An art auction staged by acclaimed artist Adam Pendleton and tennis star Venus Williams will aim to raise funds for the Nina Simone Childhood Home preservation project.
On 20 May 2023, the event at Pace Gallery New York and online auction at Sotheby's will raise funds for the largest-ever preservation effort dedicated to African American historic sites. The Nina Simone Childhood Home preservation project is led by the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
‘Nina Simone is one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century. I’m inspired to be able to protect her legacy by preserving her childhood home. Her music, her vision, cannot be forgotten,’ says Pendleton of what inspired his involvement with the event, which unites works by leading contemporary artists.
Nina Simone
The purpose of the project is to restore musician and civil rights activist Simone’s birthplace in Tryon, North Carolina, which was jointly purchased by Pendleton and fellow artists Ellen Gallagher, Rashid Johnson, and Julie Mehretu in 2017 in a bid to protect Simone’s legacy.
The exhibition – which also includes artworks by Stanley Whitney, Mary Weatherford, Robert Longo and Cecily Brown – will be on view at Pace’s New York gallery from 12 – 20 May 2023. The accompanying online auction held by Sotheby’s opens for bidding on 12 May and closes 22 May.
‘Each of the artists Adam and I have selected for the auction has a unique, powerful voice, and we’ve been moved by their generosity and enthusiasm for this important cause,’ Williams comments. ‘It’s been a privilege to collaborate with Adam in curating the auction.’
Artist Adam Pendleton
The project, which also includes a benefit gala, aims to draw attention to the work of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, established in 2017 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For Brent Leggs, executive director of the fund and senior vice president of the trust, it is an opportunity to discover Nina Simone through her childhood spent in the Jim Crow South. ‘Our partnership with the artists, Venus Williams, and Pace Gallery is a powerful demonstration of how art and preservation practice can join forces to permanently preserve Simone’s remarkable legacy,’ he adds. ‘Together, we will secure the home’s future and inspire a new generation of diverse leaders who will memorialise the places where Black history happened.’
Online bidding in the auction will be available to the public at 11am EDT beginning 12 May and closing on 22 May at 3pm EDT. All the artworks in the auction will be available to view in person – in addition to online – at Pace’s West 25th Street gallery in New York throughout the course of the sale, from 12–20 May
The porch of Nina Simone childhood home in Tryon, North Carolina
The organ inside Nina Simone's childhood home
-
The Brazilian Forest House injects art into a modernist-inspired, contemporary designThe Brazilian Forest House, designed in upstate São Paulo by FGMF, brings together nature and art
-
Waiting room inspo: Inside Studioutte’s cinematic Sala D’Attesa at Milan Design WeekStudioutte’s Sala D’Attesa, staged in Nolo during Milan Design Week 2024, was a scenographic interior merging different design sensibilities
-
Bang & Olufsen’s Recreated Classics series continues with a CD player revivalBang & Olufsen’s Beosystem 9000c music system brings the original digital compact disc format back to life and pairs it with the latest in speaker design
-
Secret 7” is back with limited-edition vinyl cover art to aid War ChildSecret 7” returns with it charity auction of seven new mystery tracks sealed behind 700 uniquely designed vinyl cover sleeves (and anyone can bid)
-
Lana Trzebinski’s ceramics for de Pury sale are mediations on healingLana Trzebinski on creating her ‘Fractal Series’ of ceramic art in her Nairobi studio, for a selling exhibition with de Pury
-
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth unite for a sensorial London exhibition and auctionHospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth are working together to raise money for arts and mental health charities
-
Pharrell Williams’ third Joopiter auction is an eclectic and cultural mish-mashPharrell Williams’ ‘Just Phriends’ Joopiter auction is curated by Sarah Andelman; bidding opens 19 June 2023
-
‘George Club: Twenty Years in Mayfair’ offers art by David Hockney, Tracey Emin and moreChristie’s hosts an online charity auction of original artworks from the soon-to-reopen George in Mount Street, London, in support of the Caring Family Foundation
-
Buckhorn Sculpture Park: inside the art paradise dreamt up by collectors Sherry and Joel MallinAs legendary art collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin prepare to sell their upstate New York home – and the star-studded collection occupying Buckhorn, its onsite sculpture park – we go behind the scenes of this art treasure trove, and the extraordinary life, work and spirit of the Mallins
-
Outside the box: Tracey Emin and Frank Bowling join artists in Bonhams’ charity sale for Cure Parkinson’sBonhams’ Cure3 selling exhibition includes NFTs and 2D works alongside signature Perspex cubes, from Tracey Emin, Yinka Shonibare, Frank Bowling, Random International and more, on display 13-17 January 2023, London
-
Christo’s final work revealed in Paris: L'Arc de Triomphe, WrappedAhead of the official opening on 18 September 2021, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped has been revealed. At Sotheby’s, an exhibition (17 September to 3 October) captures preparations for the artist duo’s final work
