As New York begins to slowly recover from Hurricane Sandy, we’re seeing the city’s best side — people coming together to rebuild, volunteering, and donating their time to help those devastated by the floods, power outage, and destruction. The Occupy Sandy group has been making tremendous efforts in hurricane relief, and the art community is pitching in as well. Many artists are donating part and sometimes all of their sales from prints and t-shirts to relief groups. There are DIY functions organized by the affected galleries and organizations. It’s going to take much more time to recover, but thankfully, there’s something you can do right now, while simultaneously acquiring some arty items.
These “I Still Love NY” Sandy relief benefit t-shirts from Sebastian Errazuriz are hand-dipped in blue. Also available in blacked-out Manhattan.
Rich Ginter and Jim Viscardi have launched Art for Sandy Relief, a benefit comic book art auction on eBay to raise money for the Steven Siller Tunnels to Towers Hurricane Relief effort. It features some stellar collector art for Marvel lovers.
Artist Logan Hicks is selling a print of his photograph taken in blacked-out Manhattan. He’s done a lot of urban exploring photography in the past, but this is truly one of his most surreal experiences. Benefits go to the American Red Cross.
Re-Build Up is an affordable digital print with a very direct message. 90% of the proceeds benefit All Hands Volunteers.
Over at 20×200, Blue Marble is a framed archival print featuring an image of Sandy captured on October 28th by NASA’s GOES-13 satellite, just before the storm hit New York. Print sales benefit the American Red Cross.
Molly Dillworth’s framed print Times Square Pour is based on her site-specific installation Cool Water, Hot Island in Times Square. The image is culled from NASA’s infrared satellite data of Manhattan, and was painted in Times Square’s new pedestrian promenade. All sales benefit the American Red Cross.
Ransom & Mitchell’s photograph of artist Scott Musgrove, The Last Good Man, is a meta-homage to the mythical narratives of his paintings, and it’s devastatingly appropriate. All profits will go to the American Red Cross.
Since powerHouse Arena’s space was damaged in the storm, the bookstore/art venue will be hosting the PowerHouse Books Fundraiser this weekend on November 17th — a one-day fair with books, music, drinks, and authors. “Sandy Hates Books” is just one of the examples of DIY rebuild efforts within the artist community.
The All Bushwick Sandy Relief Effort fundraiser has had work donated by artists such as Deborah Brown, Tamara Gonzales, Danny Arenas, as well as a recent addition of six Peace Prints donated by Julie Martin.
Featuring a term coined by designer Jake Levine, as well as his original illustration, the SoPo (“South of Power”) t-shirt benefits Sandy relief, and serves as a reminder that during the blackout, the neighborhoods of downtown Manhattan were all in it together.