Bundled Up at Art Conspiracy 5

A hip crowd in cold-weather gear packed the warehouse at 511 W. Commerce Street Saturday night for Art Conspiracy 5, the flash-gallery show with paintings and mixed-media pieces made the night before and auctioned off for charity.Since its first run inside the Texas Theater, the yearly art and music happening...

By Patrick Michels

December 14, 2009

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A hip crowd in cold-weather gear packed the warehouse at 511 W. Commerce Street Saturday night for Art Conspiracy 5, the flash-gallery show with paintings and mixed-media pieces made the night before and auctioned off for charity.

Since its first run inside the Texas Theater, the yearly art and music happening has drawn bigger crowds, and ever higher bids on the art pieces, each of them painted or constructed on same-sized panels. Bargain hunters still walked away from the last show with $20 pieces tucked under their arms, while big ticket items, including this Cabe Booth-painted Christopher Walken, fetched $700 or more. This year's beneficiary was Resolana, a Dallas nonprofit that creates training and rehabilitation programs for women in prison.

With Paul Slavens on as the night's emcee, the action shifted between live auctions and live bands. With the warehouse's bay doors thrown open, the crowd huddled under stand-up heaters to catch sets from RTB2, The Boom Boom Box, The Crash That Took Me and Telegraph Canyon.

You can check out this slide show for more photos from the auctions and the performances.

Update at 5:09 p.m.: And here's some well-edited video Ben Smithson took during ArtCon. Scored to The Crash That Took Me's performance Saturday night.

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