Ted Stanke: STATE of Emergency/Pre-emptive AUCTION

FLASHBACK: The election of 2004. John Kerry -Vs- George W. Bush

One was not necessarily voting for one candidate but rather against the other.

I was working 15 hours a day, 7 days a week to finish my MFA thesis project: A giant map of America made from Junk. My preferred candidate for a time was Ralph Nader, and I saw his campaign as a perfect chance to put my political artwork to the test.

I came up with an idea to offer him my artwork as a way to incite the masses, inspiring them to believe in bringing change to our country. I wanted to travel ahead of his tour to each of the fifty states and organize with Universities and local media stations to set up a project in which people would be told to bring objects of a specific color from their homes. I would put more parts into each state , filling out the artwork with stuff from the specific regions they depicted.

I would work in public, and alongside me would be volunteers educating people about the difference between Nader and the other candidates. When Ralph showed up to speak, the sculpture would hang behind him and then, at his final rally, the entire map would be assembled in Washington DC. With this amount of exposure, whether or not he won, I couldn't lose.

The sculptures were beautiful, featuring cities made from flattened coins blossoming amidst highways from drinking straws and rivers from copper wire. Of course, Nader never seriously ran, and Bush took the election by a suspiciously slim margin, and the hope faded. I moved to NYC that Fall, and the entire project went into storage, where still it sits, untouched, unseen, costing me monthly rent to keep hidden.

Now, in the great recession of 2009, I find myself behind several months in payments and facing a foreclosure auction at the end of the month. I HAVE DECIDED TO AUCTION THESE HISTORIC SCULPTURES TO THE PUBLIC BEFORE THEY ARE LOST FOREVER. There is a precedent for sales on this artwork.

Florida was shown and sold in Brooklyn, in 2005, at a gallery called "Concepto". The price was $2000.

Texas, which appeared in a groupshow, including Matthew Barney and Alex Grey, at Manhattan gallery Bitforms, was sold this summer at Deborah Colton Gallery in Houston Texas, for a price of $2500.

Approximately 40 additional states remain. I will be taking bids on these sculptures Monday-Thursday of this week, and will update this page to reflect the progress. There is no reserve on any state, and bids start at $100. Please email me to place your bid. Whoever wins each state will receive a signed certificate of ownership within days, and the sculpture itself shortly thereafter. I can oversee delivery and installation in the NYC area. Elsewhere shipping costs may apply.

The sculptures fit together like a puzzle, and hang well in clusters or alone. Sizes vary, the average is 2 feet by 2 feet with a varying degree of relief. They hang easily on simple brackets which I will provide and are not as heavy as you'd imagine. A buy-it-now price of $1000 applies to any sculpture with no active bidding. Payments can be made using any major credit card via the donation link at the top of this blog.