The audience at SculptureCenter’s Lucky Draw 2011. All images courtesy of SculptureCenter.

Last Wednesday, Art Observed was on site at SculptureCenter’s Lucky Draw in Long Island City. Of the events in New York’s spring benefit circuit, Lucky Draw stands out for its rapid paced, chance-dependent operation that lends the event an element of excitement and guarantees that each ticket holder brings home a piece of art. Even though the auction format gala keeps it casual by omitting a formal dinner or seating order, anticipation leads up to a quick raffle draw that replaces the traditional art world bidding process. Every ticket purchased guarantees the lucky philanthropist a piece of art as decided by the raffle’s random draw and not the highest bidder. However, SculptureCenter knows the anxious collector’s soul and lets the event begin with a traditional search for the three highest bidders, who are then allowed to bypass fate and pick the first three works of art.

SculptureCenter volunteer carrying an Olaf Breuning piece 

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Uri Aran, All This Is Yours, (Detail), Mixed Media, 2010.

Over 900 people were in attendance at the opening last Sunday, May 2 for “Knight’s Move,” the new show at SculptureCenter, running through July 26, 2010. The exhibition brings together artists prominent to the dialog of New York’s recent past as well as those at the very beginning of their careers.  Curated by Fionn Meade, this survey of new sculpture in New York embodies an informed yet playful and questioning view of the contemporary.  Working within this theme, the exhibition’s title refers to the chess piece whose move is tactical, stealthy, and surprising.

The exhibited artists include Uri Aran, David Brooks, Nikolas Gambaroff, Tamar Halpern, Alex Hubbard, Esther Kläs, Daniel Lefcourt, Joanna Malinowska, Ohad Meromi, Virginia Poundstone, Cassie Raihl, Erin Shirreff, Alexandre Singh, Matt Sheridan Smith, Mika Tajima, Tom Thayer, Sara VanDerBeek, and Allyson Vieira.

No Neck Blues Band performs on David Brook’s installation in SculptureCenter courtyard. All opening images by Su Beyazit, courtesy of SculptureCenter.

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