Mike Dring was 23 when he broke his neck in a road traffic accident, resulting in paralysis from the upper chest down – medically he is classified as having a complete Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) resulting in Tetraplegia (level C6). 

Between April 09 and April 2010, friends and family of Mike are attempting to raise money to put towards the purchase of an adapted car which will enable him to drive independently.  Mikes needs are such that such a vehicle is highly specialized and comes at a very high price.

As part of this fundraising A group of artist have organised the GDM Art event and auction which will be held at the Paintworks, Bath Road,  Bristol on the 14th and 15th of October.

The doors will be open from 11am to 9pm on Wednesday for a full days viewing of the works going under the hammer.  Thursday will be a busy day with the opportunity for further viewing from 12pm.  There will be live painting by Mr Jago, Inkie, Lokey, Felix, Eelus, Xenz, Paris, Boswell, Vermin, Milk and Dora starting at 4pm and the auction including lots by Guy Denning, Pam Glew, Rowdy, Ian Francis and Nick Walker to name a few, will commence at 7pm.

The work can be viewed on line at Dreweatts & The Saleroom (who have provided all of their extensive resources free of charge), www.dnfa.com and at www.the-saleroom.com . Bidding can be made in person or live online at www.the-saleroom.com on the evening auction or commission bids will be taken valid credit/debit card details, if you wish to make a commission bid and to register for bidding please contact The GDM team at getdringmobile@live.co.uk.

The show will also include a fine art ‘mystery’ postcard sale featuring work from award winning artists from all over the world, many of which have shown in the BP portrait awards and with some having work in the National Portrait Gallery their work usually thousands.  This sale therefore gives people the opportunity to purchase a piece of art that would usually cost a small fortune, for just £50.

Finally, the team is also running a raffle to win a portrait painted by Vincent Brown, a multi award winning portrait and figurative artist from Bristol.  Tickets will be available at the event and are also available now via the GDM blog at http://getdringmobile.wordpress.com.  For more information about Vincent Brown and to see examples of his amazing work please visit his web-site at http://www.vincentbrown.co.uk.