Bidders Entranced by Artwork
By Scott Runyon

Richard Taddei
C.J. in Rome, 1996
Oil on canvas
22 x 20"

 On October 25, 2006 more than 400 art lovers, collectors, and artists crowded the Leslie/Lohman Gallery for Entranced: Beauties Who Would Have Inspired the Greek Gods, a one-night-only gala silent auction fundraiser to benefit the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation.

The evening began at 6pm with a special VIP preview for contributing artists, invited guests, and press. Hosted by LLGAF founders Charles W. Leslie and J. Frederic Lohman, the preview was sponsored
by Veuve Clicquot Champagne—the bubbly libation was served throughout the event by several scantily-clad he-models who also passed out tasty hors d’oeuvre generously provided by longtime LLGAF supporter restaurant, Philip Marie. Attendees at the preview had the opportunity to view all the works for sale and start the bidding before our doors were thrown open at 7pm to all attendees and bidders.

Starting bids for the art ranged from $60 to $600, and available among the lots were photographs, drawings, oils, watercolors, and mixed-media works in a variety of styles. The response to our request for contributions from artists was impressive, and several artists even created pieces specifically for the auction.

As the clock neared the official end of bidding at 9pm, bidders scrambled to place final bids on artworks they desired. Upon the close of the silent auction, LLGAF staff and volunteers did some scrambling of their own to quickly confirm all the winning bidders/ bids and package the over 100 pieces of art for buyers to take home at the end of the evening.

As staff and volunteers swiftly packaged the artwork, Charles W. Leslie took the microphone for a heartfelt thank you to attendees and sponsors for their continued support of the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation. Mr. Leslie, then drew and announced the 6 lucky raffle winners who took home framed artworks by Stanley Stellar, Joseph Radoccia, John Kirslis, Kim Hanson, James Fetterman and John Burton Harter.

The evening raised $10,000 to support our mission of fostering, exhibiting and preserving gay art. Thank you to all the people (too numerous to name here individually) who helped to make the evening so successful, including donor artists, attendees, bidders, raffle tickets buyers, volunteers, and the following sponsors: Veuve Clicquot Champagne, Nicholas Pavlik Conservation Framing Services, 1-800-POSTCARDS, HX Magazine, Mascot Studio Custom Framing, The New York Blade, and Philip Marie Restaurant.

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Scott Runyon has brought his expertise to various development projects at Leslie/Lohman over the past 18 months. Scott, Harvey Redding, and the LLGAF staff worked tirelessly to bring this benefit auction to fruition.