On Saturday, July 20, the IWantToShare Foundation, a philanthropic group led by congressional spouse Sheila Romero, is hosting an auction to benefit the young cancer patients of the Philippine General Hospital’s Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department. To be held at the new space of Salcedo Auctions, the second floor of the sleek NEX Tower in Ayala Avenue, the auction will be composed of artworks from both Filipino masters and younger talents, as well as different objet d’arts, jewelry, watches, and even clothes (the designers Francis Libiran and Mark Bumgarner has committed to making two custom gowns for the winning bidder).
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The women of IWantToShare pulled together quite a gathering: there’s a vibrant Manny Garibay from 2005 that graces the auction catalogue cover, there are three mixed media works on paper from the collage series of National Artist Arturo Luz, as well as a mother and child from Mauro Malang Santos from 2005, a work of pastel on paper.
Almost all of the items for auction were solicited by IWantToShare while some are pulled from the members' personal collections. Example: a Daniel dela Cruz mixed media work from 2016 donated by the artist and his wife, IWantToShare’s Monica dela Cruz. “We always make him kulit,” she says. “But his works are always sold out so we just pick from our own collection.” Apart from the artworks, there are hard-to-find timepieces including, as Romero points out “a Hulk and a Daytona. Donated by a congressman friend of ours.” There’s even a McIntosh commemorative amplifier which the company, this year, released a limited quantity of in honor of its 17th anniversary.
The auction will be taking place under the Salcedo Auctions subsidiary, Gavel and Block which, according to the auction house’s Richie Lerma is focused not only on art but other collectibles. “It’s for a wider audience who may not be looking for art as investment,” he says. “They just like what they see. It’s a totally different mindset.” Lerma says the auction as a way to raise funds is still a new thing in the local scene but we could do well to encourage it. “It would be easier to just issue a check,” he says, but this very public exercise “helps encourage other people to get into the act of giving.”
The July 20 auction starts at 2PM at the Salcedo Auctions, NEX Tower, Ayala Avenue, Makati City.