The Fonds de Dotation Merci is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a benefit auction entitled “Heaven,”* hosted online by Sotheby’s. The sale will go live on November 13, where participants can bid on a selection of donated artworks. The accompanying “Heaven”* exhibition was due to take place at the Palais De Tokyo, but has been canceled due to COVID-19 regulations.
Held in partnership with Thanks for Nothing, an organization that utilizes the voices of artists for social progress, the sale will donate proceeds to three of the endowment fund’s main projects: the Madagascar initiative for access to education; Ferme de l’Enovl, which focuses on agriculture in France; and a refugee program entitled Horizon.
Oliver Beer, “Heaven,” 2018, tobacco pipe, sectioned and set in resin, 10 5/8 x 14 x 3⁄4 inches; courtesy of the artist and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.
Featured in the sale are works by 30 international artists, like Oliver Beer’s title work Heaven, Bum Painting by Laure Prouvost, Carlos Cruz-Diez’s Color Aditivo Elorsa, and Traveller by Babi Badalov. Other featured artists include names like Rita Ackerman, Daniel Otero Torres, Edgar Sarin, Thu Van Tran, James Welling, Tadashi Kawamata, William Klein, Marcel Dzama, Annette Messager, and Rashid Johnson.
Founded in 2009, the Fonds de Dotation Merci is a philanthropic fund led by the Cohen family. The organization focuses on pillars like education, agriculture, the development of territories and their populations, professional development, and social and professional integration.
Laure Prouvost, “Bum Painting (1),” 2017 oil on canvas, wood, 12 x 19 1/8 inches; courtesy of the artist and Nathalie Obadia.
*© Oliver Beer
