Last night the hallways of Bushwick’s 56 Bogart Street, the rising gallery district’s de facto art center, were filled with artists and collectors, all clutching 200 items-long checklists as their names were drawn at random during the non-profit gallery Momenta Art’s spring benefit art raffle. Especially in the early going, every new name and number was followed with ohs and ahs, as the evening’s most coveted pieces were snapped up.
To the surprise of many, a tiny Kiki Smith photograph didn’t go until the fourth or fifth round, while works by punk legend Genesis BREYER P-ORRIDGE and painter Eric Heist — one of the three original founders of Momenta back in 1986 in Philadelphia — also went quickly, to the audible disappointment of many attendees still waiting their turn.
The stress (and temperature) in the packed gallery seemed to mount with every passing round. Almost as soon as their number had been called and their work secured, raffle ticket-holders made their way to the bar for refreshment and stress relief.
In the end, all 200 donated artworks were accounted for, and the artists and collectors went home happy — even Adam Simon, whose “Steal This Art” painting was stolen earlier this month, but whose replacement piece from the same series was claimed midway through the evening.
— Benjamin Sutton