Meet Macrocosm, an Affordable Online Art Auction For a Good Cause

It’s not rare to see someone post their personal stories of illness or misfortune to a crowdfunding site to help ease financial burdens, but for designer Greta García, who was diagnosed with cancer this summer, this didn’t seem like the right path for her. “The reality is that cancer is expensive, but it didn’t feel right to me to post a sad story with a donate button,” she wrote.

Instead, at the suggestion of her artist friends, she started Macrocosm, an online art charity auction, whose proceeds will go toward helping her pay for treatment. She reached out to other artists and was able to get more than 40 artists who were interested in participating in her project.

The online auction launched this week, and Garcia has many goals to meet. On top of wanting to raise as much money as possible, she also wants to make sure people get a fair price for the art, and that the artists have visibility. “The main goal is to raise funds, but it’s just as important to make sure the artists see their work featured to a wide audience (most of them are freelance artists) and for bidders to get a good value for the art that they’re purchasing,” she told Remezcla. “I’ve received such an outpouring of support from the community, it’s reaffirmed my belief that artists are extremely generous people.”

The auction is live now, and it will run until 11:59 PT on November 18. The maximum bid for any of the pieces is $2,000, and each tells you what the suggested retail price is. Those interested are to leave comments on the Facebook page, and any comments that are edited will be disqualified from competing for the piece.

On November 14, Garcia excitedly posted about the first bid, but looking through the works of art on Facebook shows that people are definitely interested in what’s being offered.

https://twitter.com/holagrecia/status/665737420894146560

Though García has not yet seen how far this auction will go, she is already looking to the future. She would like to host a larger event that gives artists exposure for donating pieces to a cause. “This has been my side project for the last few months, and as I’ve been dealing with my diagnosis and the treatment that it involves, it’s been helpful to have something positive to work on with my friends,” she said.

Check out some of the pieces below: