SKELETON KEY art benifit for the West Memphis Three

Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra and Jonathan Richman and others to Speak at “Skeleton Key” Art Auction

On May 12th at 6:00 PM, 111 Minna Street Gallery will be hosting an art auction for death row inmate Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three (http://www.wm3.org).

Skeleton Key will be premiering pieces by Damien Echols to raise funds for his defense.

This one-night-only event includes music, speaking, and poetry readings by punk legends Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra, Jonathan Richman, Jacob Pitts of Strangers With Candy, former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, Penelope Houston (of the Avengers), and Michale Graves (former Misfits singer). Local DJs Justin McNeal and Marco Vega will spin tunes between sets.

The gallery showing opens at 12:00 PM, and includes works by artists of both local and international fame. Pieces by Bob Gruen, Winston Smith, Shepard Fairey, Mick Rock, Jayne County and Jonathan Richman are just a few of the exhibits surprises.

The reception begins at 6:00 PM, the art auction closes at 10:00 PM. A minimum donation of $15 will be required for the reception. For more information visit http://111minnagallery.com or call 415.974.1719.

Echols’ art debut should prove interesting since he is allowed very little other than paper in his solitary confinement. One of his previous paintings was rendered in coffee. Some of the show’s featured works were co-created by he and his wife, Lorri Davis.

"Unfortunately, you can't send me any art supplies,” Echols recently lamented. “I have to make do with whatever I come across. My collages are made with a stack of old magazines.” Since his arrest 13 years ago, he has written five books by hand. Forget iPods and Blackberries—he has never even seen a web site or a DVD. As such, the digital world may be refreshingly absent from his artistic vision.

Recently, some of Echols’ friends created http://skeletonkeyart.com to display Echols’ writing and visual creations. A complete list of “Skeleton Key” artists appears there, as well as information about other upcoming Bay Area events for the WM3. Also published is an interview conducted by Anje Vela with Damien about his art.

In 1994, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were convicted of the vicious slayings of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Had it not been for two HBO documentaries, and help from such celebrities as Winona Ryder, Henry Rollins, Eddie Vedder, Supersuckers and Metallica, the world might have thought justice was served. But the camera revealed the two highly publicized trials to be bizarre, twentieth-century witch-hunts. The three teens were convicted with no physical evidence in what should have resulted in mistrials. The police botched the investigation, and lost evidence that might have exonerated the defendants. Echols awaits death by lethal injection in solitary confinement. Baldwin received life without parole, and Misskelley got life plus forty. To learn more about the WM3, visit http://wm3.org.