Blind artist's painting of all-new Volvo S60 goes on eBay auction
Blind artist's painting of all-new Volvo S60 goes on eBay auction
The remarkable blind Turkish artist Esref Armagan was invited to Volvo Car Corporation in Sweden to paint the as yet unseen all-new Volvo S60. His work was documented on film - Volvo S60 Blind Preview. The film was featured on blogs, YouTube, Facebook and other media and became a huge success. From December 7th, 8 p.m. CET to December 17th the painting will be auctioned on eBay. The proceeds will be donated to the World Blind Union.
The all-new Volvo S60 is being launched next year at Geneva Motor Show. However, in October this year Esref Armagan was offered an exclusive preview of the car at Volvo Cars global headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. He met with design director Peter Horbury who showed the artist the closely-guarded secret.
Using his hands as sensors Esref Armagan felt his way round the all-new Volvo S60 with its dynamic sculpted form with his hands and then did the painting all the while he was documented on film. The resulting documentary Volvo S60 Blind Preview got an overwhelming reception from Volvo fans around the world. The film can be found on: http://www.youtube.com/user/VolvoCarsNews#p/u/2/7CNx3qTI8xA and on www.facebook.com/volvo. (watch the video related to this press release).
Now Volvo Car Corporation has decided to auction the painting on eBay.
"It was an amazing experience to work together with Esref Armagan. He truly embraces life and we think that his approach matches exactly how we at Volvo embrace life. Through this auction and the donation to World Blind Union we will take this rewarding corporation even one step further", says Lukas Dohle, director of Live Communication and Social Media at Volvo Cars.
Esref Armagan was born unsighted and taught himself to paint and draw in perspective, stunning scientists worldwide. His artwork shines with freedom of light and depth of colours. He has appeared on the BBC and CNN.
The World Blind Union (WBU) is a registered Canadian charity and they are the benefactor of the auction. 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the WBU, which is a non political, non-religious, non-governmental and non-profit-making organization, representing over 160 million blind and partially sighted persons in 177 member countries.
The auction will take place on eBay Canada but is accessible globally on www.ebay.com/volvo The auction will run for ten days and starts on December 7 at 8pm to attract the greatest number of bidders in Europe, while allowing users on both sides of the US-Canada border to access the action during daytime. The end time on December 17 is the same.