Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1225773
28 WITH BRICE DINNER CATHERINE D. ANSPON TAKES A SEAT. PHOTOGRAPHY DANIEL ORTIZ. BREAKING BREAD WITH AN AMERICAN MASTER AT MENIL DRAWING INSTITUTE T his spring, 70 lucky and well-connected guests savored the ultimate, insider experience: dinner with artist Brice Marden. The venue was intimate, elevated, and unique: the Menil Drawing Institute. The occasion was the opening of a lifetime survey of Marden's drawings (on view through June 14), one that encompasses the minimalist 1970s series "The Seasons," inspired by the painter's visit to the Rothko Chapel, and the calligraphic "Cold Mountain Studies" of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The artist, low-key this night with a black woolen cap pulled over his forehead, is a staple of The Menil Collection. After cocktails and viewing, art acolytes adjourned to the MDI's serene entrance hall. A long table with simple spring fl owers punctuated the space, where City Kitchen presented a three-course dinner. The menu was crafted based on the artist's request for classic Texas fare: a wedge salad, beef tenderloin, berry cobbler as the fi nale. Menil director Rebecca Rabinow welcomed the guests, and exhibition curator Kelly Montana contributed remarks, praising Marden's "processes of innovation and permutation" and "remarkable draftsmanship" across six series, traversing the 20th and 21st centuries. Brice Marden Brice Marden Rebecca Rabinow Sharon Johnston Michelle White Judy Nyquist, Eddie & Chinhui Allen Janie C. Lee, Brice Marden Clare Casademont & Michael Metz Barry Young & Elizabeth Satel Young Louisa Stude Sarofi m Rick Clifton, Fredericka Hunter