Tickets are selling fast to Santa Monica Museum of Art’s highly anticipated annual exhibition and benefit art sale.
Now in its ninth year, Incognito will be held Saturday, May 11. It will be accompanied by the second annual Precognito Gala Dinner and Art Preview event on Thursday, May 9.
Tickets for both events went on sale March 1.
On the evening of Thursday, May 9, SMMoA will celebrate its 25th anniversary at the Precognito Gala, co-chaired by Shulamit Nazarian and Bruce Adlhoch and honorary co-chairs Simon Baker, Rebecca Rigg, Jonathan Dayton, and Valerie Faris.
Pioneering gallery owner Margo Leavin and iconic opera and theater director Peter Sellars are the honorees. Each will be introduced by an acclaimed artist – John Baldessari and Bill Viola, respectively.
For more than 40 years, Leavin has been a pioneer and pillar of the Los Angeles contemporary art scene.
Owner of the internationally renowned Margo Leavin Gallery – which closes this year after mounting more than 500 exhibitions since its inception in 1970 – Leavin has represented and exhibited work by some of the most important artists of our time, including John Baldessari, Lynda Benglis, John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, William Leavitt, Sol LeWitt, Claes Oldenburg, Allen Ruppersberg, Alexis Smith, The Estate of David Smith, and many others.
The gallery’s distinguished exhibitions have featured the work of more than one thousand exceptional, challenging, and dynamic artists.
Meanwhile, opera, theater, and festival director Sellars is one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the performing arts in America and abroad.
A visionary artist, Sellars is known for ground-breaking interpretations of classic works. Whether it is Mozart, Handel, Shakespeare, Sophocles, or the 16th-century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu, he strikes a universal chord with audiences, engaging and illuminating contemporary social and political issues.
In 2009, Sellars was co-curator of “Elias Sime: Eye of the Needle, Eye of the Heart” – one of the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s most popular and acclaimed exhibitions.
The Precognito evening will begin with a cocktail reception and dinner created by the inimitable chef Alice Waters and décor designed by dosa’s charismatic founder, Christina Kim.
Precognito guests are given the first look at more than 600 original works of art on May 9 that will be available for purchase at Incognito two nights later on May 11.
All Incognito artworks are the same 8”x10” size and available for only $350 plus tax.
The element of surprise that underlies Incognito reflects the essence of discovery that inspires SMMoA’s exhibitions, education, and outreach programs. One hundred percent of the proceeds from Precognito/Incognito directly support the Museum.
On Sunday, May 12, 2013, there will be a second opportunity to purchase Incognito artworks. The exhibition and art sale will continue from 11 am to 2 pm; admission is $10 and free for SMMoA members; all the guidelines of the May 11 event will apply.
For more information, visit smmoa.org.
