Bidsquare + MAD Ball 2017!

A blur of yellow taxicabs and hasty pedestrians flutter around Manhattans famous intersection, Columbus Circle, like a bright dial pushing the gears of a clock forward. Millions of yearly rotations are completed, generating the kaleidoscopic energy branded by no other city beyond the streets of New York. Anchored between Broadway and 8th Ave is the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) standing ten-stories high, above all the commotion, like a shimmering monolith. 

This November, Bidsquare is proud to partner with the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) as the corporate sponsor and online auction host for MAD Ball 2017, an event that has recognized visionaries in the fields of the art design, business, and philanthropy for the past twenty years.

The annual gala will bring together over five hundred guests for an evening that weaves creative recognition with the charitable initiative to honor luminaries such as Madeleine K. Albright, Barnaba Fornasetti, Jorge M. Pérez, Faith Reingold and Sterling Ruby. There will be cocktails, interactive video games, fashion statements, a silent auction and*fingers crossed* the one and only - Iris Apfel. 

Online bidding has been made exclusively available through Bidsquare - proceeds will help fund MADs general operations as well as education, public, and exhibition programs, which serve over three hundred thousand people per year.

Here are some of our favorite items up for bidding now through November 7th!

Lot 1, Sterling Ruby; S.R. Studio. LA.CA., 306 Hooded Coat, 2016; Sterling Ruby Studio; Starting at $15,000

Staying true to MADs appreciation for craft, including textiles and fiber based processes, is a wearable work of art from Sterling Ruby Studio. One of the most internationally recognized contemporary artists, Sterling Ruby, draws from a diverse range of sources and influences and uses a range of material strategies, from bronze sculptures to tapestries. Rubys work has been featured in exhibitions at leading museums worldwide, including the Whitney Museum of Art, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art amongst others. 

Lot 2, Faith Ringgold, To Be or Not To Be Free, Lithograph, 2014; Starting at $1,400

This psychedelic work on paper beautifully exemplifies the work of Harlem born artist, Faith Ringgold. Most widely recognized for her award winning book, Tar Beach, which has been in print for over twenty-five years and holds the Coretta Scott King Award (1991) for illustration, Ringgold has won more than seventy-five awards, including twenty-three Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees and numerous fellowships. 

Lot 29, Paolo Costagli New York, 18kt Rose Gold Brillante® Earrings, 2017; Starting at $2,725

Bold jewelry is to be excepted at MAD Ball 2017! Representing the landscape of metallic accessories that ought to be walking through the doors at Cipriani, is lot 29. Offered and designed by distinguished Italian maker Paolo Costagli, this pair of contemporary earrings provide a flash of avant-garde, clean geometry, and sophistication. 

Lot 14, Michael Dweck, Mermaid 112, Weeki Wachee, FL 2007, Silver gelatin print; Starting at $4,000

Diving toward a different medium is Lot 14 - a serene photograph from contemporary artist, Michael Dweck. Suspended in enigmatic blackness, Dwecks subjects from his series, Mermaids (2008) allude to the legend and allure of the mermaid. Known for his seductive photographic style surrounding beauty, youth, and the female form, this highlight has a deep poetic value from an award-winning and internationally exhibited donor. 

Lot 42, Bao Bao Issey Miyake Prism Tote, 2016; Starting at $275

A bag that artfully plays with technology and ones sensory satisfaction! Japanese designer, Issey Miytake reflects the workmanship underlined by MAD in this simple yet affective design. Miyakes triangle on mesh construction reinvents and elevates the common fashion accessory to the realm of fine art. His work was featured in MoMA’s 1998 exhibition Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles and is featured in MoMA’s collection. 

In addition to fine artworks, textiles and couture, the auction also includes travel experiences such as Lot 53, Two Night on the French Riviera and Lot 56, A Night of Top Shelf Whiskey Tasting in Beantown (amongst others) as well as modern furniture, lighting, and wine!

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Jessica Helen Weinberg | Senior Content Editor at Bidsquare