SAN DIEGO--Everything about the Installation Gallery is unique--even its first fund-raiser.
Instead of merely courting the city's big benefactors for the support it sorely needs, Installation Gallery threw a "Shoestring Benefit" Saturday night and held it at the Horton Grand Warehouse in the heart of downtown San Diego--an appropriate locale for an organization firmly rooted in the Gaslamp Quarter and dedicated to aiding its struggling artists.
"The event only raised about $10,000 for the organization," director Robert Bush said, "but we kept the price of tickets low so local artists could afford to come."
And come they did. It was wall-to-wall people at the Warehouse for most of the evening as people from all segments of the San Diego art scene demonstrated support for the Installation's cutting-edge cultural activities.
Like most fund-raising events, "Artware" featured snacking and dancing. But the main attraction was an auction of wearable artworks by almost 100 local and national artists.
From minimalist to baroque, from the supremely functional to the strictly decorative, from the ridiculous to the sublime--all manner of wearable art objects went on the block.
Bidding was fierce for "hot" items, such as a T-shirt by the internationally known artist Christo, a wearable wooden tie created by Lynn Schuette of San Diego's Sushi Gallery, a blinking red necktie (modeled by Bush), a pair of aluminum glasses and an assortment of one-of-a-kind jewelry.
However, Gloria Poore's disposable, see-through cellophane evening dress with matching hat couldn't muster a minimum bid of $50. There were no takers for a $500 Laddy John Dill T-shirt, and a painted leather jacket by Carol Laventhol was snatched for only $300 by Danah Fayman (a member of the honorary committee for the event). Nevertheless, when the final results were tallied, 80% of the artware had been sold.
Although the items up for auction were primarily a testament to the notion that art doesn't have to hang on the wall or sit on a shelf, there were several pieces of non-wearable art as well, including a pair of "altered socks" by Eugenie Geb. Max Springer's striking wooden tie--definitely not for wearing--was a favorite at $225.
Installation, the city's only non-profit, contemporary visual art gallery, has filled a special need in the cultural life of San Diego since it was founded in 1980.
"We're a testing ground for new ideas," Bush said. "We're not like a commercial gallery. We don't have to decide if our material will sell--only if it is of artistic and educational value. We try to do what museums can't do."
As an alternative to mainstream art, Installation Gallery complements the museums and commercial galleries in San Diego by providing exhibition space for experimental work and emerging artists. It also caters to the more mundane needs of San Diego artists.
"There's a lot of things artists can't do," Bush explained. "They need help organizing, writing grants and finding spaces downtown. Art groups tend to be divided into different camps. We're trying to unify them as an entire community--to define a community of artists," he stressed. "We helped start the Artist Resource Center, but there are still various things to be done."
The Installation Gallery is a shoestring operation, with a projected budget for 1985-86 of only $100,500. But as Bush acknowledged, "That's still a lot of money for us to raise, although it's just a drop in the bucket for running a contemporary exhibition space."
While the Installation expects to receive $40,000 in government grants this year, its funding will have to increase dramatically to ensure its future.
"We've gotten general support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council, but we need matching support from the community. At least by the summer, we hope to raise $50,000. We're in the process of growing now," said Bush, "but there are a number of projects we can't realize because we haven't got the funding. We may get a larger space, but that's still up in the air." (The Installation is counting on a donated facility.)
