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THE MUSEUM DIRECTOR & THE COMPUTER WHIZ IN THE REVAMPED, ART-AMPED BUNGALOW OF THE CAMH'S BILL ARNING AND CHIAT\DAY'S MARK McCRAY, CATHERINE D. ANSPON DISCOVERS WHO'S IN THE DINING ROOM WITH CINDY SHERMAN AND JOHN CURRIN. T his art collection reads like a who's who of the last 30 years of art history, mixed in with a recent litany of Texas notables. Rare early examples or special editions by Felix GonzalezTorres, Robert Gober, Cady Noland, Fred Tomaselli and, yes, the aforementioned Cindy Sherman and John Currin rub shoulders with works by cult figures due for acclaim such as Sturtevant, one of the earliest appropriation artists, whose flower-power canvas from 1966 is a dead ringer for a Warhol. The owners of this remarkable trove are Bill Arning, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston's brilliant, hyper-caffeinated director, and his equally brilliant partner, Mark McCray, a software architect with the global advertising giant TBWA\Chiat\Day. The repository of their everexpanding hoard of remarkable art with a side of design is a revived, historic bungalow that just turned 100, in the gracious Audubon Place neighborhood. Design- and-architecture duo Michael Landrum and Philip Paratore crafted the 11-month renovation, transforming the casa from its shag-carpeted former life to a new incantation as domestic container for the most cutting-edge art. Above: The heart of the home. The living-room mantel boasts family portraits by Erik Hanson and sculptures by Sean Landers and Houston's Flower Man, the latter a headliner from the CAMH's 2009 "No Zoning" exhibition. Above left door, a collage by David Cabrera. Above the right door, a drawing by Peter Nagy. To the far right, Black Cherry by Marilyn Minter, whose baroque-inflected beautiful, decadent, dirty realism will be the subject of a retrospective Arning is co-organizing, at the CAMH in 2014. Bottom left: Daisy, a rescue from the SPCA, in her favorite spot, with a painting found in the attic and Arning's complete collection of Artforums going back to a seminal birthday. "I started subscribing to Artforum when I was 17, when other kids were taking drugs or playing pool," recalls the museum director. ARCHITECTURE RENOVATION AND DESIGN MICHAEL LANDRUM AND PHILIP PARATORE. LANDSCAPE SARAH LAKE. PHOTOGRAPHY JACK THOMPSON. ART DIRECTION MICHELLE AVIÑA. NOVEMBER | PAGE 53 | 2012