Ukrainian modern artists auctioned off some of their work on Nov. 13 to help organize the arts festival for orphans and children from disadvantaged families in December.
The auction took place in the old armory-turned-museum Mystetsky Arsenal, which at the same time hosted Ukraine’s biggest annual art fair, Art-Kyiv.
More than 30 Ukrainian artists discounted their lots to half their original price to encourage high-profile bidders. It must have inspired some Ukrainian celebrities and politicians who spent a total of $200,000 during the event.
Eugenia Carr, daughter of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, was the festival’s honorary president. She spent $3,500 on Stepan Ryabchenko’s print on canvas “Moon Visitors” and $3,000 on Masha Shubina’s triptych “Bazaar.”
Carr invited Natalia Korolevska, the deputy from Tymoshenko’s opposition party Batkivshchyna. Attending with her 9-year-old son Rostyslav.
They bought Viktor Pokydanets’ painting with a football for $3,500. Rostyslav plays in the national Dynamo Kyiv junior football league.
The most expensive lot – the two-meter high “Whirligig” by Arsen Savadov for $75,000, did not find a new home during the auction. Oleksandr Roitburd’s painting “Lao Tse, Confucius and a Frog” fetched $25,000 from an anonymous bidder.
Cheaper lots were in higher demand. Olympic champion in gymnastics Liliya Podkopayeva bought a painting from Stepan Ryabchenko’s series “’A Smile’ from Computer Viruses” for $3,500.
Podkopayeva attended the auction together with businessman Viktor Kostyrko.
Serhiy Vlasenko, the attorney and lawmaker from Tymoshenko’s party, and his fiancée, TV host Svitlana Ryzhuk bid for the oil and digital print on canvas “Sheep” by Yuriy Solomko and bought it for $10,500.
Funds raised will be used to bring more than 300 children from across Ukraine to Kyiv for the Dec. 2-5 Follow Your Dream festival. In its fourth year now, the talent show aims to raise awareness about disadvantaged children in Ukraine and calls on people to consider adoption.
“Our final goal is to have no vulnerable children in Ukraine at all,” Carr said. Over the years, some 20 kids have found new homes thanks to the festival.
Photos by Natalia Kravchuk
