SILENT ART AUCTION FOR DAMIEN ECHOLS DEATH ROW APPEAL
October 25, 2009 6-9PM
Maccarone | 630 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10014 | www.maccarone.net
On October 25th an exclusive silent auction of artwork will be held with work from 30+ prominent artists from the NYC contemporary art scene. The goal of this benefit is to raise much-needed legal funds for the final push to free Damien Echols.
Echols is an artist and writer who, at 18 years old, was wrongly convicted of murder in 1994 in West Memphis, Arkansas and sentenced to death. Both the trial and investigation were characterized by egregious misconduct on the part of the authorities. Echols was a goth-metal kid in a conservative small town who was targeted for being different. Now at 34, he is an accomplished writer and artist still sitting on death row for a crime he did not commit. The 1996 HBO documentary on this case, Paradise Lost, calls this miscarriage of justice a “new Salem witch trial.”
We—a cross section of artists, museum curators, gallery directors, musicians, and actors—believe in the innocence of Damien Echols. We have put this benefit together as a group of individuals with a common purpose. Unlike other fundraisers that raise money for blanket causes, or institutions, this benefit seeks to save the life of one person, a fellow artist. After 16 years of appeals in lower courts and 16 years on death row, this November the Arkansas State Supreme Court will finally hear Damien’s case for a possible retrial. Crucial new evidence of his innocence has been uncovered, including crime scene DNA that absolves Damien and points to others. Some of the country’s leading pathologists have found that much of the forensic evidence presented to the jury, which helped convict Damien, was false and not consistent with the cause of death or wounds found on the bodies. And recently, a sworn affidavit was presented to the court from a prominent former Arkansas prosecutor stating serious misconduct during the original trial by the jury foreman.
DAMIEN ECHOLS IS INNOCENT WE NEED YOUR HELP
Artists
Allora & Calzadilla
Kristin Baker
Walead Beshty
Carol Bove
Peter Coffin
Jen DeNike
Carlton DeWoody
Anna Gaskell
Douglas Gordon
Adam Helms
Elizabeth Huey
Alfredo Jaar
Terence Koh
Susan Lipper
Nate Lowman
Corey McCorkle
Anthony McCall
Adam Pendelton
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Lisi Raskin
Mika Rottenberg
Taryn Simon
Mike Smith
Alec Soth
Francesco Vezzoli
Benefit Comittee
Jen DeNike
Elizabeth Lovero
Eliza Ryan
Jenny Schlenzka
Honorary Comittee
Jackie Barrett
Todd Bishop
The Company
Margaret Cho
Lorri Davis
Kyle DeWoody
Anat Ebgi
Lisa Fancher
Robby Granoff
Dmitry Komis
Erica Papernik
David Raymond
Henry Rollins
Lisa Riordan Seville
Side Pony
Lonnie Soury
Amy Smith-Stewart
Cara Starke
Jim Toth
Eddie Vedder
Nick Weist
Michael Wilson
All proceeds directly benefit the legal fund of Damien Echols through Arkansas Take Action, a non-profit 501(c)(3).
New York Times article from October 12, 2009
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Damien Echols Benefit Auction
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