Bid on the works listed below by Tauba Auerbach, Bruce Conner, N. Dash, Suzan Frecon, Terri Friedman, Jim Hodges, Ed Ruscha, Tom Sachs, and Lawrence Weiner, as well as a "hippie house" experience courtesy of Alexis and Trevor Traina, in a live auction conducted by Alex Berggruen of Christie’s. You can also participate in a mobile auction beginning April 28 and ending at the conclusion of live bidding during the gala on May 2, at 9 PM (PST).
If you're unable to attend the gala and would like to participate in the art auction via your mobile device, please contact Rachael Dickson at rdickson@berkeley.edu or 510-643-3994 to receive access to the mobile bidding site.
Auction chair: Robert Harshorn Shimshak
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Tauba AuerbachUnited States, born 1981 Mesh Moire VI Born and raised in San Francisco and now living in New York, Tauba Auerbach is one of the most celebrated American artists of her generation. Her work is inspired by the ways in which order and disorder collide, creating new poetic and visual possibilities. Mesh Moire VI is part of a six-print series the artist created at Berkeley’s Paulson Bott Press (now Paulson Fontaine Press). These prints were made by combining two plates, each of which had been run through the press with a sheet of plastic mesh stretched in a variety of ways. When overlain, the twisted grid patterns create a mesmerizing moiré pattern. Frame not included. Minimum bid: $3,000 | |
Bruce ConnerUnited States, 1933-2008 Triptych Bruce Conner is considered one of the most influential artists to have lived and worked in the Bay Area. As his recent retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) demonstrated, Conner’s work is brilliant and groundbreaking in many media, including sculpture, film, photography, and works on paper. Triptych is a powerful example of one of his most coveted types of work—mandala-like images composed of densely packed black lines of mind-bending complexity. These works reveal Conner’s deep interest in mysticism as well as his fascination with formal contrasts of light and dark. Conner’s work is represented in the collections of countless museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; SFMoMA; and BAMPFA. Frame not included Minimum bid: $2,000 | |
| N. DashUnited States, born 1980 Untitled Carrying a cloth everywhere she goes, N. Dash transfers memory, thoughts, and emotions onto pieces of cotton as a recording device until they unfurl tattered, worked, and worn. Serving as one of the many points of origin, which also includes clay sourced from New Mexico, the artist is well-known for her thoughtful use of natural materials that store and relay moments of touch and lived experience onto quiet yet sensual and sophisticated works. N. Dash’s work was featured at BAMPFA in This Just In: Recent Acquisitions in 2016 and The Possible in 2014. She received her MFA from Columbia University and had solo exhibitions at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; White Flag Projects, St. Louis; Casey Kaplan, New York; and the Fondazione Giuliana, Rome. Minimum bid: $12,000 |
Suzan FreconUnited States, born 1941 blue-veiled red composition Suzan Frecon is an abstract painter whose works are characterized by their meticulous and deliberate explorations of form and color. Her decisions arise from the painting itself, especially (in the case of this watercolor) the material qualities of the paper and pigment—outside references rarely influence or find their way into the work. In 2016, Frecon received the coveted Artist Award from the Artists’ Legacy Foundation. Several of Frecon’s watercolors as well as a major painting are included in BAMPFA’s collection, and her works have been shown here frequently, including a MATRIX show in 1998, a solo show in 1994, and several group exhibitions, including Galaxy, Abstract Now, Color Shift, and Architecture of Life. She received her BFA from Pennsylvania State University and attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. She is represented by David Zwirner Gallery, New York. Minimum bid: $20,000 | |
Terri FriedmanUnited States, born 1962 A Pleasure to Burn Terri Friedman created her ten-panel textile piece If you are hit on the head with a kaleidoscope, does that mean you see stars? as the second Art Wall commission for BAMPFA, where it was installed last fall and winter. The mural-sized yarn painting represents a shift in her varied artistic practice toward textile after working previously in sculpture and paint. The textures, braids, knots, gaps, and bright colors of A Pleasure to Burn evoke contradictory sensations through a range of industrial and organic materials, contributing to a feeling that one could get lost in for hours. Friedman recently exhibited her yarn paintings at ACME in Los Angeles. Minimum bid: $3,000 | |
Jim HodgesUnited States, born 1957 dreaming my way, a study for another In Jim Hodges’s work, there is not only beauty in the overall work but in every detail. dreaming my way, a study for another is made with 24-karat gold and jade glue as well as party supplies like glitter and confetti. Since the 1980s, Hodges has utilized a range and combination of everyday and luxury elements, reflecting upon fleeting moments of desire, love, joy, and sadness. Among the more personal themes informing his work are the AIDS crisis, gay life, and childhood. Hodges received his MFA from the Pratt Institute, New York. His work is represented by Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York. A mid-career retrospective of his work was organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and traveled in 2013-2015 to the Dallas Museum of Art; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Minimum bid: $25,000
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Ed RuschaUnited States, born 1937 NOT This recent drawing is exemplary of Ed Ruscha’s iconic work that presents language-as-image with irreverent flair and double entendre. The black streaks trailing the word “NOT” impart motion to an adverb that otherwise functions as a grammatical negative. Ruscha plays with synesthetic properties of language, finding delight in the sensations that images create in contrast to the connotations of specific words. Ruscha's artist’s books, paintings, prints, film, and works on paper document the interplay of language with architecture, urbanity, landscape, and other cultural icons. He is one of the most celebrated living American artists. Minimum bid: $23,000 | |
Lawrence WeinerUnited States, born 1942 Straight is the Gate Along with Sol LeWitt, Lawrence Weiner is considered to be one of the founders of Conceptual art. For more than fifty years, he has created art out of “language + the material referred to,” a sculptural practice that uses the arrangement and physical materialization of words as his primary medium. The 2006 work on paper Straight is the Gate anticipates Weiner’s 2008 mural, STRAIGHT IS THE GATE BUT WATER FINDS ITS OWN LEVEL, installed on the windows of the Grand Curtius Museum in Liège, Belgium. Weiner’s work LAID OUT ON THE BANKS OF A RIVER LEANING TOWARDS THE OCEAN LAID OUT ON THE BANKS OF A RIVER LEANING TOWARDS THE LAND is BAMPFA’s latest Art Wall commission, currently on view. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art, New York co-organized a Weiner retrospective in 2007-08. Minimum bid: $30,000
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| Private Lesson with Artist Tom SachsFresh from his extraordinary recent exhibition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, New York-based artist Tom Sachs is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enjoy a private lesson in the art of creating a Japanese tea bowl (chawan). In Sachs’ work, the process of making is as much a part of a work of art as the finished piece. Led by Sachs himself at his New York studio, your lesson will include all necessary tools and materials. Your bowl will be fired, glazed, and delivered to your home. The lesson will take about an hour and should happen within the next twelve months at a mutually agreeable time. It is transferable. There is one prerequisite: watch Sachs’s 2010 video, Ten Bullets. Sachs is represented by Gagosian Gallery, New York. Minimum bid: $10,000 |
Tour of Alexis and Trevor Traina’s Handbuilt Hippie HouseAlexis and Trevor Traina are lovingly restoring one of the most significant surviving hand-built hippie houses. Nestled in a beautiful Inverness, California forest, the house was designed and built by engineer Howard Waite within a communal dwelling compound. Vintage images of the home, shot by photographer Barry Shapiro, are featured in the BAMPFA exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia. This rare experience, for up to eight guests, will include a walking tour of the house—still under restoration—with Greg Castillo, associate professor of architecture at UC Berkeley and guest curator of Hippie Modernism, followed by lunch with Greg and the Trainas in nearby Olema. The date of the tour is to be agreed on by the participants. Minimum bid $2,500 | |
| Fund-a-Need: A Benefit for UC Berkeley Students at BAMPFAThere are many things that make BAMPFA different from other museums, but one of our favorites is our student workforce. Every year, about 250 UC Berkeley work-study students choose to join our staff as part of their financial-aid package. These undergraduate students serve as gallery attendants, researchers, event assistants, box-office staff, theater ushers, communications assistants, and office administrators. For most, this is their first in-depth exposure to an art museum, and many have told us it’s a positive experience they carry with them through their careers. Internationally acclaimed artist Sterling Ruby and Gagosian Gallery have promised the gift of BASKET (6111), an important 2016 ceramic work valued at $95,000 . . . if we can raise at least $50,000 for our students through our Fund-a-Need. Minimum Bid: limitless |
Film-to-Table: Private Screening and Dinner with BAMPFA's Senior Film CuratorTaking “dinner and a movie” to a whole new level, you and up to 20 guests will enjoy a private film screening at BAMPFA and chef-prepared meal at Babette, the museum's acclaimed cafe. With a BAMPFA film curator as your personal advisor, you will choose the film you and your guests will view at a private screening in BAMPFA's intimate Theater 2. After the screening, Senior Film Curator Susan Oxtoby will join you and your guests at Babette for a private, seasonal four-course dinner planned, prepared, and served by chefs/owners Patrick and Joan. Gathered around a communal table, this is an opportunity to hear insights from Susan and relax with friends. The date of the screening and dinner is limited to the summer months (before September 13) and must be mutually agreed upon by the participants and BAMPFA. Minimum Bid: $5,000 |