Creative backing for Youthline
Artists rally to support service’s response to troubling mental health effects of lockdown. Andre Chumko reports.
Karl Maughan has always been young at heart.
The renowned capital-based artist has donated an original work to the Art in Isolation Auction on Trade Me, to raise funds for social service organisation Youthline.
Young Kiwis have been hit particularly hard by coronavirus: Youthline reported a 50 per cent increase in the number of texts it received asking for support. Common issues raised were suicidal thoughts, selfharm, anxiety and depression.
Maughan, raised by avid gardeners in Manawatu¯ , has work that’s instantly recognisable for its floral subject matter. His paintings have been offered at auction for prices ranging from $13,000 to $35,000 or more.
The work he painted for the auction, Puriri Terrace, 2017 ,an oil on canvas, has been listed at $1 reserve. All proceeds will go to Youthline.
Maughan says that when he heard Youthline were in need of extra assistance, he wanted to help out any way he could. ‘‘I’ve donated a little painting did around lockdown, it’s a
Ismall work . . . flowerets [and] rhododendrons with different colours, I was really pleased to put it in.
‘‘I’ve always known about Youthline, they have a great service that operates in New Zealand. Youth have been . . . feeling kind of desperate, they’re often quite vulnerable, need help and someone to talk to.’’
To have a service like Youthline available for people as the country returned to normalcy was invaluable, he said.
Maughan said the art world had also been particularly affected by the virus.
‘‘As an artist you’re kind of in permanent lockdown all the time working in the studio . . . [it’s the] same with writers, it’s this thing you need to just work on the work in your own kind of space. It’s funny how artists have responded, some have got work done now.
‘‘But it hasn’t been that easy for me – I’ve got kids [who were at home] studying.’’
Nick Vile, general manager of oOh!media, the lead agency behind the initiative, together with Urban Art Foundation, said it wanted to make a difference.
‘‘Youth and the arts are two areas of society that are consistently vocal on the way they challenge our thinking. So it’s important – especially in the current climate – that we actively support and amplify these voices with the resources we have whenever we can,’’ Vile said.
The majority of the other items being auctioned on Trade Me as part of the Art In Isolation series were created by Kiwi artists during the first four weeks of the lockdown.
‘‘Youth have been ... feeling kind of desperate, they’re often quite vulnerable, need help and someone to talk to.’’ Karl Maughan
Bids can be lodged at trade.me/ youthline2020 until 8.30pm on June 11.