BLAND HACK
(Julian Modungo,
Jamie Hawkins-Gaar) SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Who else in Atlanta can claim they made Bill O'Reilly crack up on national television? We're betting no one other than Bland Hack, Atlanta's own e-famous comedians. Since meeting at Georgia State University, Julian Modugno and Jamie Hawkins-Gaar have been pestering the funny bone of those around them with witty parodies and wildly imaginative mockumentaries. Their collective, Bland Hack, has become notorious with videos going viral in England, Poland, and other exotic locales. Now they're turning their sights back home, showering Atlanta with their newest project, a showcase of local beatboxing talents.

AUCTION ITEM: A walk on role to their next film to have your head blown up on screen.


Chris Appleton SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Chris Appleton is a pretty desirable guy. Between his tiger eyes,
and general altruistic awesomeness, there is not a lot to dislike.
Although known primarily as one of the founders of WonderRoot
Community Arts Center, Chris' resume boasts everything from work
as an animal rights activist and a handyman to being an Atlanta
Braves fanatic.

AUCTION ITEM: You get to accompany Chris to a
Braves game with a vegan meal prepared by Chris. In addition to a delightful day spent with Chris, you will receive a membership to WonderRoot.



Cooper Sanchez SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Although Cooper Sanchez is an artist who prefers to remain beneath the radar of Atlanta's artistic community, if you have ever spent any time in eastern Atlanta you probably recognize his work. His projects are tucked away everywhere from the greenhouse at Oakland Cemetery (plants, paintings, and cyanotypes) to 97 Estoria (paintings) to telephone poles (wooden monkey heads at the tops). Sanchez emerges briefly from his shell in Clarkston from time to time to talk with us about his artwork, meadows, and why he's so darn shy.

AUCTION ITEM: Garden design consultation and corresponding design recommendation drawing. We will also have an original framed artwork.



Fahamu Pecou SEE ARTICLE
BIO: There are certain things about Fahamu Pecou that we know. He is The Shit. He has a badass haircut. And he has managed to become one of Atlanta's most recognizable artistic figures in only a few years. Pecou found at an early age that the best way to break through his shy exterior was to blast through to the opposite end of the spectrum and create a larger-than-life persona.

AUCTION ITEM: Michael Jordan cosmic bowling and beer with Fahamu for you and ten friends.



Jason Travis SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Jason Travis, or "J Trav" as he's known among friends, is a jack of all trades. After graduating from Georgia State University with a graphic design degree, he began taking on several creative roles around Atlanta. His curatorial debut was the recent Rest is Space show at Aurora Coffee. Travis also plays guitar and sings for local band Sealions, is a known sartorialist and The Atlantan contributor, and is the design brains behind Atlanta's new online culture mag, PURGEATL. But Travis is mostly known as the guy who asks hipsters to empty their bags so he can take portraits of them with their stuff.

AUCTION ITEM: Travis will make you your very own persona portrait, and then afterwards you get to go spend some quality time at Octane Coffee.


John Q
(Joey Orr,
Wesley Chenault,
Andy Ditzler) SEE ARTICLE
BIO: After just over a year since they started working together, the Atlanta-based collective John Q quickly established themselves as one of the year's top artistic power-teams. Curator Joey Orr, archivist Wesley Chenault, and musician and film-buff Andy Ditzler debuted their combined exploration of Atlanta's queer history in a series of public-space interventions entitled Memory Flash in April of 2010.

AUCTION ITEM: Prior to the collective's first series of public interventions, Memory Flash, they hosted a special sneak preview for members of the press and close-knit supporters. Based on an archived love letter from the early 1950s, this happening took place at the Kibbee Gallery where John Q cooked breakfast for everyone in their pajamas and discussed the upcoming work. We would like to extend a special invitation to the sneak preview of our upcoming series. While this newest work will be based in both Atlanta and San Francisco, the preview itself will take place in Atlanta where we will share ideas and some small piece leading up to the interventions themselves.


Neda Abghari SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Walking into Neda Abghari's home is not unlike walking into a flea market booth. The walls are covered in local artwork, empty antique frames, and several kitschy Christ and Last Supper portraits. Every room boasts ample seating from a number of antique couches that the Atlanta native and Iranian first generation American, Abghari has been collecting since high school. As we sat in her living room discussing the latest arm of her Atlanta Creatives Project, the Creative Community Housing Project, she joked that, fittingly, her house is an extension of the inside of her mind; it is well equipped for impromptu gatherings and photo shoots.

AUCTION ITEM: A tour of the new artist residencies for the Creatives Project at the Goat Farm for a private studio visit with some of the artists, followed by a portrait of you by Neda,


Rich Gere and
Dayna Thacker SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Art partnerships are tough. Pairing two passionate and perhaps temperamental personalities can be a recipe for disaster, so it takes a special match to work harmoniously, let alone get hitched. Since moving to Atlanta four years ago, husband and wife Rich Gere and Dayna Thacker have shown themselves to be individually talented and, together, a force to be reckoned with.

AUCTION ITEM: Afternoon Delight. A Sunday afternoon art-making printshop experience with a collaborative printmaker. Learn about printmaking, participate in making prints and take home some artwork. Beverages and delicious snacks provided. For four people.


Robert Gill SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Robert Gill, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta, just completed a grueling nine-month thesis project titled Before or After Yourself that tried his body, mind, and skill in photography and digital media. Many thought he was crazy for enduring physical pain for the project, but now, with his newly svelte body, this 28-year-old is living the dream: Gill is bringing his work to the hordes, earning press including a recent article in Esquire Russia. Gill traveled through Atlanta to retrace his artistic origins before jetting off to begin his new position at Harvard University. We managed to nab Gill for a luxurious chat in a Kirkwood living room to talk about his latest project.

AUCTION ITEM: A session of boot camp provided by FitWit so you can get ripped like Robert. You'll get a unique print from his video, Before or After Yourself to help motivate you in the process.


Takuro Masuda SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Allow us to introduce you to Takuro "Tak" Masuda: accountant by day, grind-house film producer, animator, and director by night. A regular Renaissance man, Masuda has been making a name for himself around Atlanta for several years through his short films and appearances at venues ranging from the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center to The High Museum of Art.

AUCTION ITEM: Tak Masuda will provide a private screening of his favorite shorts for you and ten of your closest friends. In addition, you'll get a limited edition DVD of his film and framed still from the work currently on display at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.


Mike Germon SEE ARTICLE
BIO: This barrel-chested wonder of a man was as blessed with style as he was with body hair. He possesses many leather bound books about science, which he cuts up and re-composes into majestic works of art, not entirely unlike God. When he isn’t lifting under-appreciated wonders from thrift stores like orphans from wreckage, he is creating various works of masterful design in exchange for cash-money, managing Mint Gallery, and impregnating people with his sultry stare. At 30 years old, he still owns clothing from Old Navy and he is pulling. it. off.

AUCTION ITEM: A cookout on the BeltLine at MINT Gallery with you and some buddies. Hot wings and beer and fixin’s. Guaranteed guest appearances by bona fide Atlanta artists and hangers-on who heard about free food. Also, an authentic Mike Germon collage inspired by your face.


Anne Dennington SEE ARTICLE
BIO: When we think about exhibitions the things that usually come to mind are the artists, the work on display, and who showed up to the opening. It’s easy to gloss over the fact that, in most cases, stacks of paperwork and countless hours of bureaucratic finagling have already been completed before the audience arrives. This “before” stage is where Flux Projects‘s executive director Anne Dennington comes in. Dennington has been the administrative brains behind more than a few public art projects over the last few years, including her role in founding Atlanta Celebrates Photography’s Public Art Project.

AUCTION ITEM: Chef made picnic at the Sol Lewitt public art piece in order to spark a conversation about the necessity of public art in a city to garner community strength.


Shara Hughes SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Shara Hughes paints imaginary spaces, her portrayals of interiors are furnished with a non-functional inner life – stairs lead to nowhere, chairs and tables are tumultuously arranged. In recent work Hughes has been focusing on the experience of painting and being a painter instead of creating paintings that were based on specific thoughts. Shara Hughes studied at the Rhode Island School of Design earning her BFA in 2004. Since then, she has attended residencies at the Andersen Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass CO, the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson VT, and Ox-Bow in Saugatuck MI. She has spent two summers in Denmark at a studio house producing work for shows in both Scandanavia and Berlin. Shara attended the Skowhegan School of painting and sculpture in the summer of 2011 and is looking forward to participating in the upcoming PAINT show at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Shara is represented by American Contemporary in New York City, and Michael Andersen Gallery in Copenhagen, and Berlin and Metroquadro in Turn.

AUCTION ITEM: Drink a bottle of wine with Shara on the roof top deck of the Telephone Factory Lofts and then have Shara paint a portrait of you and her famed Boston Terrier, Chicken Nugget.


Michael David Murphy SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Michael is a writer and photographer in Atlanta, Georgia. His installation, The Jena Project, debuted at Opal Gallery in Atlanta in 2008 and Unphotographable was included in the exhibition Command Z at the Torrance Art Museum in 2007. His latest project, So Help Me, opened at Opal Gallery on the eve of 2008’s Presidential Election. Michael’s websites, 2point8 and unphotographable.com, continue to attract a dedicated audience, with over eight million page views last year.

AUCTION ITEM: A round of golf with artist and writer Michael David Murphy, in which your twosome (or threesome, or foursome!) can investigate the rich intersection of art and athletics, specifically how hitting a great golf shot can yield an experience on par with any creative effort.


Dance Truck
(Malina Rodriguez, Danny Davis) SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Since relocating to Atlanta from Portland, Oregon, in 2008, Malina Rodriguez and Danny Davis have shaken up the Atlanta arts scene with their introduction of Dance Truck. As a mobile dance center, Dance Truck has pulled up to events at Le Flash, Eyedrum, and more to bring dance to the people whether they’re ready or not. As technical directors and installation specialists, Rodriguez and Davis are MacGyvers of the industry, mastering collaborations and impressive displays on shoestring budgets.

AUCTION ITEM: 7 minutes in heaven with Dance Truck! A 7 minute performance by dance trucker and emerging choreographer Alisa Mittin.


James McConnell and Mark Basehore SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Mark Basehore and James McConnell are charming. So charming in fact, that these co-owners of Beep Beep Gallery, who have been known to draw a person in with their wit and incredible enthusiasm for the Atlanta art scene, managed to strand us on the roof of their Midtown gallery. Basehore and McConnell have been champions of the emerging arts community in Atlanta for several years and continue to pummel the creative scene with on-point exhibits and community inspiring projects.

AUCTION ITEM: Get hooked on Ponce when Mark and James take you and a friend on a tour of their favorites haunts. They can guide you or you can choose your own adventure from acitivities ranging from: wine at Beep with a private showing of the gallery, cornbread at Eats, drag lessons at Model T's, the claw game at Murder Kroger, popcorn at the Local followed by private foosball lesson, cupcakes at Kibbee Gallery, shoplifting at Young Blood Gallery, and more!


Blake Butler SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Blake Butler is the author of the novel There Is No Year, the novella Ever, and the novel-in-stories Scorch Atlas. He edits “the internet literature magazine blog of the future” HTMLGiant, as well as two journals of innovative text, Lamination Colony and No Colony.

AUCTION ITEM: Blake is donating a set of signed books and a scavenger hunt for the winner and five friends. br>

Annette Cone-Skelton SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Since moving to Atlanta from LaGrange, Georgia, in 1962, Annette Cone-Skelton has been an industrious member of Atlanta’s art community with a CV to shame the best of them. An accomplished visual artist who recently exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Cone-Skelton’s reach has touched the lives of students she taught at her alma mater, the former Atlanta College of Art, and her involvements have included the Arnold and Heath galleries, Contemporary Art Southeast (a journal that was later absorbed into ART PAPERS magazine), and a successful arts-consulting career. More recently, Cone-Skelton is a founder and the current director, president, and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, known to Atlantans as MOCA GA.

AUCTION ITEM: A cocktail party for 10 people at her home in Ansley Park with tour of her private collection. br>

Lucha Rodriguez SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Lucha is a neo-pop experimental printmaker, graphic artist and avid drawer who enjoys color at its brightest palettes. She's produced projects ranging from etchings, monoprints, silkscreen prints, to immersive surreal environments. She develops organ inspired creaturettes, to expand her own extravagant symbolism related to the body as an internal space. Lucha currently works in a beautiful, cozy studio in Atlanta, Georgia. Lucha's work has been shown in Mexico, India, France, Hong Kong and the United States.

AUCTION ITEM: Give Lucha any item of your choosing and she will "Lucha-fy" it into an original piece of artwork just for you!

Helen Hale SEE ARTICLE
BIO: Helen Hale has an aura. She sculpts and molds it with her hands, gesturing in swirls around her. You feel privileged to be on the edge of her bubble. Constantly moving yet quietly composed, contained and aware of her body and surroundings, it’s instantly apparent that Hale is a dancer. A native Atlantan, Hale returned to Georgia and gracefully leapt into the burgeoning dance scene, taking part in noteworthy performances such as i45’s Convergent Frequencies, WonderRoot‘s Magnetic Drift, and Dashboard Co-op‘s Modes of Operation. She is now working in Philadelphia.

AUCTION ITEM: Helen may be in Philly, but you don't have to feel more than a postcard away. Helen will send the winner 5 pieces of mail art while she works from Philadelphia over the next several months. br>

Art Team

AUCTION ITEM: The ladies of Art Crush will bring a karaoke party to you at the location of your choosing for however many people you can fit.