Neke Carson, Win $100, Poster, Sonnabend Gallery, 1977
$250
A Neke Carson Production, You Can Win $100 In Cash Just by Going To A Gallery and Looking Around, 1977. Offset on paper. 18 ½ x 15 in.
The first of Carson’s Lottery Drawings was a true outlaw guerrilla performance that took place without permission in the most prestigious galleries in Soho. Carson would randomly discard the half-drawings in different galleries with instructions inscribed on their backs to gather at Sonnabend Gallery later that day for the drawing.
For his series of “Lottery Drawing” performances Carson created numbered drawings and hid them in galleries. People found his numbered drawings crumbled in corners and participated in a “Lottery Drawing Event” at the gallery. At the first lottery drawing held at the Sonnabend Gallery, one woman won $50. At another “Drawing” someone won $200. At the last Lottery held at the Robert Friedus Gallery the grand prize was $1000 in one dollar bills which contestants competed for in a contest of classical musical chairs with a string quartet from the Julliard School providing the music.