« Art Basel: Soaring with a virtual Light Spirit | Main | Katie Holmes checks out new Miami Beach hotel »

Eva Longoria's beau Jose Antonio Baston drops $12,000 at an auction to commission digital artist Agustina Casas Sere-Leguizamon to make a portrait of the actress



Thursday night the Global Gift Foundation teamed up with The Ricky Martin Foundation and the Eva Longoria Foundation for a gala hosted by Ricky and Eva where six incredible experiences were auctioned off to a crowd of 300 that included plenty of A-listers, athletes and deep pockets.

Eva Longoria with artist Augustina Casas Sere-Leguizamon. The event, which took place at the sales center of Jorge Perez's development Auberge, across the street from the Adrienne Arsht Center, had hired a London auctioneer who got caught in the Basel traffic (like everyone else) and couldn't make the event on time, leaving Ricky and Eva to wrangle the bids from the crowds. 

Up for grabs, if you had the bucks, was the Eva Longoria Experience, a chance to go backstage with the actress on the set of her new show "Telenovela." Ricky Martin also offered some backstage action on his latest tour to a lucky bidder. 



Ricky Martin, Robb LaKritz, Augustina Casas Sere-Leguizamon and Eva Longoria.

Another memorable experience up for auction was a commission by Uruguayan digital artist Augustina Casas Sere-Leguizamon. The 31-year-old artist is renowned for her digital portraits, like a series she created of Venezuelan designer Pilar Tarrau as Frida Kahlo. The artist has had work exhibited in the Louvre and all throughout Europe. She took the stage with her husband, real estate and finance mogul Robb LaKritz, plus Ricky and Eva to show one of her other acclaimed works, a portrait of Queen Maxima, the first Latina royal queen in Europe, who married into the royal family of the Netherlands. The experience includes a photo session, Augustina's digital wizardry and a framed portrait. "The tools of modern technology are my paintbrushes, and with that I create my art and digital portraits," says the artist.  

"From the stage we couldn't see who was making the bids," says Robb LaKritz, "but when the bidding was done, it was Eva's boyfriend, Jose Antonio Baston who made the winning bid." Turns out Eva was a fan of the artist and her hubby wanted to give her the portrait as a gift. 

The artist plans to meet with Eva in two weeks to get started on the portrait. 


Robb LaKritz and Jose Antonio Baston

-- Amy Reyes

Comments