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House Art stars shine at the Rothko Chapel Inspirit Dinner. By Catherine D. Anspon. Photography Hung L. Truong. A rt and activism were on the menu when R o t h k o C h a p e l unfurled its annual Inspirit evening. Taking the stage at The Astorian before the seated dinner by Jackson & Company were international art stars Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant and Obama Hope renown, whose tagline is "Manufacturing Quality Dissent Since 1989," and Houston's own Trenton Doyle Hancock, fresh off his acclaimed New York Times- reviewed Jewish Museum show where his canvases dialogued with Philip Guston's paintings of Klan figures. TSU's University Museum director, art historian Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, moderated. The night supported the chapel's mission while amplifying its legacy as a sacred space for contemplation, connection, and community engagement. Adding high-stakes collecting sizzle was a museum-level contemporary auction overseen by McClain Gallery, packed with works by Houston and international notables including Aaron Parazette's unique Rothko-text inkjet drawings and Cuban conceptual talent Reynier Leyva Novo's work on paper featuring leaves gathered around the chapel. Top lot honors went, respectively, to works by Bernar Venet, Kiki Smith, and Texas native son John Alexander (now based in New York and Amagansett). Adding to the bottom line were once-in-a-lifetime auction experiences including a guided Rothko exhibition tour and private patron dinner at the Palazzo Strozzi, Alvia, Shepard, and Trenton in the Florence, and A Sabbatical for Your Soul spun around the Dora Maar Cultural Center in the south of France. PC Seen: Keeper of the flame, the late Mark Rothko's son Christopher Rothko and wife Lori Cohen, in from New York; chairs Cullen Geiselman Muse and Robert Muse; the Rothko Chapel team led by director David Leslie, with Thuy Tran and Will Davison; board chair Troy Porter with wife Christina Porter; Sanford Dow; Bruce Eames; Virginia and Lee Lahourcade; artist Andrea Bianconi, in from Italy; Poppi Massey; Jan Bres; Annabel Massey Florescu and Alex Florescu; Alecia Harris; Jessica Phifer; Linbeck Group's Virginia Reynolds; art conservators Jill Whitten and Rob Proctor, whose firm has stepped up to restore hurricane-damaged Rothko canvases; Untitled Art, Houston fair director Michael Slenske; Ellen Susman; McClain Gallery's Robert McClain with colleagues, auction chairs Sharon Lott Graham and Hélène Schlumberger, and Charlotta Hill; Judy and Scott Nyquist; Justice Margaret Poissant; Chandos Dodson Epley; Allison Lott; Bennie Flores Ansell and David Ansell; Melissa Richardson Banks; gallerists María Inés Sicardi, Heidi Vaughan, and newly minted Laura Burton; Olive Hershey and A.C. Conrad; Michael Piana and Andy Weber; Hotel Daphne's Ben Ackerley; Sharon Engelstein; and auction artists including Alton DuLaney (whose ART Stop sign stopped traffic), Cruz Ortiz, and Bradley Kerl with wife Whitney Radley. Ellen Susman Trenton Doyle Hancock Judy Tate Shepard Fairey Alton DuLaney Christopher Rothko greeting Mary Helen Bowden Elizabeth Pagan Chandos Dodson Epley Sharon Lott Graham Cruz Ortiz Charlotte Bellomy, Alecia Harris Louise & Drew Pennebaker Andy Weber Thuy Tran Michael Piana Virginia Lahourcade Sara Robins Marita Fairbanks 30