On the afternoon of May 12th, a devastating earthquake ravaged Western China, especially Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, toppling thousands of homes, factories and offices, trapping students in schools and killing over hundreds of thousands of victims. As the death toll keeps roaring, the whole nation is deeply hurt by this tragic loss. Under the strong leadership of our Party and the Central Government, every Chinese immediately joins in the noble cause to extend the support and condolence to the families and everyone affected by this catastrophe. The Chinese artists are certainly no exception.
Both were born in Sichuan, the Sichuan-based artist Zhou Chunya and the art critic Lv Peng discussed the urgent issue with Zhao Xu, the senior consultant of Beijing Poly International Auction (Poly Auction) as soon as they acknowledged the seriousness of the disaster, and quickly put forward a big charity plan named as “We are together---Chinese Contemporary Art Charity Auction for Wenchuan Earthquake”. Poly Auction immediately mobilized its staff to put their current work aside and get involved in the preparation. As one major part of Beijing Poly 2008 Spring Auction, the paintings collected for the charity purpose are scheduled to be auctioned at 20:00 on May 29th.
As the initiator of this event, Mr. Lv Peng not only asked 8 top Chinese contemporary artists (including Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya, He Duoling, Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Zhang Peili, Wu Shanzhuan) of Qingchengshan•Chinese Contemporary Art Museum to donate their works, but also advocated far more domestic artists to contribute their own efforts by donating their best pieces. Zhou Chunya, for example, was in Sichuan when the earthquake happened. For not being able to be present on news conference for the charity auction, he still expressed his good wishes: “seeing my hometown suffer so much from this earthquake, I cannot help sweeping for the loss of lives and the terrible destruction. As an artist, what I am able to do now is use my brush to express my sympathy and condolence. Thank you for those who donated their paintings.” These days, Mr. Zhao Xu was busily engaging himself in the preparation, contacting the friends he knew and letting this event to be known by as many people as possible. He said, “Everyone is shocked by the massive disaster. Even several days have passed，it still makes us sad whenever we see the news. We know it still has a long way to go for the reconstruction. What we are doing now is just try our best to make this charity auction successful to raise more money. We feel very gratitude for the help from you all.”
To be noted, all the money raised will go through China Red Cross Society to the survivals for their post-earthquake reconstruction. In addition, Poly Auction will donate the premium as well for the same purpose. Since the news had been spread, it has already received the wholehearted support from China Red Cross Society, Chinese Auction Association and Poly Group. Quite a few Chinese artists quickly responded to the charitable cause and would donate their big-scale pieces to aid earthquake victims.
So far, the artists who have decided to join this charity event are: Zhou Chunya, Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Huaiqing, Yang Shaobin, He Duoling, Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Zhang Peili, Wu Shanzhuan, Zeng Fanzhi, Liu Ye, Liu Wei, Mao Yan, Mao Xuhui, Pan Dehai, Ye Yongqing, Tang Zhigang, Qi Zhilong, Feng Zhengjie, Lu Hao, Zhong Biao, He Sen, Ma Liuming, Guo Wei, Wu Mingzhong, Gu Wenda, Zhan Wang, Ren Xiaolin, Yin Zhaoyang, Ji Dachun, Tu Hongtao, Zhang Xiaotao, Yang Qian, Jing Kewen, Qin Ming, Xu Lei, Xu Bing, Zhou Jinhua, Wei Guangqing, Zeng Hao, Wang Youshen, Li Lei, Ding Yi, Guo Jin, Song Yonghong, Zhao Nengzhi, Wang Mai, Li Dafang, Liu Yi, Cao Jingping, Shi Lei, Shen Xiaotong, Honh Lei, Zhu Qingsheng, Guan Wei, He Gong, Liu Liguo, Li Luming, Cao Xin, Ai Jing, Li Qing, Chen Jiagang, Zhang Linhai, Chen Gang, Wang Jinsong, Song Yongping, Ling Jian, Shu Qun, Li Haibing, Mao Tongqiang, Zheng Delong, Xin Haizhou, Luo Zhongli, Jia Youfu, Ji Lei, Feng Zhengquan, Xu Zhongmin, Xu Hong, Shi Liang, Jia Aili, Liu Hong, Li Hui, He Jiaying, Huang Gang, Ren Sihong, Xiang Qinghua. The list is still updating. More and more names will be added as the deadline approaches.
As the organizer of this charity auction, we set up a team constituted by Miss Huang He, Miss An Pei and Miss Li Xiaowen. They will be in charge of the collection of artworks. If anyone wishes to express their love and care for the Sichuan earthquake victims through the participation of the upcoming auction, welcome to contact us!
Contact Information:
Huang He: (86) 139 1087 7449
Li xiaowen (86) 139 10880250, (86-10) 64082192
An Pei anpei@polyauction.com
Email: yipai@polyauction.com
Consultancy Hotline: (86-10) 64082123
