Remember my post last week about finding contemporary art at affordable prices? Well, along with being an advocate for prints, I’m also a huge advocate for – and collector of – photography. Better yet, I often find the best deals when buying photography at auctions and events for charitable causes. And if you live in New York City, you’ll have the chance to do just that this Saturday night!
UNICEF’s Next Generation group, for the past five years, has organized an annual Photo Benefit to support their extraordinary humanitarian projects around the world. Emerging and established photographers submit their work and the best images are selected for donation to the silent auction. Since the Next Gen crowd is younger – between the ages of 21 and 40 – prices for the photographs remain within the affordable realm. Bidding can start as low as $50! And these aren’t boring run-of-the-mill snapshots. The Next Gen team carefully curates unique, intriguing, exceptional artworks for your collecting pleasure.
This year, UNICEF Next Gen has teemed up with Aperture Gallery in Chelsea for the big event. As a member of the curatorial committee I can attest to the wall-worthy photographs up for grabs. Our theme for the artists is BLUE and their literal and conceptual interpretations really impressed us. You can preview the auction catalogue here. It’s hard to pick favorites, but if I had to it would be Mia Baxter’s Mare Adriatico, 2013, (above). Or maybe Katie Whitaker’s Hoops and Loops, Galveston, Texas, 2013 (below). Guess I’ll have to decide on Saturday!
Proceeds from the auction will benefit Next Gen’s ongoing efforts to raise $100,000 to support the UNICEF Tap Project, providing clean water to families and preventing water-borne illness. The ticket price alone of $60 can provide enough water purification tablets to decontaminate nearly 50,000 liters of water. Think about it. Buying great art at great prices for a great cause? Seems like a no-brainer.
See you Saturday! BUY TICKETS HERE.
