2019 Benefit Art Auction

The MCA's 2019 Benefit Art Auction is co-chaired by Cari B. Sacks and Kenneth C. Griffin

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presents its premier art event, the 2019 Benefit Art Auction, on Saturday, November 16, 2019. The museum's most significant fundraising event features work by some of the world's most influential contemporary artists working today, including Nick Cave, Judy Chicago, Jacqueline Humphries, Rashid Johnson, Takashi Murakami, Howardena Pindell, Richard Prince, Laurie Simmons, and Charline von Heyl, as well as work by promising emerging artists such as Jessica Campbell, Petra Cortright, Jonathas de Andrade, Brendan Fernandes, Pope.L, and Amanda Williams. Tickets for the 2019 Benefit Art Auction, starting at $500, are available and can be purchased at mcachicago.orgor by calling 312.397.4017. The Benefit Art Auction is generously sponsored by Sotheby's.

Created especially for the Benefit Art Auction are several works by major artists including a commissioned work by Takashi Murakami, who will work with the winning bidder on a portrait, and new works created for the auction by Andrea Bowers and Howardena Pindell.

Co-chaired by Cari B. Sacks and Kenneth C. Griffin, the 2019 Benefit Art Auction is supported by an honorary committee of Sara Albrecht, Leslie Bluhm and David Helfand, Nancy and Steven Crown, Marilyn and Larry Fields, Liz and Eric Lefkofsky, Ashley and Pamela Netzky, Penny Pritzker and Bryan Traubert, Michael J. Sacks, and Helen and Sam Zell.

In 1968, the MCA was the first museum in the country to have a Benefit Art Auction, and it influenced art museums across the country to look to works of art as sources for funds to benefit institutional ideals. MCA Pritzker Director Madeleine Grynsztejn said, "The extraordinary generosity that takes place at each of our storied auctions is an essential part of realizing the MCA's ardent commitment to creating exhibitions and programs that champion revelatory art and spark civic transformation."

This unique event welcomes more than 500 guests to the MCA at 6:30 pm for an elegant cocktail reception while guests are invited to view nearly 100 auction works as part of the silent auction. Guests are then escorted to the museum's sculpture garden for a seated dinner in an enormous customized tent with stunning red, black, and white décor by HRM Designs, Frost Lighting, Pro Em, and Hall's.

Following dinner, the live auction takes place, led by the esteemed Senior Director and Chairman of Sotheby's Europe Oliver Barker, who will auction off 14 works of art from an impressive roster of art galleries from the United States and Europe. To complete the evening, guests make their way back into the museum to enjoy dessert and submit their final bids on the silent auction items. All proceeds from the auction support the MCA's exhibitions and programming, which offer compelling opportunities to explore, challenge, discuss, and reflect on contemporary art and culture.

In advance of the event, the works from the live and silent auctions are on view to the public during museum hours in the second-floor galleries from Tuesday, November 12, to Saturday, November 16. The MCA has partnered with premier online art platform Artsy to help national and international audiences have access to the exceptional silent auction works featured at the Benefit Art Auction. Artsy has a public preview online at www.artsy.net/feature/mca-chicago-benefit-auction-2019 and will be open to bidders starting on Friday, November 1.

There is limited availability for this event, so if you are interested in attending or writing about the Benefit Art Auction, please let me know -- Karla Loring, kloring@mcachicago.org, 312.397.3834
 

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