Thursday Night is Crazy Art Night

Thursday night will make for some art world head-butting: the ArtWorks 2010 Art Auction Benefit, the Gen Art Resurrection Benefit, ArtWalk are all billed for that evening. How will they fair, and how do they shape up in the battle of altruism?

The Gen Art Resurrection Benefit, which will take place 8-11 on Thursday evening at the Hudson Hotel's Good Units, is something of an underdog for this art night extravaganza. The poor puppy crawling out from filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy last spring is looking for, as founder Ian Gerard noted in his Guest ofa Guest exclusive, someone to take the reins of this arts organization devoted to supporting emerging artists. The hip vibe with designer Jordan Betten and minimal kinda-sorta star cachet from Whitney Port make this event a true contender for the evening; it also has the cheaper ticket, starting at $75.

The ArtWorks Naomi Cohain Foundation Auction Benefit, to be held 7-10:30 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation For Contemporary Art on the Lower East Side, will feature a silent auction. In terms of its altruistic bent, this event showcases artwork and by children and young adults suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses and seeks to embetter the lives of the sick through artistic self expression. It gains points for being perhaps a more elevated moral endeavor  than the recursive world of funding emerging artists. It's also a more ritzy, sophisticated affair, where the least expensive ticket here will run you $125.

Then of course, there's ArtWalkNY, benefiting the Coalition for the Homeless, with the co-chair star power of Alec Baldwin, Richard Gere, and Carey Lowell. The event, which will feature cocktails and a silent auction at 6:30 and a live auction at 8, will take place in Skylight Studios in Soho and honor pop-artist James Rosenquist. The cheapest ticket will run you $200, though, with $125 price points available to for patrons 30 years or younger. This event has the most staying power in this art night stand-off with a noble cause and star-power attraction.

It remains to be seen how the overlap will manifest in conflict with this Thursday night madness, but we look forward to the ensuing kerfuffles.