BlumHelman Gallery Succumbs to ‘Dismal’ Economy

Bad economic news continues to hit the art world, with the latest victim being Santa Monica’s BlumHelman. “To be frank, our lease is up and the prognosis for the art business is really dismal . . . so it just seems the prudent thing to do,” gallery director Deborah McLeod said of the closure. McLeod will continue to run a private L.A. office for BlumHelman, which has three spaces in New York. The gallery’s “swan song” is Robert Rauschenberg’s new “Phantom Series,” running through Oct. 26.

OTHER GALLERY SHUFFLES: The recession has also hit Richard/Bennett Gallery, but rather than giving up the fight, the gallery has left its high-priced digs on La Brea Avenue and moved to a much smaller site in Santa Monica at 2200 Main St., on the same block as Angles Gallery. “We only have a six-month lease, so this is really an interim space while the economy’s down. We always wanted to move down here, but it just made sense right now to start small,” said co-owner Richard Heller, whose new space will be known as Richard/Bennett Fine Arts. The gallery currently has a group show of gallery artists on view, and will feature Craig Roper in its first official opening in early November.

Santa Monica Boulevard’s Art Space Gallery has also joined the list of recession-hit spaces and plans to close at the end of the year. But director Lucy Adelman is organizing two special closing shows (Oct. 27-Nov. 16 and Nov. 23-Dec. 14) and has invited all artists who have shown at the gallery since its opening in 1977 to submit a work of their choice. Previous Art Space artists include Janice Lowry, Hoon Kwak, Lorraine Lubner and Judith Simonian.

EVENTS: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions holds its 12th annual LACE Benefit Art Auction on Saturday, with works up for bid by top L.A. artists including Lita Albuquerque, Greg Colson, Liz Larner, Mike Kelley, Renee Petropoulos, Lari Pittman and May Sun. Also on the blocks will be unusual lots such as a portrait sitting with Don Bachardy, a specially designed tattoo by Gronk and a private show by performance art group The Shrimps. The event begins with a pre-auction dinner at 5:30 p.m., and the auction at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $75, and the works will be previewed at LACE beginning Wednesday. Information: (213) 624-5650.

Downtown’s L.A. Artcore gallery will hold its third annual Awards Benefit on Oct. 26 with a buffet dinner, live auction and awards presentation honoring Henry Hopkins, Rachael Rosenthal and John Beezley for their continued contributions and support for the arts. Tickets for the 5 p.m. event, to be held at the Biltmore Hotel, are $75. Information: (213) 617-3274.

Films and videos by and about gay and lesbian Latinos, followed by a panel on racism, sexism, homophobia and AIDS-phobia in the arts, will be held Thursday at 8 p.m. at Venice’s Beyond Baroque. Tickets are $6. Information: (213) 822-3006.

Guided bus tours of East Los Angeles murals by the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles will be conducted today from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and on Nov. 9 from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Featured murals include those by East Los Streetscapers, Carlos Almaraz and Willie Herron. Tickets are $25 and reservations are necessary. Information: (213) 470-8864.

INSTALLATIONS: “Spiral 123456789,” an outdoor sculpture by New York artist Sol LeWitt will be formally installed in the University of Judaism’s Smalley Sculpture Garden next Sunday. The work, donated by L.A. collector Marcia Weisman, is an enamel-painted aluminum sculpture composed of interlocking metal bars. Information: (213) 476-9777.

“Workers of the Nation Agree . . . ,” a new mural by Los Angeles artist Paul Varnac, will be installed in the Los Angeles City Hall Rotunda (third floor) on Friday. The mural, produced as part of the Foundation for Art Resources’ Outside Artworks series, addresses what Varnac calls “the new landscape of labor and leisure” present in Los Angeles today. Information: (213) 672-2357.

Free guided van tours of Long Beach’s federally financed murals from the 1930s and ‘40s will be offered Saturday and Nov. 16 by the FHP Hippodrome Gallery, in conjunction with its current exhibition, “Federal Art in Long Beach: A Heritage Rediscovered.” Information: 432-8431.

DEADLINES: Grant applications are due by Friday for the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, which will award $180,000 in 1991-92. Five $15,000 fellowships will go to mid-career artists and several $5,000 to $30,000 organizational awards are available. The grants, administered by the California Community Foundation, will be announced in January, 1992. Information: (213) 413-4042.

Nov. 4 is the grant application deadline for the City of Santa Monica’s 1992 Community Initiated Arts Program grants. The city will award $25,000 to nonprofit organizations for free art programs and artist residencies in Santa Monica. Information: (213) 458-8350.