On July 7, 2012, a severe flood began in Krymsk, which claimed the lives of several hundred people and destroyed houses and property. Many activities have been organized to help the victims. One of the largest among them was the Help Krymsk charity auction.
Auction "Help Krymsk" was held on July 13 at the Red October gallery. Many famous artists wished to take part in it, including Alexey Kallima, Irina Korina, Konstantin Zvezdochetov, Oleg Kulik, Pavel Pepperstein, Anatoly Osmilovsky, Andrey Roiter, Vladimir Arkhipov and many others. In addition, young, little-known artists also offered their works: Pavel Kiselev, Anastasia Ryabova, Anna Parkina, Margarita Trushina, Taisia Korotkova, Yegor Koshelev, etc. Some well-known art professionals decided to support the charity auction, including Vasily Tsereteli, Joseph Backstein, etc. The event was organized by Vladimir Ovcharenko, head of Red October.
During the charitable auction Help Krymsk, such works were sold as "Madonna's Head", "Razgulyay", "Chechen Women-Parachutists", etc. Large sums were offered for the paintings, moreover, some works were estimated at tens of thousands of euros. Famous collectors took part in the auction. Several buyers, however, decided to purchase the works of artists incognito, so it is impossible to say for sure who exactly wanted to help the residents of Krymsk. All the money raised for the paintings is intended to help the flood victims.
In total, during the charity auction, the organizers managed to sell many paintings worth 178,000 euros. However, Ovcharenko and his colleagues are also counting on the sale of some other works after the auction, as well as additional financial assistance. According to the organizer of the charity auction Help Krymsk, all the proceeds will be used to help the victims, and those who wish can even get a detailed report to find out what exactly the donations were spent on.
