Artists Join Forces for Naples

There are few things more fun than a good house party. But if you add some art to the mix and fly the whole thing under a nature-conscious flag of conservation, well, you have yourself the makings for an extremely excellent time. Such is the case this weekend in the heart of Goleta, when, for two days only, some of Santa Barbara’s brightest young homegrown art stars take over a freshly remodeled house on Vista Buena Road for a short-and-sweet creative hootenanny before the place gets re-rented. Even better, they are doing it all in the name of saving that sacred space at the eastern-most gate of Gaviota: Naples.

Organized by 20-year-old plein air maestro Tommy Alexander, the show will feature an eclectic mix of photography, landscape painting, collage, surfboards, and sculpture by emerging young guns like Brandon Smith, Trevor Gordon, Casey Underwood, and Eddie Luparello. The crew, all keen surfers and passionate defenders of the coastline they grew up on, has pledged to donate 30 percent of all the profits from the show to the Naples Coalition. (They’re the grassroots nonprofit that’s spent much of the past decade fighting to save Naples from the McMansion development dreams of Orange County-based developer Matt Osgood.) Explaining his motivation for throwing the show in the name of Naples, Alexander, who, along with Smith, is the show’s featured artist, explained simply, “It is pretty much my favorite place around—my favorite place to paint and just my favorite place to be. The thought that we might lose that is so sad to me and we just want to help any way we can.”

The house party with a purpose kicks off at 5 p.m. on both Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16, at 4644 Vista Buena Road and lasts until late with food, refreshments, and the sweet freeform sounds of Travers Adler. For more info on the show, visit alexanderart.tumblr.com. To donate, visit savenaples.org