What’s new in the arts

MCASD’S Art Auction 2020 goes online

If you’re seeking a gift for that special someone, even if that special someone is you, you can’t go wrong with art. It’s both an investment in the aesthetic and an appreciation of whatever beauty your eye beholds. So here’s your chance: The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is taking online its biennial Art Auction 2020, originally planned for last May, with a two-week event that began Thursday.

A silent auction kicks things off and runs through Oct. 14. That’s the date for a live auction hosted by Sotheby’s Gary Metzner of works by many artists, including June Edmonds, Ruben Ortiz Torres and Kim Macconnel. (A bit more on this in a moment.) While the party atmosphere of a live auction will be missed, “Auctions have always had an online capability,” said Kathryn Kanjo, the museum’s David C. Copley director and CEO. “For the last couple of years we’ve allowed people the ability to bid online, which has been convenient for guests. People used this even when they were in the galleries.”

The auction is being hosted by the online art platform artsy.com. Sale prices, Kanjo said, will likely range from $500 up to as high as $50,000 per work. “That’s one of the things about contemporary art,” she said. “We have works by artists who are maybe early in their careers or who are local and don’t have a huge collecting audience, so there’s a difference in price point. But all of these (works) are vetted by the museum.”

Among the featured artists is the aforementioned abstract painter Edmonds, an MFA graduate of San Diego State. “She’s done a number of public works,” Kanjo said. “Very recently she’s turned to referencing f lags painted with an unexpected dark palette that alludes to the U.S. f lag. They’re moody and evocative.”

Ortiz Torres, whose works are in the MCASD’S collection, “very often slyly reconfigures stereotypical figures,” said Kanjo. “He’s merging high and low, and merging abstract and specific.” mcasd.org