In Los Angeles this week, museums burned to the ground, many artists’ homes were lost, and a number of artworks were endangered. And with four fires currently blazing, members of the city’s art scene have banded together to raise money for artists and art workers impacted by all the destruction.
On Thursday, a GoFundMe effort was launched by artists Andrea Bowers and Kathryn Andrews, Various Small Fires senior director Ariel Pittman, Vielmetter Los Angeles associate director Olivia Gauthier, and arts professional Julia V. Hendrickson. As of publication time, the fund had already raised more than $23,000.
“Over the last few days,” they wrote in their GoFundMe’s description, “we have watched as neighborhoods that are home to many of Los Angeles’ artists, gallerists, and cultural workers burn to the ground in an unprecedented Santa Ana wind and fire event. Many members of our personal communities, and our broader creative communities, have lost everything. The ramifications of that impact are varied: some people will be able to rebuild, while others may not have the same access to insurance coverage or other resources.”
Dealers Matthew Marks and Jessica Silverman have already donated $2,000 each. Artist Dyani White Hawk, curators Rujeko Hockley and Amy Sadao, and art adviser Benjamin Godsill have also donated to the fund, which has a goal of $500,000.
Andrews lost her home this week to the fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which also claimed her collection works by Rashid Johnson, Charles Long, and Jim Shaw. She previously told ARTnews, “It’s not just the loss of stuff, you know, it’s the loss of nature, it’s the loss of a community, it’s the loss of dreams. It has a very intense impact.”
She is hardly the only artist to experience this sort of destruction firsthand this week.
A house used as a studio by artists such as Alice Könitz, Daniel Mendel Black, and Beatriz Cortez burned to the ground this week. Cortez, an alumna of the 2024 Venice Biennale, launched a fund to support the house’s owners, Könitz and Peter Kim, and has thus far raised more than $20,000. Dealer Tina Kim donated $1,000 to her fund.
Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, an artist who appeared in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, lost his Altadena home this week as well. Cortez was also seeking Venmo donations to support rebuilding efforts.
Martine Syms, who last year had a survey at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris, said on Instagram this week that her family’s home in Altadena burned as well. “Three generations under one roof and now everyone is displaced,” Syms wrote on Instagram. The family had resided there for 40 years, and is now seeking donations via a GoFundMe. Nearly $90,000 has so far been raised, with one of its donors being Syms’s dealer, Sadie Coles, who gave $3,000.
On social media, artists have also shared around emergency grants run year-round by various foundations. One such program is operated by the Adolph Gottlieb Foundation, an organization dedicated to the legacy of the titular Abstract Expressionist painter. Artists can apply for those grants, which are given out in amounts of up to $15,000, via the foundation’s website.
