Enthusiastic Crowds Enjoy Exhibit, Auction

About 350 people attended the opening of “5X5: An Invitational” at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art on Nov. 30, including more than a hundred of the artists who contributed to the unique show. The exhibition, which is on display through Dec. 16, features more than 450 five-inch-square works of art. The pieces range from highly finished, still-life paintings in oil on canvas to lighthearted cartoons by well-known graphic artists.

“People were very enthusiastic about the quality and diversity of the work,” says Chris Rupp, museum collection manager and guest curator of the exhibition. “Many people told me that it was a show they would have to come back and see multiple times to take in.”

The featured artwork is available for viewing and purchase through an online auction with proceeds benefitting the museum. Computers are also available in the museum for bidding. The auction, a first for the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, closes Friday, Dec. 16, at 5 p.m.

“Snacks in the Balance,” a pre-study painting by Scott Fraser, has been the first to receive a four-figure bid in the auction. Fraser, a realist painter with a delightful sense of humor, recently completed a similar painting that was sent to his main gallery in San Francisco.

The piece, “Learn to Draw,” by John Baldessari, an internationally known conceptual artist, and “Figure Drawing” by John Nava, famous for tapestries he created for the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, are also receiving attention in auction bidding.