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Wheels of Fortune Auction of Creations Raises More Than $56,000

By ANTHONY CARDINALE
News Staff Reporter
10/22/2003

Fifty of the Art on Wheels creations were sold at auction Tuesday evening, raising more than $56,000 for the Burchfield-Penney Arts Center and the Materials Reuse Project. More than 200 people attended the often tumultuous bidding in Rockwell Hall at Buffalo State College, where auctioneer Cash Cunningham gaveled off 30 cars and other wheel-themed art pieces for a total of $47,200. A silent auction was also held under a tent on the front lawn for another 20 items, whose highest bids before press time totaled $8,945.

The biggest bid of the night was $12,000 for a 1964 Jaguar E Type auto, dubbed "Big City/Small Town" by artist Susan Copley. Originally exhibited at the Amherst Museum, the car bears landscape images from across Western New York and southern Ontario. Bidding started at $2,000 and, as the final item of the night, drew breathless exclamations from the crowd.

Bidding was most contentious for a 1,200-pound bronze sculpture, "Talismans for Transportation," by Simon Peter Griffis, son of the late Larry Griffis, who founded the Sculpture Park at Ashford Hollow. Assembled in totem pole formation, symbols of transportation were stacked eight feet high to form this piece, which was displayed at Old Fort Niagara.

The winning bid was $9,000.

Attracting an opening bid of $2,500 and a final bid of $6,000 was a 1998 Volkswagen Beetle painted with environmental themes by David O'Malley, Kyle Polaske and Park School children from kindergarten through 12th grade. The kids called it "What Grows Around Comes Back Around."

"Who Are You Calling a Marsupial?" by industrial welder and blacksmith Chuck Cudeck fetched $2,000. Also known as a "robo-kangaroo," the metal creature had a large snow blower for a body and a pouch made from a dump truck oil pan.

Three cars sold for $1,600 apiece: "Winged Wheel" by Brett A. Coppins, who used a ton of red clay; Bruce Adams' 9-by-12-foot painting, "Labor Matters," the only two-dimensional work; and "Steel Magnolias" by Bryan Lago, who first showed his 111/2-foot sculpture at the Charles E. Burchfield Nature & Art Center in West Seneca.

"TRAZOW," a kinetic sculpture by Robert Dray and Stephen Saracino of the Buffalo State faculty, was auctioned for $1,200. Exhibited at the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston, the movable structure creates an optical illusion of movement by crossing light patterns.

"Automobius," a yellow and orange car with two front ends, was purchased for $950. Peter D'Auria and Andrea Mancuso - known in galleries across the country as "virocode" - fused two Dodge Caravans to represent the evolution and mutation of the automobile.

"Supporting the arts and culturals in this community is one of the most important legacies we can leave," said Buffalo State President Muriel Howard, who praised the work of Cindy Abbott-Letro, Tony Billoni and Wendy Attea-Huntington of the Burchfield-Penney.
e-mail: acardinale@buffnews.com