Actress and activist Jane Fonda is partnering with Gagosian to host an environmental benefit exhibition in Beverly Hills titled “Art for a Safe and Healthy California.” The exhibition will feature artists such as Nan Goldin and Frank Gehry and will run from July 18th to August 30th.
The exhibition will raise funds to support the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, a grassroots organization that successfully petitioned the California Independent Petroleum Association to retract a referendum threatening to overturn environmental protections under SB 1137. This law is instrumental in safeguarding neighborhoods from the adverse effects of oil drilling. “I am thrilled to be able to use my love of art to propel the fight against climate injustice while simultaneously uplifting the work of these talented and generous artists,” said Fonda.
“When [Jane Fonda] brought this urgent David vs. Goliath cause to my attention, I didn’t hesitate,” founder Larry Gagosian said. “It has been an honor to partner with her on this crucial issue impacting my home state of California.”
Other than Goldin and Gehry, featured artists in the exhibition include Shepard Fairey, Lonnie Holley, Alex Israel, Tavares Strachan, Jessie Homer French, and Hank Willis Thomas, among others.
The fundraising exhibition follows Fonda and Gagosian’s first benefit event which took place on April 9th at the same location. That event successfully raised over $14 million, featuring works from Ed Ruscha, Charles Gaines, Jonas Wood, Sarah Cain, Olafur Eliasson, Marilyn Minter, Catherine Opie, Christina Quarles, and Kenny Scharf, among others.
Then, in May, many works by these artists were auctioned at Christie’s post-war and contemporary day sale to continue fundraising. The top sale of the benefit auction was Gaines’s Numbers and Trees: Palm Canyon, Palm Trees (Series 4) (2021), which sold for $277,200.
Gagosian’s partnership with Fonda is part of a broader trend in the art world, where galleries are increasingly engaging in environmental activism. For example New York tastemakers 1969 Gallery and Charles Moffett hosted an environmental benefit exhibition earlier this year, while fellow blue-chip gallery Hauser & Wirth is ramping up sustainability policies, such as implementing sea freight to transport artworks, instead of air travel.
