THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Saffronart CEO Dinesh Vazirani met Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, this morning to donate a cheque of INR 36.17 lakhs to the Government of Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. StoryLTD by Saffronart raised the amount during its Kerala Flood Relief Fundraiser Auction on 29 – 30 August 2018, which featured 32 works of modern and contemporary Indian art.
Among the top ten lots sold in the no reserve online auction were works by well-known Kerala-born artists including K G Subramanyan and Riyas Komu, as well as leading Indian artists such as Ram Kumar, Dhananjay Singh and Thota Vaikuntam. The fundraiser sale was conducted to assist ongoing relief efforts in the state, which recently experienced the worst floods to occur there in over 90 years, causing widespread displacement and destruction.
Saffronart has an enduring relationship with Kerala, which has nurtured many of India’s leading artists as well as the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. As a partner of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, Saffronart will conduct a live fundraiser art auction in Kochi, titled Art Rises for Kerala (ARK), in January 2019. The funds from the auction, which will take place during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, will also be donated to the Government of Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
Saffronart CEO Dinesh Vazirani said, “People from around the country came together for our fundraiser auction in August, and we are humbled to be able to contribute this amount of INR 36 lakhs to the Government of Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. We hope to see a similar show of solidarity in our next fundraiser auction for the cause in January 2019, in partnership with the Kochi Biennale Foundation. We stand by the resilient people of Kerala and their government, which is leading the commendable relief efforts and helping people rebuild their lives.”