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32 ICONS AMONG US BY CATHERINE D. ANSPON. PHOTOGRAPHY CHRIS P. BACHMAN. NESTOR TOPCHY'S "ETERNAL NOW" SHOW AT GEO. H. LEWIS & SONS T his was one night that went way be- yond the white cube. Artist Nestor Topchy unveiled his latest collection of portraits of Houston art-world insid- ers, "Eternal Now," at an unexpected venue: Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, one of Texas' most elegant and storied fu- neral directors. Topchy, an Artadia awardee who has also exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, drew an A (as in Art) list of fellow artists, gallerists, collectors, and museum types. More than 100 gathered to take in Topchy's innovative instal- lation, which paired paintings executed in a traditional icon style utilizing the lost art of egg tempera (a bow to the artist's Ukrainian heritage) with a side of pop (faux-food sculpture, complete with a Whataburger cup). The evening — the third collaboration between Geo. H. Lewis & Sons and Topchy — drew many of his subjects eager to check out their iconic images that lined the wall of Jasek Chapel. SOCIETY PORTRAITS: Geo. H. Lewis & Sons' Bob Jones, J. Douglas Drummond, Jerry Reyes, and Michael Lombard; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Valerie Greiner with husband Rick and daughters Isabel and Gabrielle; Topchy's dealer, Josh Pazda of Hiram Butler Gallery, with fiancée (now wife) Chris Goins, who heads up MFAH retail; curator, author, and outsider art expert Jay Wehnert; Debbie McNulty, director of the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs; filmmaker Cressandra Thibodeaux with 14 Pews; Station Museum curator Ashura Bayyan; artists Dean Ruck, Tim Glover, Susan Budge, Weihong, Carter Ernst and Paul Kittelson, and Art Guys Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing with wives, Glasstire founder Rainey Knudson and Star Massing; art critic Brandon Zech of Glasstire; Sally and Norman Reynolds; Kimberly Stoilis; gallerist India Lovejoy; George Alexander; photographer George Hixson; Robert Rosenberg; Melissa Noble; and the artist's family, mom Nora Elaine Topchy (in from Baltimore), wife Mariana Lemesoff, and daughter Minerva Andina Lemesoff-Topchy. Nestor Topchy Rainey Knudson Josh Pazda & Chris Goins, Dean Ruck Contemplating icons J. Douglas Drummond, Bob Jones, Weihong India Lovejoy Mariana Lemesoff Nora Elaine Topchy Valerie Greiner Melissa Noble Henry Hunt, Star Massing George Hixson, Cressandra Thibodeaux