|
WHY CHARITIES AND ART SHOULD NEVER
MIX
OOPS I DID IT AGAIN!
February 25, 2005 - It was a year ago that I
donated my first piece of art to a charity fundraiser. The rules
are simple: the artist give away a painting, gets invited to the show,
and gets to hob nob with rich folks who possibly would buy more art
later on down the road. In addition to all this, the proceeds from
the sale goes to the aforementioned charity, everyone has a good time,
and all is well, no?
Well, no. The
charity show
last year was an open auction, and despite the lavish party with a bunch
of well fashioned folks in attendance, lots of drinks and appetizers and
a ton of art hanging on the walls. The event was a silent auction
with no opening bid, so people milled about and wrote in their bids on
whichever piece of art caught their fancy, knowing the highest bidder
would walk away with a nice piece of art and the charity raises some
much needed funds.
The low point of the night for me was seeing the low bids on the art -
some as low as 15 dollars for art priced at $200 or more, the shame of
shortchanging a charity and the artist simultaneously was lost on most
of the partygoers. My painting received a solitary bid of $100 - a
high number among some of the similarly priced work - and I even met the
man who bought it, who bubbled with pride and sheer satisfaction, "This
is a great place to buy art cheap - I'm bringing my friends next year."
So I skipped putting a painting in that show this year, and the sour
taste dissipated when I reluctantly agreed to do
another charity show
this year - a fundraiser for the much maligned and poorly funded Austin
State Hospital. I dug through my archives and pulled out a
painting I did a couple years ago, and got an image ready for the
charity's website, dropped off the painting, and sent out emails and
told folks about the fundraiser.
| The big opening came, and I arrived
promptly to the downtown event. The crowd was large - a lot of
people in suits, bids on art that seemed respectable, and a
lot of free drinks and appetizers floating through the bank's lobby
transformed into a gallery. The addition of patient art was a
nice touch, also on sale, and the evening was going along nicely as
I said hi to a few folks, and chatted with some old friends over a
few drinks.
It was late in the evening when two ladies started to seriously
look at my painting. They talked back and forth, hemmed and
hawed, and finally wrote down a bid. After my conversation
came to a close, I thought I'd say hi to the women. They were
pleased with the painting, happy to meet me, and then warned me I
wouldn't like the bid they placed on the painting - it was $75 lower
than the suggested bid, which was already 40% off the 'retail'
price. I was shocked, taken aback, but the words from one of
my friends who is a doctor kept ringing in my head, "That's good you
are donating a painting, they can really use the money."
|
Lost Arms Saloon |
And so in order for the hospital to get its money, I
agreed to the sale price they offered, had a small ego boost from
selling the painting, and the hospital got its money. These two
local Austin women got my painting, but couldn't afford the additional
seventy five dollars to support the Hospital. I went
drinking after the reception, the bitter taste in my mouth from the
sheer rudeness and audacity of the Austin scene. It will be a long
time before I donate another painting to charity, perhaps when Austin
grows up a little bit and decides supporting a cause goes further than
finding a venue to lowball artists and get their hands on some cheap art.
Comments?
|
|
