In 2017, the childhood home of Nina Simone—a three-room structure in Tryon, North Carolina—was jointly purchased by Adam Pendleton and fellow artists Ellen Gallagher, Rashid Johnson, and Julie Mehretu. Since then, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has been “working with these artists to fully rehabilitate and activate the house, protecting and celebrating the musician’s legacy in perpetuity.”*
To that end, the Nina Simone Childhood Home benefit auction—co-curated by Pendleton and Venus Williams—is now live. Presented by the AACHAF and Pace Gallery—and hosted by Sotheby’s—the auction features work donated in honor of Simone’s memory by Cecily Brown, Gallagher, Johnson, Robert Longo, Mehretu, Pendleton, Martin Puryear, Sarah Sze, Mary Weatherford, Stanley Whitney, and Anicka Yi.
An exhibition of the works is also on view at Pace in New York City, culminating with a gala dinner and performance by H.E.R. at the gallery on May 20. See links below for details.
NINA SIMONE CHILDHOOD HOME BENEFIT AUCTION
Through May 22, 2023
Sotheby’s
NINA SIMONE CHILDHOOD HOME AUCTION EXHIBITION
Through May 20
Pace Gallery
540 West 25th Street, New York City
https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/nina-simone-childhood-home-auction-exhibition/
NINA SIMONE CHILDHOOD HOME GALA
Saturday, May 20, from 6pm to 10 PM
Pace Gallery
540 West 25th Street, New York City
https://www.pacegallery.com/nina-simone/
To inquire about purchasing tickets, please contact
NINA SIMONE CHILDHOOD HOME PROJECT and FILM
Pace Gallery
AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL HERITAGE ACTION FUND
https://savingplaces.org/african-american-cultural-heritage
*Pace Gallery.
Nina Simone Childhood Home auction (May 12–22, Sotheby’s) and exhibition (May 12–May 20, Pace Gallery, New York City), from top: Ellen Gallagher, Abu Simbel, 2005, photogravure, watercolor, color pencil, varnish, pomade, plasticine, blue fur, gold leaf and crystals, 24-1/2″ × 35-1/2″ (62.2 cm × 90.2 cm), paper, 35-3/4″ × 47-1/4″ (90.8 cm × 120 cm), framed, © Ellen Gallagher, courtesy Gagosian; Stanley Whitney, Nina in the Sky with Diamonds, 2023, oil on Linen, 60-1/8″ × 60″ × 1-3/4″ (152.7 cm × 152.4 cm × 4.4 cm), courtesy of the artist; Martin Puryear, Untitled V, 2006, Intaglio print, 18″ × 24″ (45.7 cm × 61 cm), image, 29″ × 34″ (73.7 cm × 86.4 cm), paper, © Martin Puryear, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery; Julie Mehretu, New Dawn, Sing (for Nina), 2023, ink and acrylic on canvas, 36-1/4″ × 44-1/8″ (92.1 cm × 112.1 cm), © Julie Mehretu, courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, photograph by Tom Powel Imaging; Anicka Yi, The Mother Tongue, 2022, UV print on silk screen mesh, in a cherry frame, 58-1/2″ × 46-1/2″ (148.6 cm × 118.1 cm), © 2023 Anicka Yi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photograph by David Regen, courtesy of Gladstone Gallery; Adam Pendleton, Untitled (Days for Nina), 2023, silkscreen ink on canvas, 50″ × 60″ (127 cm × 152.4 cm), © Adam Pendleton, courtesy Pace Gallery; Cecily Brown, Runaway, 2021, oil on linen, 19-1/16″ × 17-3/16″ × 1-5/8″ (48.4 cm × 43.7 cm × 4.1 cm), © Cecily Brown, courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, photograph by Genevieve Hanson; Robert Longo, Untitled (Nina), 2022, charcoal on mounted paper, 60″ × 40″ (152.4 cm × 101.6 cm), image, 65″ × 45″ (165.1 cm × 114.3 cm), frame, © Robert Longo Studio.
