CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN) — If you dream about how Lewis Tardy’s Free Wheeling or one of the other SRAM Part Sculptures you saw at Interbike would look in your home or shop, now is your chance to buy. SRAM is offering Part Project Art sculptures for “Buy It Now” prices until Friday, prior to its November 29, auction in New York City.
Buy It Now pricing ranges from $2,500 to $25,000 for Tardy’s Free Wheeling and Illtyd Perkins Cycloidoscope, and all proceeds will go to World Bicycle Relief, a bicycle transportation advocacy group that works mostly in Africa. SRAM sponsors the benefit auction and plans the event.
“The artists are more than happy to donate their time to help assist World Bicycle Relief get bikes to people in need of transportation in Africa,” said David Zimberoff, SRAM’s gobal communications manager. “The auction is at Cedar Lake Theater and we have already sold more than a third of the tickets,” he added.
Tickets go for $268 each, which also happens to be the cost of two bicycles supplied through World Bicycle Relief.
Zimberoff is hoping to get some of New York’s cycling advocate celebrities like David Byrne and Matthew Modine at the auction as well as art mad Five Boro Bike tourists. SRAM hopes the auction raises in excess of $150,000 for World Bicycle Relief.
All 84 artists showing sculptures at World Bicycle Relief New York City Part Project received the same 100-piece parts box from SRAM, but that is where the similarity ends. The artists had three months from receiving their assorted parts to create their sculpture, which is then donated to the auction. The art pieces at the auction can be seen here (link http://www.sram.com/partproject/new-york/art.php).
Artist sculptures are being judged on their artistic merit and criteria such as whether a minimum of 25 of the 100 parts was used. The artist winning the grand prize receives a roundtrip for two to Africa to join World Bicycle Relief as it works to bring bikes to those in need. Second and third place winners receive SRAM-equipped bikes.
This is SRAM’s third benefit auction after its inaugural auction in Chicago last year, which raised $96,000 for World Bicycle Relief. This past summer SRAM raised $25,000 at an auction in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. After the New York event, the next auction will be in August in Park City, Utah, to coincide with the Tour of Utah.
