New York Magazine's Bad Art Auction was a lot of fun and it was all for a wonderful cause. All proceeds went to NY Cares, an organization that makes great use of people who want to volunteer but aren's sure what to do. I just signed up for their Winter Wishes program where a child in need sends you a Santa letter and you send them a gift – it's a great idea and I'll let you know all about how it works soon enough.
The sale, which took place at the Le Poisson Rouge, consisted of some impressive works: not one, not two, but THREE Big Foot pieces; a portrait of a man with a huge dick and balls drooping out of his pants; a Dawson's Creek portrait; a beautiful yarn forest that my friend came close to winning; and two tigers floating in space. Unfortunately, these came from affable host Judah Friedlander's personal collection and even when it came to charity he just couldn't seem to part with them; most were prints, very few were originals.
The auction itself, which was so successful it's bound to happen again next year, could stand some fine tuning. Starting on time, rather than nearly two hours after the doors open, would allow more art to be auctioned off. As it was, several pieces never made it to the block because time ran out and Xiu Xiu had to play.
Sadly, by the time we left several of the amazing pieces that went for serious cash were left unclaimed and unpaid for. It seemed like a lot of the audience members were bidding drunk, which left more serious, less drunk bidders without unicorn triptychs – and more importantly, NY Cares without their much needed money. These two guys however, were real winners with their respective pectoral portraits and abstract junk.
But what do you think?