Today, the Spanish Pawnbrokers Association (PRESEA) presented the charity auction 'Art for Peace in Ukraine', with the participation of Fundación Obra Social de Castilla y León (FUNDOS), Fundación Ibercaja, Fundación Unicaja, and Fundación La Caja de Canarias. These organisations have contributed works by different artists from their respective regions and the Spanish Red Cross will be responsible for sending the money from the auction to Ukraine. CECA has also collaborated with PRESEA in this solidarity initiative. The auction begins on 13 May and will be active until 19 May at www.preseasubastas.es.
The presentation took place in CECA's press room, which was represented by Mónica Malo, Director of Communications, External Relations and Sustainability at CECA. The Director of Fundos, José María Viejo, mentioned the reason behind this solidarity initiative and highlighted the altruism of all the artists who have donated their works for this auction. Ángel Luis Iglesias, José de León, Eduardo López Casado, Fran de Gonari, Carlos Luxor, Guillermo Martín Bermejo, Carmen Coque, Ricardo Flecha Barrios, Daniel Pérez Álvarez and Francisco Suárez are the artists who participated on behalf of Fundos.
The Director General of Fundación Ibercaja, José Luis Rodrigo, mentioned the institution's commitment to Ukraine, and for this auction it has contributed serigraphs by the Aragonese painter Ignacio Mayayo, by Popi Bruned and a cast by the sculptor Pablo Serrano, among other works. Fernando Fernández Morales, Director General of Fundación Caja de Canarias explained that "the commitment of this foundation goes beyond its geographical scope and that is why it participated in this auction". Teo Mesa, Antonio Pérez Martín, Félix Reyes, Germán Páez, Manolo Medina and other artists are who with their art and generosity have donated some of their works.
Manuel García Rojas, Director of Active Pawnbrokering of Fundación Unicaja, mentioned some of the other initiatives in favour of the Ukrainian people that they have undertaken and thanked the artists Paco Aguilar, Darko, José Medina Galeote and Paco Lumbreras for their donations, whose "altruism continues to contribute to mitigating the damage caused by the war in Ukraine". The Chairman of the Spanish Red Cross, Javier Senent, has thanked PRESEA for choosing this organisation to manage the money transfer to Ukraine, which will arrive 'quickly and safely'.
Ramón Alba, Chairman of PRESEA, closed the event by explaining that this is the first time that the PRESEA auction platform will be auctioning works of art, as it is used to auction jewellery. He explained that the artists have adapted the price of the works to make them more affordable. The auction will begin on 13 May on the website www.preseasubastas.es.
