.ART

We are pleased to share that the Flowers for Medics charity auction, which took place online on December 29, was entirely sold out! The proceeds amounted to 6,329,170 rubles (Over $85,000 USD), 60% of which is donated to the City Clinical Hospital No. 31 “Developing to Help” fund. The fund will distribute these funds as targeted assistance to doctors and medical staff – all those who have fought and continue to fight for our lives in the context of an ongoing pandemic. Meanwhile, the remaining 40% of the proceeds will support artists who, like all of us, are going through challenging times.

In the spring of 2020, Reikhan Kasimova, the trustee of MAMM and co-founder of the .ART domain zone called for those who’d like to show appreciation for the medical workers to express it through art under the tag #FlowersforMedics. Using any medium, whether watercolour, pencil or iPad, Reikhan invited everyone to draw flowers as a “thank you” for those helping our communities. The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (MAMM) joined the campaign, together with the Piccher agency and the Malevich platform. By the summer the Flowers for Medics campaign went viral internationally.

Through paintings, photographs and sculptures, the artists expressed their appreciation to the medical professionals. In September, an exhibition opened at MAMM, for which the museum selected the best works using the hashtag #FlowersforMedics. The exhibition’s opening was attended primarily by doctors, nurses and nurses – those at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus, putting themselves in danger every day.

Among the artists who took part in the project are many notable figures, including Ilya Kabakov, Philip Colbert, Igor Shelkovsky, art groups AES + F, EliKuka and many others. Philip Colbert’ Flower study from the Lobster Land Museum was the most contested piece, receiving 13 bids.

The energy of creation will never exhaust; it helps us get through challenging times and darkest moments. With initiatives like #FlowersforMedics we seek to strengthen the links between artistic creation and society. Here’s to a brighter 2021!

You can view all the auction lots via the Malevich platform.

Cover image: The Feast of Trimalchio, 2010, Freeze frame #2-1-13, (LOT028) by AES+F.