Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/184563
A Clean, White Space + Acquisitions Aplenty + Rockin' Collector Types = Contemporary Cullen Geiselman Arts Museum Houston Gala Connie McAllister Valerie Cassel Oliver CATHERINE D. ANSPON DETAILS THE SCENE. PHOTOGRAPHY JENNY ANTILL. Where the Art Folks Were A nyone who can spot a Marilyn Minter from 40 paces knows that the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston's annual big-ticket gala is the place where the visual and the visionary converge. What other party has august artists, definitive and daring collectors, an avant-garde director and a pair of provocative curators, all in the mix? The night — chaired by art couple Gretchen and Andrew McFarland — began cool and sleek, with a promenade into the CAMH's gleaming silver parallelogram of a building. Decor mistress Rebekah Johnson was again enlisted to realize the broadly painted theme: "View Askew: Shifting Perspectives," an ode to the CAMH's sexy metal home and progressive Perspectives series, which has boasted talents from Cindy Sherman to Jenny Holzer in its ongoing exhibition showcases. Johnson devised minimalist props and enlisted light beams to great effect, projecting them upon geometric forms suspended from the ceiling and across the museum's walls. The party was divided into a perfect triptych: Cocktails segued in an expressionistic seated dinner by City Kitchen, the epicenter of which was a grilled double lamb chop in Zinfandel glacé, followed by a live auction conducted by Christie's Steven Zick. Works by eminent talents from Laurie Simmons to Robert Gober were among the headliners, each one coaxed by director Bill Arning to donate for the CAMH cause. The brisk, competitive bidding at the live and silent auctions raised more than $300,000, which alone exceeded the gala figures of many years past. The performance-art finale saw the evening's denizens jam the dance floor to gyrate to vinyl spun by DJ Johnny Dynell, in from NYC. (Ladies, prepare to vie for prizes in the Treasure Hunt: Another Great Night in November takes place Thursday, November 15, at the hacienda of Lisa Holthouse; Nancy Littlejohn and Liz Glanville preside as chairs.) Dean Daderko Carol Ballard Rainey Knudson Leslie Ballard Hull Mark Sullivan Tatiana Massey Mica Elkouri John Bradshaw Jr. Michael Galbreth WHAT other bash has Bold Brushstrokes Upon the Social Canvas august artists, daring collectors, director and a Denny Kempner Sissy Kempner Bill Arning Leigh Smith Estela Cockrell Chairman Gretchen McFarland Elisabeth McCabe Nancy Littlejohn Chairman Andrew McFarland Melissa Liebling-Goldberg Bill Goldberg Michelle Aviña Chinhui Juhn Poppi Massey Edward Allen Scott Hill Olga Postnikova Justin Elkouri Judy Nyquist in the mix? Reggie Smith Marita Fairbanks Yvette Hill Brig Smart Ian Fay Kate McConnico Sicardi Gallery's Allison and David Ayers Kelly and Nicholas Silvers, high bidders on the Donald Moffett, which topped the charts at $50,000-plus Museum board chair Sissy Kempner and husband Denny CAMH board prez Bill Goldberg with daughter Melissa LieblingGoldberg Kate McConnico Leigh and Reggie Smith, whose auction loot included John Waters' hilarious Visit Marfa Poppi Massey Marita and J.B. Fairbanks Judy Nyquist dishing with Asia Society's John Bradshaw Jr. Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen Tatiana Massey with sis Olga Postnikova, in from Russia Christie's Houston-based VP Jessica Phifer CAMH curators Valerie Cassel Oliver and Dean Daderko Leslie Ballard Hull and Mark Hull with her parents, Carol and Les Ballard Penelope and Lester Marks Artist McKay Otto in from Wimberley Painter Joseph Cohen, donating a canvas to the auction Artist Molly Gochman, also in the auction fray Laura Rathe Deborah Colton Heritage Auction's Frank Hettig, in from Dallas