See It Sunday: Artworks for the Cure : Cartwheel Art

See It Sunday! Artworks for the Cure: Big, Bold and Bright

Posted by Lisa Derrick

There’s a lot of wow at TJ Martell Artworks for the Cure, which continues Sunday from noon to 5pm at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. It’s smart art and smart bidding: You participate in the auction–which raises funds to research and cure childhood cancers, leukemia, lymphoma, and HIV/AIDS–by using your smart phone which will update you if a bid has come on a piece of art you’ve got your eye on. In Los Angeles, TJ Martell supports research at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, as well as providing arts volunteers who work with the young patients, helping them to express their creativity with art.

A number of those works from CHLA were on display at Artworks for the Cure, and they held their own next to established and emerging artists. And the musician artists like Leonard Cohen, Brandon Boyd (who contributed a deluxe copy of his new book, So the Echo), and Janis Joplin (her estate donated a limited giclée of one of her paintings) displayed a strong facet of their creativity–fitting since TJ Martell Foundation is the music industry’s largest charity. UCLA surgeon/photographer Richard Ehrlich’s photos based on X-rays and MRIs further accented the charity’s link between art and medicine.

Along with artwork grouped by artist or vibe, which made this more like a museum show–albeit with everything for sale–rather than a traditional “by gallery” art fair, Artworks for the Cure has several designated sections. A simulacrum of the Berlin Wall, both East and West sides, runs through part of the enormous space, with Hermann Waldeburg’s photos from both sides. A graffiti wall also allows for the viewer to become a creator, and attendees of the Artists Reception Friday night took up Sharpies and eager scribbled, drew and wrote while tasting small bites and desserts provided by An Catering.

One area is designated for those in a New York state of mind, focusing on the street art of the five boroughs, its exterior designed as a subway stop with a lifesized phot of train for tagging, while the back section of Barker Hangar, curated by Iskander Lemseffer, is dedicated to street, skate, surf and snowboard art, and includes a life guard chair decorated by artists who have shown at Lab Art. That section includes two outrageously pinstriped, metal flaked, customized cars which throbbed with color, as well surf boards and skate decks, and of course lots of art.

New on Lab Art’s roster: Panamanian-born Marisabel Bazan who brings a feminine, but not twee girlie, energy to her street-based fine art. Also on hand, Desire Obtain Cherish who is hard at work on pieces for Miami in December and Basel in 2014. There were heaps of other artists there as well, and again unlike a traditional art fair, they were moving and mingling throughout the night, rather than being stuck by their booth. The festive party atmosphere continues Sunday with food truck and the final chance to bid on the many artworks raising money for the cure. Tickets are $25 and can purchased here at this link.