Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/184689
Dan Flavin LIGHTS, Moonlight, Magrittes + Martinis Stirring It Up At The Menil Contemporaries' Jarrod Hartwig Annalea Elwell, Hannah Siegel-Gardner, Ann Trione Catherine Gross Audi hot wheels reflect rays from a Dan Flavin light sculpture. Kendall Robinson, Allison Ayers Lea Ann Jeansonne, Bianca Parr Luminous Season Opener CATHERINE D. ANSPON CATCHES SOME SOCIAL RAYS. PHOTOGRAPHY SETH VAUGHAN. Tripping the Light Fantastic In a mere three years, The Menil Contemporaries' season-kickoff cocktail and art fête, Magrittes + Martinis, has grown into a signature evening for our visual scene. In fact, it enjoys such popularity that this year's soaring guest list of 300-plus necessitated a move from The Menil Collection's hallowed halls to a more ample Menil campus space close by: the minimalist Richmond Hall, home to banks of candy-hued Dan Flavin light sculptures. And so they came, the young, bright and beautiful, to bask in the social and art glow while raising funds for the Menil and building membership for the museum's next generation of patrons. Amanda Edwards Caire Chambers William Middleton Claudia Schmuckli, Beau Mann Jamie Olivier, Lyn Tanner Judy Nyquist Elsian Cozens Mary Nichols & Ben Patton DJ Sun Chris Akin Tripping the light fantastic Robert & Wendy Orth Jo Simmons, Adrian Patterson, Judy Cox Michael & Tricia Dinh z Thelma Smith Jessica Phifer Rebecca Trahan, Rick Lowe PaperCity's Catherine D. Anspon, Aline Wilson Amanda Shagrin Toby Kamps Jennifer Hennessy Susanna Kise, Eleanor Williams Mark & Katherine Yzagiurre Your Favorite Work of Art? Painting the Canvas Anvil Bar & Refuge fueled the night, mixing up classics such as Philadelphia Fish House Punch while art appreciators savored bites from A Fare Extraordinaire and Celebrity Cupcakes. Sharp Audi wheels outside, courtesy of Momentum Audi, reflected rays of green from the Flavin exterior light installation. Inside, DJ Sun jump-started the mise en scène, spinning vinyl round and round as Smilebooth snapped party pics to record it all. Other supportive sponsors ranged from Kinzelman Art Consulting to San Antonio's Hotel Havana, BBVA Compass Bank, and natch, PaperCity magazine — an original co-founder of this lively art party. Social Sculpture Contemporary energies: Adrian Patterson, who forged the idea for "A Harry Bertoia sound sculpture was in our front hall growing up." — Susanna Kise "Man Ray's portrait of Marquis de Sade, at the Menil." — Mark Yzaguirre Karyn & Jay Guerrero Magrittes + Martinis back in 2009; Catherine Gross; Eleanor Williams dishing with Susanna Kise and Katherine and Mark Yzaguirre; Claudia Solís with Payson Tucker; handbag designer Mary Nichols; host committee members Tricia and Michael Dinh, Christie's Jessica Phifer, Ann Carter Trione, Hannah Siegel-Gardner, Summer and Jason Rudd, and Julia Shur, stepping out in Missoni with John Ragon; Project Row House's Rick Lowe with Rebecca Trahan; occasional gallerist Beau Mann; Menil biographer William Middleton, whose greatly anticipated volume, set to be published by Knopf in Fall 2013, promises to illuminate the couple's extraordinary legacy; Lisa Lee and gal pal Jen Pearsall; Blaine Hull; Carrie Chaplan; Vera and Jan Willem; Michelle Aviña, peachy in Bottega Veneta; celebratory trio Peter Pettigrew, Megan Light, and Kelly Roberts; Karyn and Jay Guerrero; Ashley Powell squired by David Zummo; Blaffer Art Museum directress Claudia Schmuckli; gallerists Allison Ayers of Sicardi, Art Palace's Arturo Palacios and Bryan Miller of Bryan Miller Gallery with daughter Naemi; Jemille Javier, clinking cocktails with Raymond So and Glory Chi; Kaylan Tannahill and posse Corby Dill, Amanda Flato, and Alex Bonnel; Addie D'Agostino, Courtney Cornelius, and Sarah Fleckman; Houston Zoo's Sarah Atwood in a têteà-tête with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Ole Petersen; and Menil curators Toby Kamps and Michelle White (whose Richard Serra drawing retrospective opens this month, March 2 – June 10), alongside Menil colleagues Elsian Cozens in a chitchat with collector Judy Nyquist, Aline Wilson, Amanda Shagrin, Jennifer Hennessy, and development director Peter Hyland, who is also a prize-winning poet. MARCH | PAGE 10 | 2012 Claudia Solís, Payson Tucker "Magritte's Les fanatiques (The Fanatics) ... Towards the end of her life, Dominique de Menil gave the work to the museum with an inscription that read: "In honor of John de Menil who dared … and did." — William Middleton "Andy Warhol, Lavender Disaster, 1963 (in The Menil Collection!)" — Michelle White