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42 (continued from page 40) SOCIAL SCULPTURE: Mari Carmen Ramírez, Gerardo Rosales, Alvia Wardlaw, Floyd Newsum, Clint Willour, Kristen and Drew Perrin, Tatiana and Craig Massey; and auction winners Duyen and Marc Nguyen, Bridget and Patrick Wade, Marlene Marker, Lynn Goode, Leigh and Reggie Smith, Rob Greenstein, Janet Phelps, Lea Weingarten, Lauri and Robert Wray, Nicole and Joey Romano, Bill Richmond, Lee Steffy, and Adrian Page. CELEBRATING A MUSEUM'S CALLING CARD W eeks later, it was a big night at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, w i t h i t s b i e n n i a l international Latin American Experience Gala, the centerpiece of a weekend that lures scholars, artists, gallerists, and collectors from around the globe. Chaired by Elisa Stude Pye and Cris Pye, the evening honored octogenarian talent Beatriz González, in from Bogotá. González's retrospective, co-curated by the MFAH's Mari Carmen Ramírez, was on view concurrently, a ground-breaking examination of an artist and activist. All the action — seated dinner and auction — took place in the museum's Cullinan Hall, channeling a botanical garden thanks to the wizardry of Bergner & Johnson, while City Kitchen devised a three-course fusion feast. Drama came by way of Sotheby's auctioneer August Uribe, in from NYC, who conducted the fi ercely competitive live auction, hammering down $1.1 million for the MFAH. LOOKING SOUTH: MFAH director Gary Tinterow and Christopher Gardner, Leslie and Brad Bucher, Mary and Bernie Arocha and daughter Lauren Arocha, Mary Cullen, Nicole and Evan Katz, Jorge Blanco, Mike Loya, Barbara and Tom Solís, Joanna and Rusty Wortham, Molly Jodeit, Gail and Louis Adler, Surpik and Paolo Angelini, Mary and Tom Lile, Celina Hellmund, Johanna and Stephen Donson, Susanne and Bill Pritchard, gallerists María Inés Sicardi, and Liliana Molina and Mauricio Vallejo, Linda and George Kelly, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Silvia and Edgard Kuri Slim, Marco Bracamontes, and the family of the late chromatic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, Gabriel Cruz Mendoza and Adriana Cruz Delgado. LUCKY 71 + LATIN AMERICAN FANFARE David & Heidi Gerger at Art League Gala Natalia Ramirez, Alberto Mercado at Latin American Experience Gala Clint Willour, honoree Betty Moody Reid Mitchell at Art League Gala Evan & Nicole Katz at Latin American Experience Gala Christopher Gardner, Gary Tinterow at Latin American Experience Gala Molly Jodeit at Latin American Experience Gala Marc & Duyen Nguyen at Art League Gala