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Anders Nilsen On His 46 Million Art Auction Effort (PR)
posted August 28, 2009
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to my wife, Heather that I was thinking about putting a couple of drawings or paintings up for auction on Ebay to raise a little money to influence the health care debate. To inject a bit of sanity and support a public insurance option to force a bit of honesty onto the Insurance industry. Heather said "Sure, good idea, but why don't you get some other people involved and raise some real money." So I did. Click here to see the auction (or go to Ebay and search for "46 Million"). The Chicago Reader and Time Out are covering it. And most importantly, the response from the artists I asked to contribute has been humbling and incredibly generous. Here's a list of the contributing artists:
John Porcellino
Genevieve Castree
Chris Ware
Ivan Brunetti
Dan Clowes
Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie)
Jeffrey Brown
Paul Hornschemeier
Todd Baxter
Sonnenzimmer Print Studio
Kevin Huizenga
Jay Ryan/The Bird Machine
Lynda Barry
Cheryl Weaver
Lilli Carre
David Heatley
Kyle Obriot
Stephen Eichhorn
Buenaventura Press
Sammy Harkham
James Sturm
Souther Salazar
Anders Nilsen (obviously)
As for the money, it will go to grass roots efforts and TV ads in the districts and states of fence sitting Democrats (the focus presently is to get the number of supportive Senators from 45 to a majority of 51) to support a strong public option in the final health overhaul legislation that goes to the President. For more on the kinds of efforts we support, and for more information about the issue, check out Democracy for America and Health Care for America Now.
The auctions will end, one by one starting around 11am on Sunday the 6th of September. A few will continue into the 7th. There are already bids on a bunch of stuff and watchers on nearly everything.