Several digital artworks in NFT format go on sale today, February 18, at a charity auction organized by Artmark. The funds will be directed to the "Read me 100 stories" program of the OvidiuRo Association, which aims to stimulate reading among children by purchasing books for underprivileged preschool institutions.

“The plan of the OvidiuRo Association is to transform, until 2025, all public kindergartens in Romania into library-kindergartens, islands of reading and nature, where children decipher, together with adults, the secrets of books,” reads the auction’s presentation.

The works included in this auction were created by contemporary artists Eurosadboy, Latifundiar, Liviu Mihai, Alexandru-Claudiu Maxim, Wanda Hutira, Alina Cioară, David Flusberg, and Marian Codrea.

The one created by David Flusberg, for example, was inspired by a spiritual experience of top Romanian mountaineer Alex Gavan, who in 2013 was forced to survive the night at almost 8000 meters, without supplemental oxygen, on a Himalayan peak.

“This hieroglyphic triptych is inspired by the Artist’s dear friend, Alex Gavan, renowned Romanian high-altitude mountaineer. Painted in the style of ancient wall murals typical of the Artist’s work, the image symbolizes the Climber’s death-defying inner struggle - based on true events - while forced to survive the night in his bivouac, at almost 8000 meters, without supplemental oxygen, on a Himalayan peak in Tibet,” reads the artwork’s presentation.

“In a moment of meditative sudden awareness, the Climber is surrounded by his guardian spirits—The French Fish, the Love Lizard, the Earth Eagle, the Vine of Purpose, and others—who may guide him, sherpa-like, back to safety. His time to merge with the mountain has not come: he will fight on, he will be reborn anew! He will vanquish his inner Jaguar-Otorongo, and embrace the more elusive calling of its kinder, gentler cousin: the Snow Leopard.”

In a Facebook post promoting the auction, Alex Gavan recalled that near-death experience he lived about nine years ago: “In 2013 I lived one of the most fundamental experiences of my life. Far beyond the limit and with an uncertain ending. After the ascent without additional oxygen of the mountain Shisha Pangma - 8,027m, I was forced to spend the night under the open sky, not far from the top, in full blizzard. The care for the life of a mysterious presence, which I perceived as a Frenchman, gave me a reason greater than myself to stay alive. Hallucination or my guardian angel, it is certain that the Frenchman was for me, in those moments, as real as the mountain I was on. He showed up right when I needed him most.”

David Flusberg’s work, named “Birth of the Snow Leopard" (pictured), has a starting price of EUR 500, similar to the other artworks included in the sale.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Artmark.ro)