Admit it. You’ve always wanted a velvet painting. You know that every time you walk into The Gold Standard, you’re eyein’ up that part of the bar where all of those kitschy matadors and poker-playing dogs –– and that awesome red Elvis –– hang. Well, now’s your chance to own not only your very own velvet painting but a velvet painting by a premier local artist.
From the mind of art prankster Frank Artsmarter –– who looks and talks a lot like Christopher Blay ––VELVEASL! is a live auction of velvet paintings by some of North Texas’ most popular and talented artists, including Fort Worthians John Hartley, Nancy Lamb, James Lassen, Devon Nowlin, Carol Ivey, and more. Modeled after Artsmarter’s annual Thrift Art Gallery Show and Auction, in which really bad artworks are auctioned off with a reserve of 50 cents each, VELVEASL! will benefit EASL, the Emergency Artists Support League, a North Texas nonprofit founded in 1992 to help local artists deal with the financial pressures of illness or disaster. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 3, at William Campbell Contemporary Art (4925 Byers Ave., 817-737-9566).
Admission is free. Tickets to the champagne preview that initiates the event at 6 p.m. are $20 per person at the door. Each ticket includes an auction catalog and bidding paddle. The event also will include an original video piece by Artsmarter.
For more information, contact Artsmarter at cw.blay@gmail.com or 817-308-7598.
