A local artist is auctioning off a larger-than-life painting to help two charities provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Earlier this year, Batesville artist David Cochrane was hearing news reports of American intelligence predicting the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and dreading the possibility.
DAVID COCHRANE: I had some anxiety about the build-up and the threat of, of course, nuclear war.
He channeled those feelings into the "Painting for Ukraine."
COCHRANE: And this painting was created with the intention of an allegory to Picasso's Guernica … in 1937 when the Nazis bombed Spain, and Picasso's reaction to the death of civilians and children … Picasso's cubist, so there's some allegory and straight borrows from images, symbols from Picasso, and then it's more bright areas and flat shapes and the color is definitely the driving force and the emotion of the content of the painting.
It'll be unveiled at an art opening Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.
STEVEN KRETZMANN: They'll see the original five-foot by 12-foot painting by David, which is in living, vivid color, and it's in a beautiful setting at Vault Virginia, which is an art gallery on the downtown mall in Charlottesville.
Cochrane's friend and neighbor, Steven Kretzmann, helped organize the exhibit. Tickets to the opening are $50, but Kretzmann said if someone wants to experience the piece and is short on cash, to come anyway.
KRETZMANN: It is really striking to see it in person.
The auction of the painting will take place online – bidding starts at noon on Tuesday and lasts until May 31st. The proceeds will be donated to World Food Kitchen and the GlobalGiving Relief Fund for Ukraine.
