'INCOGNITO' Draws Stars, Raises $500,000

INCOGNITO, the annual popular art exhibition and benefit sale at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, surpassed its own fundraising records when it returned for its eighth year and raised $500,000, organizers announced in a press release.

Saturday's rain storm kept the line from looping around the Bergamot Arts Station as it has in years past, but organizers said that when doors opened at 7 p.m., 600 artists, actors, filmmakers and art enthusiasts filled the gallery in 15 minutes. 

Read the LA Weekly's take on the mad dash in an article titled "Incognito at Santa Monica Museum Hides Which Artists Did Which Paintings. But a Few People Can Tell..." here

More than 600 of the 700 8 inch x 10 inch pieces of art donated by mid-level and emerging artists were sold for $350 each. The proceeds will benefit exhibitions and education programs at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

On Thursday night, the musuem hosted its first preview gala to honor philanthropist and collector Eileen Harris Norton, artist Paul McCarthy, and founder of the Bergamot Station Arts Center, Wayne Blank.

Among the guests were: Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen, Emmy Rossum (Shameless, The Phantom of the Opera), Shanola Hampton (Shameless, You Again), Justin Chatwin (Shameless, War of the Worlds), Ben McKenzie (Southland), Perrey Reeves (NCIS, Entourage), director Edoardo Ponti (Coming & Going), multi-hyphenate Tony Bill (The Sting, Shampoo), directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (Little Miss Sunshine) and producer Wendy West (Dexter).