Art benefits are a great way to do good, add to your collection, and discover new artists. We have met a lot of artists by first buying a work of theirs at a benefit. Good things happening over the next few weeks:

White Box Toy Box Holiday Benefit Auction: Thursday, November 30, 6 – 9 pm

We’ve found a lot of great work at their benefits. Unfortunately their site is down at the moment. Joy Garnett has some more details.

Visual AIDS Postcards From The Edge Benefit 2006

Friday, December 1 from 6-8PM:

Preview Party on World AIDS Day
Sneak peek only — NO POSTCARD SALES. $75 admission includes one raffle ticket. One Lucky Winner will select any postcard that evening! Additional Raffle Tickets $25. Other prizes donated by Twin Palm Press, Steidldangin, PowerHouse Books, Printed Matter and more. Participating artists attend free.

SILENT AUCTION of specially selected artworks by Jenny Holtzer, Barton Lidice Benes, Richard Renaldi and others.

Saturday, December 2 from 12-6 PM:

Benefit Sale (Opens)
Over 1000 original postcard-size works of art! ONLY $75 EACH. Buy four cards and get one free. First come, first served. CASH and CHECK ONLY — sorry no credit cards. $5 Suggested Admission.

Sunday, December 3 from 12-4 PM:

Benefit Sale (Last chance)
Less crowds, but still plenty of great art! Still only $75 EACH – same as above.

Hosted by:
Sikkema, Jenkins & Co.
530 West 22nd Street, NYC

d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac) Winter Auction 2006

Preview reception: Monday, November 27, 6 – 9 pm
Preview and silent bidding: November 27 – December 2, 10 am – 6 pm

Live Auction: Saturday, December 2 at 8 pm
Auctioneer: Christopher Gaillard of Sotheby’s
Pre-auction reception: 6 – 8 pm
Silent Auction closes after Live Auction

Location:
d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac) Gallery
30 Washington Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
mail@dumboartscenter.org

View works online: from November 27 at www.dumboartscenter.org
All major credit cards accepted.

vertextList benefit: Thursday, Dec 14th, 2006 7-10pm

This vitally important gallery focused on new media is having a benefit to raise money to help pay their rent over the next year. You can still attend the party without buying raffle ticket. Raffle tickets are $200 ($150 for participating artists). All tickets guarantee a piece of art.

Aidan Savoy Gallery

Annual Holiday Benefit Party
Thursday, December 14th, 9pm
With live music by Kate Diamond
Proceeds to benefit Habitat for Humanity

Artists donating work to be raffled: Lee Bakofsky, Jud Bergeron, Terry Ekasala, Matt Hansel, Pamela Henderson, Jordin Isip, Julia Marchand, Jennifer Perlmutter, Martha Rich, Paul Richard, Jean-Pierre Roy, Nina Savill, Amy Shawley, Jill Simonsen, Aaron Smith, Wendy Weston, Eric White and more artists TBA!

Raffle tickets are $10 each. Even if you can’t come to the party, you can still purchase raffle tickets. Images and details will be posted online soon.

The Second Annual WAGMAG Benefit Art Show

Admission is free, Tickets for artwork drawing are $150
Tickets can be purchased at the gallery or online

Advanced Viewing: December 2nd-December 16th
Reception and Raffle of work Saturday Dec. 16th, 7-9
Viewing hours: Fri-Sun 1-6

WAGMAG (Williamsburg and Greenpoint Monthly Art Guide) is pleased to present it’s Second annual benefit to support it’s mission to promote the over fifty galleries throughout Williamsburg and Greenpoint, to enlighten gallery goers as to art events and give recognition to the exhibiting artists through current listings and reviews.

All galleries included in WAGMAG are have been invited to participate in this exhibition, as well as some prominent artists from the neighborhood. The resulting show will not only generate funding for WAGMAG but also reflect the spirit and personality of the Williamsburg art community.

Works will be on view from Saturday, December 2nd through Saturday, December 16th. Tickets available during viewing and on the benefit evening. A ticket for $150 guarantees a work of art, a drawing decides the order in which ticketholders select an artwork. Benefit evening, Saturday December 16th 7-9, drawing begins at 8:00.

Last night, James and I had dinner with friends at the new Klee Brasserie on Ninth Avenue. It was the first time we had spent dinner with the two of them, and they were up for the adventure of dining at a place that had been open less than a week. It’s in the old Magnifico space, but you would be unlikely to recognize it. It has been fully rearranged, with a long bar on one side. I was told that the bar there at the moment isn’t the final version.

The chef, Daniel Angerer, is Austrian, but I would describe the food as creative New York comfort food. There are elements of Austrian/Germanic cooking, plus some Italian and other influences. Not much in the way of Asian highlights.

I like the space. It’s comfortable, and the tables aren’t so close together that they have to pull one table out to seat people. I refuse to eat at places that charge $20+ for entrees and then do that to the customers. The sound level is good, which is another plus in its favor. The place was pretty full, and we could hear each other at a largish table for 4 with no problem.

The wine list is still being worked on, but the one we ordered from had a number of good deals on Austrian wines. We had a Grüner Veltiner and a Blaufränkisch both under $40. There are a number of wines available by the glass or the carafe.

The food was very good, with perhaps a little more excitement in the appetizer course. I have no idea why that is often the case, but I see it a lot when we eat out. Among the group, we had

• Shrimp cocktail with champagne mustard rather than cocktail sauce
• Chicken soup that arrived with the broth in a French press
• Char tartare with lime and golden beet “caviar,” and
• Alsatian Tarte Flambée, but was described as “Alsatian thin crust pizza.” It was made with crème fraîche, lardons, and Vidalia onions. I’m a big fan of the dish, and it was one of the best versions I have ever had. I think the next time I go, we might split it between a couple of people as an appetizer, as it was decently sized.

For main courses, we had

• Black Hog pork chop with roasted red cabbage, apples, Calvados and mustard relish
• Duckling (Long Island), slow roasted Jersey Plums, quinoa, klee honey (two of us)
• Halibut (Novia Scotia), pine nut crusted, Brussel sprouts, basil and lemongrass broth

All were very good, but I think the (perfectly cooked) duckling was a little under-seasoned. I never ask for salt in a restaurant, but this time I did. I quickly and courteously received a little dish of excellent sea salt.

The service (which was very pleasant) is still working out some kinks, as is to be expected on what I think was the first night with a significant crowd. For dessert, we had a free assortment of excellent little cookies on the house. They were yummy, but I suspect the kitchen might have been a little overwhelmed at that point and was giving out dessert samplers rather than making individual desserts. Given the chef’s Austrian background, I expect that will change pretty quickly.

Prices ranged from $8-14 for appetizers and $18-27 for entrees. For comparison, that’s around the price range of Red Cat, and slightly more than Trestle on Tenth.

There are rotating specials each day, such as Macaroni and Cheese with Maine lobster and four cheeses on Fridays, and Wiener schnitzel on Saturdays.

I’m very happy to have this in the neighborhood, and expect to visit on a regular basis. I’ll probably do an update after they’ve had some time to settle in, and we’ve had a chance to try out more of the menu.

Klee Brasserie
200 Ninth Ave. (between 22nd and 23rd)
212-633-8033

Related links:

• Eater
• OpenTable reservations

Since I stared having gallery ads on ArtCal, I’ve tried to be rather picky about what other ads are on the site. Given that my ads cost a fraction of those on Artnet, I was surprised, when looking at the magazine page today, to see an animated Acura ad at the top. Here is a (non-animated) screen grab.

I spotted this at 23rd and Ninth Avenue last night. James and I were walking with Slava Mogutin following the Bjarne Melgaard “after dinner” with the Leo Koenig gang. He told us that he once saw a poster in Atlantic City offering a reward of $50 for a missing person.

untitled (pirate), 2006, #2 and colored pencil

untitled (fleece), 2006, #2 and colored pencil studies

I liked the drawings and sculpture/installation work I saw by David Lukowski last weekend at the open studios. Check out his website for more images.

[images from his website]

This is a good idea. Pallisimo is presenting a new dance work at PS122, December 7-10, and put up a YouTube video teaser plus a website.

Emily Noelle Lambert, untitled, 2006
ink, collage, pencil, thread, drawing and collage
72 × 52 inches

We’re fans already, but I have to say Emily’s work really stood out at the Hunter MFA open studios last weekend. I love the ambition of the new large acrylic paintings, as well as the new direction represented by this mix of drawing, collage and sculpture pictured above.

Related:

• More Emily images on Flickr
• Artist page at Thomas Robertello
• Artist page at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art

I can’t stand how many times I see him described as moderate or reasonable. He is very right-wing. The latest reminder? He says he is a “federalist” when it comes to abortion — let the states decide — but he votes for federal laws against abortion. Now he also says he supports a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade. Does that sound like someone we trust to be President?

Links:

• FREEWilliamsburg
• Lawyers, Guns and Money