair of pecan pies specifically for surly author Nancy Lamb, whose property line is shared with the Lin construction site.

Lamb, who earlier had been forced to check her burning “rioter’s stick” at the front door, was won over by the pie.

“It’s in the top two desserts of all time,” Lamb confided to friends. Curiously, when asked what she regarded as the other top dessert, Lamb refused to answer.“Is it banana pudding with Nilla® brand wafers?” one asked.“No,” Lamb said, lowering her voice to a whisper, “but I do declare this pudding to be most delicious!

”The small crowd hee’d and hawed at that one. Yes, they were enjoying the keg very much, thank you.Lin, who had been working the tap on the keg for nearly two hours—“Drink, drink!” she told her new friends. “More drink for everyone!”—then made her exit just as the crowd was raving about her extravagant banana pudding, quashing all conversations about why she had put the Jacuzzi on the first floor rather than the roof area.

“Goodnight, everyone,” she said with a sly smile. “I’ll pick up my pans later.” Rudely, no one was able even to thank her, as they were all busy gorging on pie and pudding.

Since the only objections raised regarded recycling paper plates at the party, construction will begin immediately. Stuffed neighbors said they looked forward to working with Lin.

“She sure does make a fine mac and cheese,” one neighbor was overheard telling his wife. “Uh-uh, it was cheese and macaroni!” his wife corrected him. “As the mother of two, I know these things.”

But did the young mother know she had just been sold on Maya Lin’s architecture with a second serving of banana pudding? No, she didn’t. And she didn’t even care.

“I don’t give a poopie if she puts up a three-story chicken coop down there,” she said as she waddled her way to the exit, slices of pie stuffed into her jacket pockets, “so long as she keeps making with the baked goods and kegaroonis. Hells yeah, we got standards in this here neighborhood!

”And with those words, Maya Lin was victorious, having again won the hearts and minds of those who might think to challenge her. They never even got to ask her if their names will be etched forever into the house’s walls. No, there won’t be any etched names.

But there may be a coleslaw recipe in it for you if you ask real nice.