Jane Fonda:

On Art for a Safe and Healthy California

Gillian JakabYou have a long history of being both an actor and an activist. You’ve engaged with many different activist movements: anti-war, civil rights, and climate change, for example. How have you mobilized various arts communities for social justice issues in the past?

Jane FondaIn the 1970s and ’80s I organized concerts with music artists such as The Doobie Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, and others in support of solar energy bills. And I got a busload of thirty-five celebrities, including Whoopi Goldberg, Michael J. Fox, and Rob Lowe to travel from San Diego to San Francisco to register voters, hold rallies, and raise money for a campaign to pass Proposition 65, a California law that sought to protect drinking water sources from toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects, and to reduce exposure to those toxins by requiring warnings be placed on a product’s label. The bill passed by a vote of 63 percent to 37 percent.

I have never tried to organize an art auction before, but I’d heard that one can raise good sums quickly with these auctions, and we certainly need to do that if we hope to defeat Big Oil.

The great Ed Ruscha was the first artist I asked to donate. I’ve known Ed a little over the years. His agreeing to donate gave me the courage to continue, and I personally visited Kenny Scharf, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Hank Willis Thomas, Catherine Opie, Joey Terrill, and other artists, all of whom generously donated. Then my friend, Larry Gagosian, agreed to have the benefit exhibition at his Beverly Hills gallery and that made everything possible. Larry was unbelievably generous.

GJHow did you get involved with the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California? Could you tell us a little bit more about their work and their goal for the November 2024 referendum vote?

JFFor a number of years, I’ve been working with local groups battling fossil fuel pollution next to homes, daycare centers, and playgrounds. Kids develop nosebleeds so severe they need to sleep sitting up so they don’t drown in their own blood. A lot of aggressive cancers, as well as heart and lung diseases, are common among people living near oil wells. Frighteningly, the oil industry calls these communities “sacrifice zones.” Two years ago, these frontline activists persuaded Governor Newsom to sign a bill that prevents new oil wells from being drilled within 3,200 feet of where people live, work, or play. The bill also requires that the wells already within communities be made safer. A week later, the oil companies began gathering signatures to get a measure on November’s ballot that would overturn this historic bill. They deceived people to get them to sign, saying Governor Newsom’s bill would cause gas prices to go up if it were enacted. Pure lies. It appears that the oil companies intend on spending $200 million to defeat the bill. This is why I thought of doing the art auction in support of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, the entity that’s fighting this battle with support from hundreds of organizations, medical institutions, doctors, nurses, and all who care about keeping Californians healthy, especially children.

GJYou mentioned Larry Gagosian coming on board. What’s the story behind your partnership for this project with Gagosian and Christie’s?

JFAs I said, I’ve known Larry for a long time. I went to his home in New York and told him about the situation in the frontline communities and what the oil companies were trying to do by killing Governor Newsom’s bill and he responded immediately. Larry’s a California guy through-and-through; he really cares about the state and he not only said we could hold the event at his Beverly Hills gallery, but he also made phone calls and sent letters encouraging artists and gallerists to support the cause.

What I had not anticipated was the team at his gallery that would end up teaching me about auctions, the challenges artists face with auctions, how artists are continually asked for works (the idea of raising money with an art auction isn’t a new one), and how to handle it all. Deb McLeod, Kate Soar, Camilla Johnston, Michael Moore, Anya Shikhman, Derek Blasberg, and the PR team of Lauren Gioia and Hallie Freer worked tirelessly to make the event a success and in the process, I’ve made new friends.

At my first meeting with Deb and Michael, they told me that we should approach Christie’s to include our works in their May auction in New York. Michael made a phone call to Bonnie Brennan, President of Christie’s, and the dream team was assembled. Then we poured our efforts into our big benefit launch in April at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, as a fundraiser and preview of the art. And it was a smash.

GJSo Ed Ruscha was the first artist you reached out to when planning this benefit. Could you share more about your friendships with, or admiration for, some of the artists you invited to participate?

JFYes, I’ve long admired Ed. We’d met along the way at parties and such, so I went to his studio with the artist Shepard Fairey—whom I’ve worked with for a few years now on anti-fossil-fuel projects—and we told him about the campaign. We presented what was at risk and asked Ed to donate a painting. He is perhaps the premiere California artist and I felt he would respond, and he did. I really love the original painting that he donated, UPS DOWNS (2023). It’s perfect.

It isn’t in my nature to go boldly up to an artist I don’t know and solicit. Believe me, I was nervous. But when I thought about the children suffering from asthma, nosebleeds, seizures, and cancer, I girded my loins and just plunged in.

My dear friend of decades Frank Gehry gave one of his famous Fish Lamps, which was so encouraging. I’ve also known the wonderful Catherine Opie for a while, so that was less scary. She came to my home to talk about the campaign with me and donated a beautiful photo from her Swamp series with an owl sitting on a branch, right in the middle looking directly at you. Owls are one of my spirit animals so I was hooked. Alex Israel, M aka Michael Chow, Marilyn Minter, Nan Goldin, Mark Grotjahn, Karon Davis, Charles Gaines, Y.Z. Kami, and Jonas Wood, among many other artists, were welcoming and supportive in their desire to help. Richard Misrach was deeply generous. Lonnie Holley is like a family member. He lives with Matt Arnett, the father of two of my grandkids in Atlanta and my college-aged granddaughter, Viva Vadim, is curating a show of Lonnie’s in St. Petersburg, Florida.

I have always loved immersing myself in strange new worlds and that’s what happened over the past three months while working on this benefit, the art auction, and the upcoming exhibition at Gagosian this summer. It has been a real treat for me to meet so many gallerists, artists, and collectors. My niece, Pilar Corrias, is a very successful gallerist in London and I enjoyed getting to know her world a bit. Pilar helped in getting Christina Quarles, whom she represents, to donate and I’ve become friends with Christina, as well.

GJDid any themes related to climate justice emerge in the donated artworks themselves? Or do any particular works strike you for other reasons?

JFWe purposely didn’t ask artists to put the issue into their art works. A few did. Personally, I see Ed Ruscha’s UPS DOWNS as a reflection of climate worries. Not sure someone else would. Kenny Scharf’s wonderful red-and-black painting speaks of oil and blood and I know he had oil rigs in mind when he created it because he told me. Kenny has been obsessed with the rigs that surround his neighborhood for decades. Joey Terrill put a can of oil in his wonderful still life and Opie’s swamp piece with the beautiful owl in the center speaks, in my mind, to habitat destruction.

GJWhat do you hope to come from the funds raised in terms of short- and long-term goals?

JFThe funds will be used to buy TV ads to make people aware of the oil companies’ efforts to overturn the law. We are asking people to vote to KEEP THE LAW. The oil companies plan on spending $200 million to lie and fool people with their ads. This is already happening. We don’t have to spend as much because we have the truth on our side. If we can build awareness, we win, so I ask everyone reading this article to go to the Campaign website—CAvsBIGOIL.com—to learn more, join the campaign, and talk about it everywhere and with everyone between now and November.

GJIn addition to spreading awareness and supporting Art for a Safe and Healthy California, what more can people do to help take care of our communities and climate in California and across the globe?

JFThere are people all over the U.S. and the world who live near oil, gas, and coal development areas and their health is put at grave risk because of the toxic pollution. Often, they have nowhere to go to get help. Many elected officials on their City Councils, Boards of Supervisors, Mayors, County Executives, not to mention Congress members and Senators, Democrats as well as Republicans, receive money from the fossil fuel industry and so block the important legislation that’s commensurate with what science is demanding. That’s why it took so long to get a governor who would sign a bill that saves lives instead of bending to the oil company demands . . . the bill that those interests are working hard to overturn.

This is why it’s important to vote, including for these down ballot races I just listed. This is where the most robust action on climate is taking place…and I say “climate” because the same things that are killing the planet are killing people. This is why, three years ago, I launched the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, which elects climate champions primarily down ballot. We’re supporting twelve candidates this year just for the California State Legislature alone. Last year we helped elect thirteen climate champions to the Virginia legislature and flipped it Democratic! To find out more and see who we’ve endorsed go to janepac.com.

The majority of Americans are concerned about the climate crisis, and they would care if they knew what’s being done to people who live near wells and tanks, but they often don’t bring climate concerns into the voting booth with them. Maybe because it doesn’t occur to them that voting for climate issues can help solve the crisis. Find out if the candidates you’re considering take fossil fuel money; if they’ve ever taken a stand against a fossil fuel project like a pipeline, a waste dump, an oil well; you can get this information.

Another thing people can do is make sure they aren’t invested in fossil fuels. They can divest from what’s becoming obsolete and reinvest in the future: solar and wind energy. And work to get your alma maters, your churches, synagogues, towns, cities to divest and reinvest. Already, the divestment campaign has pulled $40.6 trillion from the fossil fuel industry.