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70 STAR TREK Painter Michael Chow's Whirlwind Houston Appearances. Catherine D. Anspon reports. Photography Jenny Antill Clifton and Emile Browne. I t was an exclamation point of the art and social seasons this autumn when painter Michael Chow came to town to exhibit at the Texas Contemporary Art Fair. The place to be to meet the inimitable guest of honor — who is famed beyond the art world due to his storied Mr. Chow restaurant brand — was a private cocktail bash at architect Lauren Rottet's River Oaks home. Nearly 150 guests turned out, collector and museum types rubbing shoulders with social influencers. The stylish evening was co-hosted by Rottet and her global architecture firm Rottet Studio, with PaperCity magazine. Chow jetted in from L.A. between trips to Frieze in London and opening a new Mr. Chow restaurant in Mexico City. He quickly took a seat at the Knoll dining table to begin his book signing as performance art. Chow signed copies of Voice for My Father, an his ode to his late father, a star and innovator of Peking Opera; at the frontispiece of each volume, Chow calligraphed an inscription with great effect and a bit of theater, employing a broad-tipped Sharpie as big as a ruler. Lining up for volumes: Lynn Wyatt (reliving stories of Sunday nights at Mr. Chow with Warhol and Basquiat); Jo Lynn and Gregg Falgout (who weeks later flew to L.A. and visited Chow's studio); gallerists Barbara Davis and Cindy Lisica, who co-exhibited the painter at Texas Contemporary Art Fair (stay tuned for an upcoming show in Houston); neighbors and collectors Leigh Smith and Judy Nyquist; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston di- rector Bill Arning with Mark McCray; Tommy Napier of the Menil; Knoll's Gerry Fehn; Hines' George Lancaster; Ceron; Saks Fifth Avenue's Sylvia Forsythe and Dawn Toroker; Brian Teichman and Andy Cordes; Mary Grace Gray with Interfin Properties; BeDesign's Adrian Dueñas and Marcelo Saenz; Rottet's son and daughter Kyle Rottet (who works with her at the firm) and Evan Rottet, an artist, joined by sister Lynda Wood; Chow's assistant Monica Hyun, in from L.A.; DiverseWorks' Xandra Eden; Houston Arts Alliance's Jonathon Glus with Alton LaDay; John Evatz; designer Lindsey and Steven Looke; Neil Hamil; Lucinda and Javier Loya; Lawndale's Stephanie Mitchell; Kate and Eddie Bialas; Asia Society curator Bridget Bray; and artist Weihong with husband Paul Kronfield. THE NEXT DAY … Chow wowed audiences with a talk and book signing at the Texas Contemporary — as well as by his canvases, three-dimensional tour de forces of post-Pollock ab ex, with a nod to the grand tradition of Chinese landscape painting. Following opening night at the Fair, artist Christy Karll and husband Hal McWhorter hosted an intime dinner in Chow's honor at their 1920s-era Museum District home. In the cultured crowd: Sotheby's VP Eric Shiner (former Warhol Museum director who presented Chow's canvases in a major exhibition in Pittsburgh last spring); Becca Cason Thrash; designer Cathy Echols with Christopher Gongolas; Anita and Gerald Smith; antiquarian Kay O'Toole; Kenny Baldwin; Carol Isaak Barden; artist Salle Werner-Vaughn; Olive Hershey and A.C. Conrad; Laurie McRay; collector Ken Christie; in from Wimberley, artist McKay Otto; and Susan Chadwick with filmmaker Gary Chason. Michael Chow, Cindy Lisica Anita Smith, Becca Cason Thrash Host Christy Karll Bill Arning Barbara Davis Carol Isaak Barden Kyle Rottet, Dan Zimmerman Gerry Fehn Heather Dow Cathy Echols Host Lauren Rottet George Lancaster Christopher Gongolas Gerald Smith Neal Hamil, Eric Shiner McKay Otto, Ken Christie Lindsey & Steven Looke