Artists aren’t letting the invading corporate influence in this creative L.A. community disrupt their work or the independent spirit of their enclave

He’s cleaning up his front rooms and posting signs around his Venice neighborhood directing strangers to the remodeled 1920s’ bungalow where he works and lives.

But David Cofrances isn’t holding an open house for local real estate agents. He’s preparing to open his living room and studio so the curious can see how he converts tubs of paint into abstract expressionist landscape paintings.

Cofrances is one of more than 500 artists participating in “Venice Art Walk 2001” in May.

This annual fundraiser for the Venice Family Clinic allows artists the opportunity to meet patrons directly without having to pay commissions to gallery owners, and the public gets to see firsthand how a particular work came to be.

Artists have been as big a part of the Venice scene as the famous boardwalk has for many years. And despite rising rents amid the move of high-tech and production companies to the area, struggling artists can still find a home there as they make their way toward success.

“The event allows us to show people an art scene they may not be familiar with,” said Cofrances. “The scene in Venice has always supported the avant-garde because the city has retained its urban environment despite the influx of production companies, dot-coms and other new-media companies.”

Any expected exodus of young artists due to changes in the area has failed to happen.

“I’ve noticed the change very recently, however, I haven’t seen a real displacement of young artists,” said William Turner, owner of the William Turner Gallery at 77 Market St. in Venice. “There is a concern among residents that young artists not be lost.”

There are other vibrant artist colonies in Los Angeles, including Silver Lake and Echo Park, but Venice still manages to outshine those communities in popularity, he said.

Affordable apartments

Peter Gould, who has owned the Venice-based L.A. Louver Gallery for more than 25 years, agrees that the neighborhood has gone through a lot of changes, but says there are still $500 apartments available for artists wanting to live in Venice.

“The area is still refreshingly independent, with a similar kind of lifestyle to Topanga Canyon,” said Gould. “You have teachers living next to lawyers, executives next to artists, which makes a real neighborhood. Serious artists still live here, but their art also reflects the independent spirit in Venice that is gaining national acceptance.”

Despite the city’s beatnik and free-spirited reputation, local artists these days are more career oriented than ever before, and don’t look to painting or sculpture as merely a part-time job.

“When I went to art school in the 1960s, no one expected to make a living from their art,” said Gould. “When kids graduate today, they look forward to a career in art and know how to market themselves to gallery owners.”

For Cofrances that career has taken him all over the world.

“Artists make a better living these days than ever before,” he said. “We have learned the business of selling and marketing ourselves to gallery owners, which along with the use of the Internet has lead to greater opportunities.”

The Venice-based artist said that by marketing himself to dealers worldwide he’ll have seven shows this year from Milan to New York with 10 to 15 pieces at each showing.

“The interesting thing is that I’m not represented in California, so besides supporting a worthy cause, the Venice Art Walk is another marketing tool to bring my work to a wider audience.” he said.

In conjunction with the event, a new, if temporary, landmark will rise over Venice Beach in the coming weeks, with support from Gould and his gallery.

The soaring, 60-foot steel tower will be the creation of artist Mark di Suvero, whose piece will be the signature installation of the art walk. “Voxal 2000,” as the sculpture is called, will be constructed on a grassy rise above the newly renovated Venice Beach Plaza. The effect, di Suvero says, will be a “painting in three dimensions with the crane as my paintbrush.” The sculpture is the latest and almost certainly the largest showcase piece in the 22-year history of the event.

The art walk was launched by a number of local art lovers and health advocates who joined forces to establish a way to support the struggling Venice Family Clinic, which provides free medical services to the working poor and homeless.

Supports largest clinic

Associate Development Director Alison Dockray, a small staff and hundreds of volunteers labor to produce four days of events for art patrons, as well as supporters of what has become the largest free clinic in the nation, serving more than 17,000 people each year.

“The Venice Art Walk was formed to raise money for what was a struggling clinic,” said Dockray. “The first art walk raised $35,000, while this year’s event is expected to top $800,000.”

Elizabeth Benson Forer, chief executive of the clinic, said proceeds from the event allow the clinic to fund programs that others won’t fund, including primary health care for uninsured adults.

“They can come to us for their first check-up in six years and money raised from the event is used to provide basic services, such as shots and cancer screenings,” said Forer. “The event also allows us to fund pilot programs while we are searching for a grant.”

Last year’s festival netted $600,000 for the clinic, which operates on an annual budget of about $10 million, Dockray said.

The facility, with its 87,888 visits a year, takes considerable pressure off local hospitals, according to E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

“We are in the middle of a funding campaign to renovate and expand our facilities,” Forer said. “Every day the clinic has to turn away 20 patients because we don’t have enough space to treat them.”

Once the clinic’s expansion is completed, the facility will able to handle an additional 25,000 patient visits each year, she said.

The Art Walk, clinic operators found, is a way to bring the various components of the Venice community together.

“The Art Walk is a community art event,” said Forer. “Many of the artists who participate understand what it is like to be uninsured.”

While “Voxal 2000” makes its initial appearance on May 11, the event itself runs from May 17 to 20 and includes art tours, exhibitions, an auction of contemporary art, a food fair, children’s activities, musical performances and special receptions.