This little piece is going to start with a qualifier: I know I’m going to be talking about an art sale in an article geared toward BCIT students. Seems fancy-schmansy. Seems like I need to read the room, as they say. But hear me out, okay?
This one’s a little different than, say, auctioning a partially-shredded Banksy piece for several million dollars.
The Anonymous Art Show at the CityScape Community Art Space is going on right now until December 18, and I’m gonna tell you why it’s cool.
🎁 Give the gift of original art this holiday season by visiting the 18th #AnonymousArtShow at CityScape Community ArtSpace (pictured here). There are 740 artworks in this fundraiser created by 365 local artists!
View All the Artwork: https://t.co/gIAdfgs74y pic.twitter.com/2S7gJA4oq9
— North Van Arts (@northvanarts) November 27, 2021
The whole idea behind this art show-slash-fundraiser is anonymity. You won’t know which artist is behind a given piece until the piece has sold for $100. Then, the artwork will be removed from the wall, and the artist’s name will be revealed.
So, you’re supposed to make a move on the piece (or pieces) that speak to you, regardless of who made them.
Something to feel good about, as well, is that the artist and North Van Arts split the profits, 50/50. Some more good news is that, at the time of writing, this fundraiser has reached over 100% of its $46,000 goal! And there are still plenty of gorgeous works of art left up for grabs.
An outstanding sort of digital surrealist, Doug Heal, has some works on display in this exhibition. My favourite work of his for this exhibition – This is Bananas – has been sold, but I spotted at least one other gem of his that’s still available for purchase.
I know that kind of blows the anonymity, but there are hundreds of other mysterious pieces for you to choose from! The media range from digital art to acrylic paints to photo prints, to pretty much anything you could reasonably decorate an 8×8 canvas with.
See? It’s actually cool, and not as stuffy as you’d think! I’m an absolute philistine in a lot of ways and I’m even stoked to zip up to North Van some afternoon to check out these little, anonymous masterpieces.