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Art Auction Raises Over $100K for GLAADby Mike DiamondWednesday Nov 18, 2009 On Sunday, Nov. 15, art lovers, gay rights advocates, and celebs converged for the eighth annual Out Auction, a fundraiser for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The event was held at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.
With an eclectic honorary host committee including actress Vanessa Williams, filmmaker John Waters and fashion designer Jack Mackenroth, it was an evening of glamour, fun--and of course some amazing art.
"We went through the hundreds of submissions," said actor and writer Jesse Archer, who was on the curatorial committee, "all generously donated by the artists, to pick out the top 100 or so pieces. There was a ton of very evocative stuff."
Archer was partial to "the cock section, of course. You can never have enough cock, at least that’s what I thought, but the curator was adamant we had to have some lesbian themed art in there as well. And then there was other, just utterly bizarre stuff, like a rendering of what looked to me like a two-headed goat fetus".
Speaking of lesbians, also present was Lauryn Siegel, a writer and producer at Logo and herself a recent recipient of a GLAAD media award. Siegel said she likes to attends "pretty much every art oriented event I can."
She was at the Out Auction because "I was interested to see promising emerging visual art made by queer artists." One of the pleasures of going to an auction like this is being introduced to new and up-and-coming artists.
Siegel’s favorite piece at the auction was a work that paid homage to artist some of her favorite artists including Keith Haring and Marilyn Minter. It was by Jamison Sarteschi, an artist with whom she was previously unfamiliar.
Also in the well-dressed and happily cocktail-infused crowd were esteemed playwright and Honorary Host Committee member Edward Albee, hunky Mad Men actor Bryan Batt, and singer Ari Gold. There were also plenty of handsome, successful men in the crowd.
My own personal favorite work was Troy Dunham and Jeff Eason’s "Judgment Day," a dreamy photographic tableaux of heavenly light, naked men and urban imagery.
Scott’s Café and Catering provided the delicious finger food. Music was provided by DJ M+M (Mathieu Mercusot & Maxime Alazet) DJ Xavier. Onstage, legendary actor Joel Grey presented artist Ross Bleckner with the first Out in Art Award, for his work to raise visibility of LGBT people in the art industry.
The live auction was quite a success, with over $100,000 raised to support GLAAD’s work. Many amazing pieces were up for bidding, including items by Keith Haring, Patrick McMullan, Lisa Ross, Frank Louis and Gina Geron,
The top sellers were:
• "Madonna I, II, III, Miami 1992" (Herb Ritts) which sold for $5,000;
• "Composition I" (Joan Miro) and "Accompagnement en Noir" (Wassily Kandinsky), which sold together for $6,000
• Jordan Eagle’s "Phase," which was composed of blood preserved on plexiglass. It sold for $3,000.
You can view all the items up for auction.
Mike Diamond likes puppies!
http://mikediamondonline.com
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