An Art Crime Story With a Happy Ending

Does no good deed go unpunished? Theft and vandalism cast a shadow over this exhibit that in part benefits AIDS/LifeCycle. But there is a happy ending.

On Sunday, March 4, Phil Tarley, curator of the Round Hole Square Peg LGBTQ photography show, opened West Hollywood's Long Hall Gallery and found it vandalized. Josef Jasso's Dita Von Teese and Jeremy Lucido's Dollar Bills, both hung on the exhibition's prestigious Wall of Fame, were gone. West Hollywood sheriff's officers searched the park and found the stolen art stashed in the bushes behind the gallery. The thief was never apprehended. Tarley spent the rest of the day straightening up the gallery, touching up the paint on the walls, but happy to have the art back for the photography show's closing night benefit.

"Round Hole Square Peg" will have its St. Patrick's Day closing night reception benefiting AIDS/LifeCycle from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Long Hall Gallery in the center of West Hollywood's Plummer Park. Painter-photographer Miguel Angel Reyes, whose Folsom Street Muscle Party photograph hangs on the Wall of Fame, is inviting everyone to dress up or dress down in their hottest St. Paddy's day greens, and Miguel will shoot them with sexy leprechaun man-prop Jon Vaz Gar.

"Round Hole Square Peg" is a juried international photography exhibition -- an ongoing quest to discover original visual concepts for our changing society. This is the show's third bi-annual edition. The current show has 59 artist-photographers presenting 69 works, from nine countries, making this one of the largest LGBTQ group exhibitions ever staged and a delightful, quintessentially queer event.

A portion of all closing night sales will go to AIDS/LifeCycle, which raises awareness and provides a life-affirming experience for people with HIV/AIDS. A cyclist from AIDS/Life Cycle team will be on hand in his St. Paddy's Day greens and best tricked-out bicycle.

Photo art sales will be handled by artist and television-drag personality Sham Ibrahim. Mixmaster Paul V. will be spinning and refreshments will be served. See more news stories and the opening night live feed on Facebook.