Sotheby's Results - The (RED) Auction - Valentine's Day, February 14, 2008 Tonight, on the evening of Valentine’s Day, over $40 million was raised to fight AIDS in Africa in an historic auction -- the most significant charity auction of Contemporary Art ever.
The (RED) Auction.
Sotheby’s has previously sold Contemporary works benefiting charities, including its June evening sale
of Contemporary Art in London, which saw a group of five lots donated by British Contemporary
artists, including Hirst, Tracey Emin, Keith Tyson, Antony Gormley and Grayson Perry, raise a total of
£1.5 million for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Children (NSPCC).
About Gagosian Gallery:
Opened in 1979 in New York by Larry Gagosian, Gagosian Gallery is considered to be one of the
foremost modern and contemporary art galleries in the world. Gagosian Gallery has seven locations
worldwide, including three in New York, one in Beverly Hills, two in London and a new gallery in
Rome, all designed by renowned architects including Richard Gluckman (New York), Richard Meier
(Beverly Hills), and Caruso St John (London and Rome). Gagosian Gallery has organised important
exhibitions and represents many leading international artists and Estates including Georg Baselitz,
Jean Michel Basquiat, Joseph Beuys, Cecily Brown, Glenn Brown, Francesco Clemente, Walter De
Maria, Alberto Giacometti, Douglas Gordon, Marc Grotjahn, Richard Hamilton, Damien Hirst, Howard
Hodgkin, Mike Kelley, Anselm Kiefer, Willem de Kooning, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Mario Merz,
Pino Pascali, Pablo Picasso, Richard Prince, Anselm Reyle, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Saville, Richard Serra,
David Smith, Philip Taaffe, Robert Therrien, Cy Twombly, Piotr Uklanski, Francesco Vezzoli, Andy
Warhol, Franz West, Rachel Whiteread and Christopher Wool.
About The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria:
The Global Fund, the recipient of (RED) funds, has become, since its creation in 2002, the world’s
dominant financer of programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, providing well over 20 percent
of all international finance against AIDS and two-thirds of global financing for TB and malaria.
The Global Fund directs (RED) dollars to specific AIDS programs in Africa with a focus on women and
children. The Global Fund is a performance-based funder, continuing to fund only programs whose
results and expenditures meet ongoing verification by financial auditors. 100% of the (RED) money is
put to work on the ground in these grants. Global Fund-(RED) grants are among the best performing
programs within the Global Fund’s extensive portfolio of AIDS grants in Africa, thus ensuring that
every dollar raised is effectively translated into lives saved, and that every life thus saved is
accounted for. As with all Global Fund grants, performance and financial accountability in these
grants are continuously verified, so that Global Fund-funded programs receive funding only when
expenditures and results have been approved by financial auditors who work with the grants incountry.
The Global Fund is a unique, global public-private partnership governed by representatives of
governments, the private sector, civil society and affected communities from all over the world,
representing a new, performance-based approach to international health financing. The Global Fund
enables countries to design and execute their own programs, but provides funds only on the basis of
technical feasibility, performance and proven results. It is a lean institution with operating costs of
3%, (this is not applicable to (RED)
