“Our fundraiser was a success beyond expectations”
An auction in support of Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the eastern regions was held in Kyiv
The auction was held at the Ukrainian House. The organizers have collected about 800,000 hryvnias, which will all go to cover costs of prostheses for soldiers. The auctioneers offered for sale a collection of 100 works by leading Ukrainian artists, including Anatolii Kryvolap, Tiberii Silvashi, Olena Pryduvalova, and Vlada Ralko. The starting prices at the auction were significantly lower than those indicated in the catalog. The initiators of the event were the Ducat auction house, the Cultural Initiatives Foundation ArtHuss, charitable project Center for Assistance to the Wounded, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine.
Lots for auction were collected in a month, all the artists and gallery owners having provided their works for free. The organizers presented many light-mood works, including Pryduvalova’s landscape Summer Day. “I decided to donate a positive work in Kyivan spirit,” Pryduvalova told us. “For me, this is probably the fifth charity auction. I always agree to participate in such events. Artists are often individualists, working isolated in their workshops, but we now help in whatever way we can.”
Artist Vladyslav Shereshevsky donated to the event his chamber still life A Hearts Card. “I thought the auction would be dominated by politically-themed paintings, so I wanted to make a difference, to show something warm. However, there are many joyful works here. In this spring and summer, we often held Euromaidan-themed exhibitions, full of elevated tension, but now we understand that we are at war, and will have to live with it for a long time. Therefore, people are again engaging in creativity, we have recovered a little from the panic. I painted patriotic works throughout the summer for the first time and of my own accord. I now feel like I have already spoken my mind on the subject,” Shereshevsky shared his thoughts with us.
The initiators of the event plan to help three amputees. Founder of the Center for Assistance to the Wounded Yurii Kohutiak commented: “We have chosen our heroes randomly. One of the soldiers, Oleksandr Shvetsov, shared a hospital room with a boy who we managed to find a prosthesis for, and my friend proposed that we help Shvetsov as well. Our heroes hail from different cities of Ukraine, including Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr. Kyiv is a rich city with active public and more resources at the disposal of the medical community. Meanwhile, boys from the periphery disappear from the society’s focus.”
The auction involved a sale of charity certificates of the Center for Assistance to the Wounded, priced at 500 and 1,000 hryvnias. The proceeds from the sale of these certificates also will be used to help soldiers from the anti-terrorist operation area. In addition, the number of the certificate allows the holder to track the fate of their money.
“I never have any preset hopes, so whatever proceeds we have always far exceed my expectations,” co-founder of the Ducat auction house Leonid Komsky remarked. “I hope we will get even more money, because not all works were sold at once. For a week or two, we will keep these lots on the premises, in hope that someone will want to buy them. I am grateful to artists, collectors and art dealers who provided the works for sale. Buyers get a picture at least, while artists get nothing from a charity auction. Still, none of the artists refused to participate in the auction, and all agreed to lower prices.”
Ukrainian artists are used to such charitable projects. “Artists have become reconciled with the fact that you can give works away for free. I previously donated money only myself, as I did not want to give away my paintings. I now do this as well. The top priority is for it to go to a good cause,” artist Shereshevsky stressed. The MFA’s official Yurii Nykytiuk promised that the auction catalog will be distributed abroad to augment the glory of Ukrainian artists. Also, the MFA will do everything in its power to send boys who need prostheses to the best foreign clinics.
Kohutiak is pleased with the auction: “We have achieved our goal, raising enough funds to help the three soldiers. We have collected even more money than planned, so we will maybe take care of someone else as well. We will consult with the organizers and people who know the needs of the wounded. All our decisions will be reported to the public.”
