Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images Jeff KoonsBenefit auctions for scrappy public schools in New York sometimes feature an item or two â€" a designer handbag, lunch with a minor celebrity â€" arranged by parents with connections. But when a list of art works was circulated recently among parents for an Oct. 23 auction to benefit P.S. 130, a school in the Windsor Terrace section of Brooklyn serving a significant number of students from poor families, one art donor's name fairly leapt off the page: Jeff Koons.
At the request of a mother with two children in the school, Vanessa Solomon, a sculptor who once worked as a mold maker for Mr. Koons and is friends with his wife, Justine, Mr. Koons donated a signed artist's proof of a printed plywood skateboard deck from a limited edition, bearing an image of a smiling, blow-up monkey that has been a familiar motif in his recent paintings and sculpture.
Christine Farrell, president of the school's P.T.A., said: “We typically have a small in-house spring auction to help raise money. But we're usually auctioning off baskets made by children in class, things like that. This is a whole other level.â€
The school has suffered through city budgets cuts and was forced to eliminate its art program recently. The hope is that the auction â€" which has drawn more than two dozen donations of works by artists in the neighborhood and those with students at the school â€" will raise enough money to help revive at least some form of an art program. (Skateboard works like the one Mr. Koons donated have sold online for several thousand dollars; the school's auction begins taking bids for the work and all the other artworks online at midnight Oct. 15.)
“Some people at the school know about Koons,†Ms. Solomon said. “The principal knew of him â€" I was impressed by that. And I think this is really something that would be a nice investment for a beginning collector, something someone would be willing to spend money on for a very good cause. At least we all hope so.â€
