Tom Waits Donates Signed Artwork to School's Auction

Brilliant, cryptic, avant-garde, spooky... Call him what you will, but we just love that Tom Waits dude. The raspy-throated singer-songwriter has announced the donation of one of his exclusive, signed photographs to fund scholarships at a private school in California.

The one-of-a-kind signed photograph, from his "Oil Stain" series, was donated to the Summerfield School, a Waldorf school located on a 15-acre biodynamic farm near Santa Rosa, Calif. The school's "Farm to Feast" auction will raise money for their tuition assistance program.

Waits began photographing the series after discovering an image of a horse on a stall door, created by the horse chewing away at the wood. "After that," Waits says, "I began looking for ghost images in the stains beneath cars." The untouched images are taken with black and white film. "See whatever you wish to see in them," Waits says. "They are the astonishing shapes and mysteries of the natural world."

The photograph up for auction was featured in Zoetrope: All-Story, Francis Ford Coppola's literary magazine. Matted, framed, and autographed by Waits, the piece's value is listed as "Priceless," though the leading bid at the time of this writing was $900. Waits' piece joins the auction alongside other school auction classics (gift certificates for 10 hours of babysitting, kindergarten watercolor paintings, cello lessons, etc.)

Waits is no stranger to good deeds; after winning several hard-fought copyright lawsuits, namely cases against GM and a German car manufacturer, he often donated the proceeds to charity. He's also played a number of benefit concerts and in the past has auctioned off premium tickets to benefit multiple non-profits.

The Summerfield auction is currently being held online and ends on June 5. You can bid here.