We went to the Laguna Museum’s fundraiser auction on Saturday night. It was extra-romantic as we were staying in a hotel in OC for a two day getaway and our first date almost five years ago was at the Laguna Museum and the Peter Blake Gallery across the street.
Here are some pictures form Chris Hoff’s OC Art Blog. I believe it was Chris or his wife who outbid me on a few artworks, although he lost out on a Kristin Calabrese drawing in the silent auction to Jungian analyst who bought it for the scene it rendered, not the “name brand” that it carried.
I bid on some art but it all went for more than I would spend – in fact it was pretty gratifying that I picked the work that people seemed to be interested in buying. Okay, maybe that just makes me trendy, nevermind…
Shock of the show was that Reverend Ethan Acres donated a small sculpture valued at $3,000 and couldn’t even get a few hundred dollars for an opening bid. Wasn’t long ago he could snap his fingers and get every art writer in the world to rave about him – but fame is fleeting in this game and results are what matters.
And when a roomful of rich people who have been fed, entertained, cultured and martini-ed won’t pony up a few hundred for something allegedly valued at a few thousand, the game may be over.
The Piz was the only other artist who failed to get his opening bid – but they started the bidding for a $6,000 painting at $2,500 and his was the 2nd to the last piece being auctioned, so it is understandable. Or maybe not, maybe his case is a mystery and Ethan Acres’ plight is the bluntly plain one we can all learn from: the entertainingly tame shtick of a one trick pony is no horse to ride at next year’s county fair.