Open your drawers, dig into your stack of paintings and piles of drawings, dust off that sculpture in the corner of your studio that’s looking at you funny, reopen the mystery folder in your computer and pull out that little gem that’s been waiting for its moment in the spotlight! The work should be something that otherwise might not surface. A work hidden in the past, buried by your doubts, or lost during the artistic process. A dead darling is a piece that has value for you as an artist, yet little or no financial value at this moment in time. Every medium, shape and size is welcome!
We will give this dead darling the stage, revealing your mindset at the time, your process as an artist, but not your name! The names of all selected participants will be listed before the show, but who made what will only be revealed right after the sale of the work! This adds excitement to the moment, and lets the audience bid from the heart.
Dead Darlings is about community and solidarity. Of course, money is a key player at any auction, artists need money to produce work, and we need money to produce and operate our event. However, money here is symbolic. Dead Darlings is a non-profit organization. We keep 40 percent of the sales, for costs and production, and 60 percent of the total sales will be divided equally among all participating artists. Your name only be revealed after the sale, and regardless of the final selling price (and those can differ dramatically) every artist will receive an equal share of the profits.
The starting price is set low regardless of what your piece cost to produce, or was formerly valued at, for us, the lower the starting price, the more the public can engage with the process of the auction. We suggest one euro. We accept starting prices fifty euro or lower. This of course does not determine what the final sale price might be.
So, what do you say? Send us those darlings that deserve a second chance, and we’ll take care of the rest!
