Inexplicable
An art union is a lottery where the winners are chosen through a ticket draw.
The prize pool must be more than $30,000 in Australia. Typically it’s a shit veneer house on the gold coast, or a 69 Mustang. Never any art, so long as you don’t count the 1987 cricket bat signed by the Australian team and framed within an inch of it’s life.
An art union can be conducted by any third party to raise funds for a non-profit organisation.
However, only a minimum 30% of the gross proceeds must be paid to the non-profit organisation, leaving ample opportunity for profiteering by the operators.
But there’s an explanation…
The first Art Union of London (1837–1912) was an organisation which distributed works of art amongst its subscribers by lottery. An innovative scheme to offload crap art, eh?
Yet still, why does the moniker linger?
offshore westerly 