PaperCity Magazine

February 2016 - Dallas

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Jamie Niven Deedie Rose BY CHRISTINA GEYER. PHOTOGRAPHY BRUNO, STEVE FOXALL AND KEVIN TACHMAN. TWO X TWO IN TECHNICOLOR FROM COSTUMES AT FIRST LOOK (IRIS APFEL AGATHER, IS THAT YOU?) TO THIS NEON-TASTIC NIGHT (NANCY ROGERS WORE IT BEST), THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL GALAS TOPS ITSELF YET AGAIN. E arly last year, international fine jeweler and watchmaker Harry Winston announced an unprecedented partnership with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, marking amfAR's single largest corporate partnership in history. It was a fair assumption that TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art would, as a result, become even more dazzling. The ambitious event, which benefits both amfAR's mission to end the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research and the Dallas Museum of Art's contemporary art acquisitions fund, has raised more than $60 million via live and silent art auctions held at the Richard Meier–designed home of its founders, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky. Since TWO x TWO's debut in 1999, the Rachofskys, along with the event's tireless director Melissa Ireland, have consistently raised the bar in terms of funds raised, quality of art and overall spectacle of the event. This year proved no exception, with a record $8.6 million raised — a testament to the perfect storm that ensued at the Rachofskys' that vibrant evening. The key aspects of TWO x TWO that regular patrons have come to expect were present: Dom Pérignon flowed, Sotheby's Jamie Niven conducted the live auction, Audi provided automotive eye candy, Cassandra Tomassetti found an inventive way to present the de rigueur caviar course at dinner, and Todd Fiscus went wild designing the interior of the geodesic dome tent that has become the traditional setting for the Gala on the front lawn of the Rachofsky House. Singer Robin Thicke, on the heel's of last year's performance by CeeLo Green, continued the trend of having a contemporary pop star take the stage. Tradition met freshness, though, as Harry Winston made its new presence and immense sponsorship felt in many ways, most notably through its timepieces (honored artist Ellsworth Kelly and Award of Gratitude recipient Fiscus both received Winston watches from the jewelry house's Midnight Timepiece collection), and by undoubtedly inspiring gala guests to wear their finest Winston gems for the night. The inimitable Nancy Rogers, one of TWO x TWO's earliest supporters, lent her philanthropic force, coveted Rolodex of connections and effusive generosity as Gala chair, wearing a custom gown by larger-than-life American fashion designer Jeremy Scott, who was also in attendance. (Rogers must have consulted with Fiscus, as the kaleidoscopic graphic number was perfectly in sync with the event designer's neon-infused gala decor.) A contingency of out-of-towners made an appearance, proving that TWO x TWO, already the nation's largest amfAR fund- raiser, is comparable to the Foundation's rare-air international events. Seen: Japanese shoe designer and artist Noritaka Tatehana; Lebanese- Egyptian jewelry designer Sabine Getty; Russian designer Vika Gazinskaya; English actress and model China Chow; artist and past TWO x TWO honoree Richard Phillips; designer Prabal Gurung; actors Milissa and Teddy Sears; London-based fashion designers Peter Pilotto and Emilia Wickstead; French Laundry proprietors Thomas Keller and Laura Cunningham, and Elizabeth Taylor's grandson Quinn Tivey, who has followed in his grandmother's footsteps as a stalwart supporter of amfAR. Our city's finest also turned out and well past the formal end of the Gala. The late-nighters watched Howard Rachofsky sell the art off the walls — something he is prone to do after the live auction and dinner ends. Two months after TWO x TWO 2015, a somber occurrence brought even more meaning to the much-lauded event. Ellsworth Kelly, one of the world's most important abstract artists and TWO x TWO's recipient of its Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS, died Sunday, December 27, 2015. His work, White Form, 2012, sold at TWO x TWO for $2.3 million and now hangs among the impressive collection of contemporary art at the Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium. The New York Times obituary called Kelly a true original and lauded him for his distinctive style of American painting. But it was perhaps TWO x TWO's statement that summed it up: "He will be remembered with much love." PADDLES UP TWO X TWO'S IS A HIGH-STAKES LIVE AUCTION, WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF ART UP FOR GRABS. Wyatt Kahn's Pigeon Toed, 2015 Jonas Wood's Blue Plant Grid Pot, 2015 Sean Scully's Landline Day, 2015 Günther Förg, Untitled, 2005 Ellsworth Kelly, White Form, 2012 "MY MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT WAS THE LOOK OF SHOCK AND APPRECIATION ON TODD FISCUS' FACE WHEN WE ASKED HIM TO THE STAGE TO PRESENT HIM WITH THE amfAR AWARD OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS YEARS OF IN-KIND SUPPORT OF TWO x TWO." — CINDY RACHOFSKY FEBRUARY | PAGE 13 | 2016 Lucy Wrubel, Brooke Hortenstine, Caroline Summers, Sheryl Maas, Lisa Runyon, Julie Hawes Ricardo Figueiredo, Federica Fanari, Emilia Wickstead, Edgardo Osorio, Vika Gavinskaya, Sabine Getty Meghan Looney Alexandra von Stumberg McCaffery Laura Cunningham Thomas Keller Donald Dykes Amy Wendt Nell Langford Federica Boida Tim Headington Jeny Bania Noritaka Tatehana Lindsey Collins Quinn Tivey Gary Tigges Bradley Agather Means Coley Means Molly Overton Todd Fiscus Ceron Kelly Gillespie Richard Phillips Christen Wilson Chair Nancy Rogers Melissa Ireland Howard Rachofsky Cindy Rachofsky Cindy Schwartz Armond Schwartz

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