New ­Directions as auction gives back to creators

Artist Mary Schepisi wanted to find a more sustainable model for charity auctions, donating 40 per cent of profits back to artists.

Artist Mary Schepisi, pictured with husband filmmaker Fred Schepisi, is overseeing an art auction raising money for prostate cancer patients. Picture: Aaron Francis

Even with the best of intentions, there are limits to the amount of work artists can donate to charity.

Mary Schepisi wanted to find a more sustainable model, so when she approached artists for her upcoming auction, she made sure to have something to offer in return.

“Artists are asked to do auctions like this all the time,” she said.

“That’s why I decided to give 40 per cent back to the artist. Almost everybody this year did new work.” An artist herself, Schepisi has assembled work from 30 well known Australian artists to raise money in the fight against prostate cancer via the Australian Prostate Centre.

The auction, called New ­Directions, will be held this weekend in Melbourne, and partici­pating artists include Callum Morton, Sam Leach, John Wolseley and Michael Zavros.

Zavros, one of the nation’s most sought-after painters, said Schepisi’s model — 40 per cent of the sale price returned to the artist, with freight costs covered too — meant artists could offer something more significant than otherwise would have been possible.

He told The Australian that he loved to contribute to charities, but his work took a long time to produce and deadline pressures could make donating challenging.

“I think there’s a perception that artists have work lying around but that’s far from reality,” Zavros said. “And yet artists are so often prepared to give.”

This will be the fourth auction that Schepisi has organised to benefit prostate cancer treatment.

Her husband, renowned filmmaker Fred Schepisi, is a prostate cancer survivor, and the pair are fervent supporters of the Australian Prostate Centre and its executive director, Tony Costello, who performed Schepisi’s successful surgery a decade ago.

When she organised the first auction, back in 2014, Mary Schepisi approached artists directly after striking out with their gallery representatives.

Several of those artists, including Chris Bond, Kate Shaw, Sam Leach and Joshua Yeldham, plus Schepisi herself, have donated to all four auctions.

This year, Schepisi is particularly excited to have two large works donated from the APY Art Centre Collective, one by Wawiriya Burton and the other by the Ken sisters.

The most recent sale, in 2017, raised $174,810, up from $143,810 in 2015 and $80,000 in 2014. Schepisi is hoping this year’s auction will raise about $200,000.

The auction will be held at 6pm on Sunday at Gibson’s Auctions in Melbourne. Details are available online.

Arts P15