Takashi Murakami Enoc Perez Pulse Quickens on Day Two Art Parties: Flying South Hot Spot: Tokyo Murakami to Open L.A. Animation Studio Is Art Sponsorship Going Out of Style? Artists’ Most Wanted

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Like most charity auctions, the event held last night at the David Zwirner Gallery to benefit a youth literacy organization featured a fine collection of work from 23 mid-career and emerging artists. It also had a tasty table of beverages, and DJ Porkchop was working the turntable like a bona fide artist himself.

But what set this event apart was its brilliant cassette-recorded audio tour of the works on view. This “review” featured five young students from the 826NYC tutoring center in Brooklyn, which was the beneficiary of the night’s proceeds.

Ranging in age from seven to 12, these critics minced no words.

Of Marcel Dzama’s Untitled (2006) work on paper, they said, “It looks like the people are standing around on top of each other’s heads—which is totally not possible.”

Another student described Takashi Murakami’s Tan Tan Bo—a.k.a. Gero Tan—Bow (2006) as “ear wax, piled on ear wax, piled on ear wax.”

Chris Ofili’s Alpha Beta Lovers (2006) was a big hit with the kids, who thought it was a perfect example of “schmooshy, schmooshy love.”

And while they appeared fond of Dave Miko’s painting Tankers (2006), they gave it only an estimated worth of $10, because “someone went and scribbled on a perfectly good picture of the ocean.” (Miko later told us he was honored by their critique: “I often ask myself the same question,” he said. “Why do I scribble on my pictures?”)

Luckily the adult bidders at the auction were willing to shell out more than $10 for the Miko and other artworks. (After all, “it’s only money,” chided celebrity auctioneer John Flansburgh of the Brooklyn band They Might Be Giants.)

Dzama’s piece went for $12,000; Murakami’s was snatched up for $15,000; Ofili’s sold for $11,000; and Miko’s went for $4,000.

Dzama himself bought two pieces at the auction: Florian Slotawa’s Schäutzchen photograph for $850; and Enoc Perez’s drawing, To Be Titled (Seagrams), for $3,000, which the Canadian-born artist said he bought for its title’s reference to a favorite product from his northern home—a bottle of Seagrams.

Art collector Jim Bodnar also took home two pieces: an untitled screenprint by Wade Guyton, for $2,000; and Christopher Williams’ Prototype collage, for $5,500. Bodnar said, “I don’t have a very big collection, but these are two artists that I collect. And since I was happy to contribute to the organization anyway, I came here tonight with the intention of buying.”

The top lots of the night, though, were an untitled 2006 work by Jules de Balincourt, which doubled its pre-sale estimate, selling for $16,000 to a phone bidder; and Jockum Nordstrom’s Medelader/Middle Age (2006), which reached $29,000, above a pre-sale estimate of $25,000.

Children’s book author Jon Scieszka and his wife Jeri Hansen bid on the Nordstrom piece for a friend (though unfortunately lost out to a phone bidder). “But we bought the one of the elephant for ourselves,” Hanson said, referring to Chinatsu Ban’s Study for the Painting of an Elephant Sculpture (“Fish Eyes”) (2006), for which they paid $1,400.

When the smoke had cleared and bidding was complete, more than $134,000 was raised from the sale. “It was the biggest fundraiser we’ve ever had—times three,” said 826NYC executive director Scott Seeley. “We’ve never had anything that big before.”

He credits much of the success to the event’s organizers, Shelley Dick and her husband, Dzama, “who called in a lot of favors to put this together,” Seeley said.