A private preview for ACRIA's UNFRAMED 2011 was held last night raising funds for the fight against AIDS. Started in 1993, during an apocalyptic time of the epidemic, the annual UNFRAMED event has managed to auction works throughout the years by acclaimed artists such as Kenny Scharf, Will Cotton and Terence Koh. Money raised from the sale goes towards research to combat the devastating disease. Sponsored this year by Architectural Digest and BNY Mellon, curator Vik Muniz organized works by twenty-one artists to hang in the penthouse space of 123 Third Avenue. Guests such as host Margaret Russell, Muffie Potter Aston, Emma Snowdon-Jones, Lady Liliana Cavendish, Robert Verdi, Geoffrey Bradfield and artist Hunt Slonem (whose own work was part of the sale) viewed the silent auction. Notably amongst those displayed is a Mike + Doug Starn photograph of their outdoor installation Big Bamb_. Their tangled sculpture of bamboo branches, measuring 100 feet long after evolving in size by the end of the exhibition, took over the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art last summer. A work of environmental encouragement, the sculpture set the tone for an urban atmosphere merging with nature. On the pop-ier side of the auction is a Deborah Kass oil and acrylic work from her series "Feel Good Paintings For Feel Bad Time." In big bold colors the famed Patridge Family opening lyrics C'mon Get Happy are proclaimed - a somewhat controversial thought to think at an event dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis. However, thanks to organizations such as ACRIA fighting the illness has become much more optimistic than when the first UNFRAMED event was held -- making the Kass painting fitting, while subconsciously adding to it the words "and hopeful".

ACRIA UNFRAMED 2011 is open to the public May 25th from 6-9pm, located at 123 Third Avenue (at 14th Street), New York, NY. $20 tickets at the door only.