A total of 42 fiberglass ox sculptures from the international art exhibitionCowParade Taipei 2009will be auctioned later this week to raise money for charity, the organizers said Thursday. The Cow for Charity auction will mark a perfect conclusion to the unprecedented art event after it toured Taipei and Taichung, Jonathon Chen, CEO of FUN Capital International Co., Ltd., said at a news conference. The auction is especially meaningful in a time when the south of Taiwan was devastated by Typhoon Morakot last month, and we have decided to use part of the auction revenue to help with the reconstruction operations in disaster areas,he added. According to Chen, the auction will be held on Sept. 6 at Huashan Creative Park in Taipei, and will feature 42 pieces of a total of 107 ox sculptures displayed in the CowParade exhibition. Noting that bids for the art pieces will start from NT$200,000-NT$400,000 (US$6,110-US$12,220), Chen said the auction money will go to Quanta Culture and Education Foundation, Love Life campaign, Childrens Art Foundation and Big Fish Childrens Theater to promote art among children. The auction has already received great attention from art collectors and entrepreneurs in the construction, financial and hi-technology sectors, he added. CowParade is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Taipei City -- the 65th city to host the event -- to coincide with the celebration of this year's Year of the Ox on the Chinese calendar. Organized by the Taipei City government's department of cultural affairs and FUN Capital International Co., Ltd., CowParade Taipei 2009 featured 107 painted fiberglass cows and oxens made by Taiwanese artists and attracted 8 to 9 million visitors during displays in Taipei and Taichung. The public art event started in Zurich in 1998 as an innovative idea by artistic director Walter Knapp to raise money for charity by holding an international exhibition. In the U.S., Chicago followed up on the idea in 1999 and New York in 2000, and CowParade has since become the largest public art campaign and the most outstanding city marketing and charity event in the world, attracting more than half a billion visitors to date. 