Artists Donate Work for Carlos Batts Fundraiser This Friday

LOS ANGELES—Members of the adult industry and the Los Angeles arts community were shocked and saddened at the untimely demise of Carlos Batts, who passed away at age 40. The filmmaker, photographer and artist was laid to rest this weekend at a moving and well-attended memorial service at Forest Lawn Glendale. This Friday there will be a fundraiser and silent auction that offers Batts' fans, friends and colleagues an opportunity to purchase artwork in his memory. The Los Angeles arts community is rallying to raise money to assist his wife and muse—adult performer April Flores—with the many costly bills incurred in the wake of his death. The fundraiser and silent art auction will take place at Antebellum Gallery on Friday, November 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. Works of art will be on display and ready to be picked up by winning bidders that night. A Tumblr site is up now where bids can be placed online: Cbattsfly4ever.tumblr.com. Some of the biggest names in contemporary art—including Coop, Matthew Bone and Shepard Fairey—have donated works. Many photographers—including Gregory Bojorquez, Patrick Hoelck, Eric Kroll and Estevan Oriol—will have work in the silent auction. Adult entertainment icons Buck Angel and Nina Hartley will also have artwork available for bid. A partial list of participating artists follows, and more are expected: Ramzi Abed, Buck Angel, Axis, Matthew Bone, Greg Bojorquez, Tommi Cahill, Jim Caron, Rick Castro, Colin Christian, Sas Christian, Chas Ray Crider, Coop, Bob Coulter,
Michael Delahaut, Steve Diet Goedde, Shepard Fairey, Ed Fox, Roger Gastman,
Nina Hartley, Chris Haston, Adam Henry, Patrick Hoelck, Kimberly Kane, Erika Keck,
Juri Koll, Eric Kroll, Victor Lightworship, Patrick McGilligan, Dennis McGrath, Dave Naz, Beatrice Neumann, Estevan Oriol, Pancho Lipschitz, Tera Patrick, George Pitts, Eric Minh, Zak Smith, Swenson Rae Threat, Tonymech, Robert Vargas, Antonio Vigil and Octavio Winkytiki. The auction will also include work by Carlos Batts himself, donated by Flores. Batts had exhibited in photography and sculpture in galleries, and a selection of recent work will be available in the silent auction. All proceeds from the event will go to April Flores for the purpose of defraying the costs associated with Batts’ passing. Those who cannot attend the fundraiser but still wish to help help Flores and Batts’ family defray expenses associated with the funeral can donate funds via Paypal to CarlosBattsMemorialFund@gmail.com, or send them to a Bank of America account under the name of Angelica Centeno, account number 3250 3004 6353. Antebellum Gallery is located at 1643 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, CA 90028. For more information, call the gallery at (323) 856-0667. Attendees must be 21 and over.