Visual Aid encourages artists with life-threatening illnesses to continue their creative work. THANK YOU for your support of the Visual Aid LIVE ART AUCTION, held on Thursday, May 10, 2012. It was a great success! Stephanie Weber, Elements, courtesy of the artist A big thank you to Chronicle Books for being such generous hosts! “We are very proud to host Visual Aid’s auction here at Chronicle Books. Visual Aid’s commitment to serving Bay Area artists with life-threatening illnesses is profoundly meaningful: it gives artists the resources they need to continue to make art and promotes the dialogue on illness and art.” –Christina Amini, Executive Editor of Art Publishing at Chronicle Books _____________________________________________________________ SAINTS AND SINNERS at Visual Aid Gallery, 57 Post Street, San Francisco BODA NEGRA, the last wedding in the seven year series, at Semana Negra, Gijon, Spain, Midnight, July 23, 2011 Saints and Sinners is a site specific installation of selected photographs and objects celebrating and documenting works created by two collaborative couples over a period of many years. A tall column of shoes and boots encrusted with gems and embellished with pompoms are parts of costumes worn by Mrs. Vera and participants in Verasphere happenings. These joyous interventionist performances are quasi-tribal gatherings of creative people who engage passersby and the audience at street fairs in celebrating creativity and otherness. Verasphere emerged as a counterpoint to a legendary performative character called Mrs. Vera, a solitary, transgressive creature invented by David Faulk and Michael Johnstone. Vera embodies the recycling and transformation of formerly discarded materials into something of value, becoming a stand in for the many talented artists and performers who we lost to AIDS. Nontraditional wedding bouquet sculptures are installed as souvenirs of a seven year cycle of 14 weddings in six countries performed by Elizabeth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle and a huge cast of many hundreds of artists, performers, writers, photographers and helpers who came together as part of the Love Art Laboratory to create earthy, ecstatic spectacles. These mesmerizing performances incorporated multiple acts, ritually exploring themes of unity and oneness, interwoven with love, eroticism and ecology. This exhibition was curated by Julie Blankenship. Saturday, June 9th, 2-6pm – Saints and Sinners opening, part of Yerba Buena Gallerywalk, with special 2-3pm reception at Visual Aid Gallery. Exhibition closes June 15, 2012. _______________________________ VISUAL AID PILLOW PROJECT – Limited edition desings are available for purchase at a special incentive price of $150 directly from visual Aid or $185 online. Pillows are also available at Love and Luxe and Under One Roof in San Francisco. Click Here for details. Sales benefit Visual Aid artists and programs. _________________