By Chris Clemens
Contemporary Art Council Chairman Steven Biller (second left) thanked the event’s co-chairs – Sandra Comrie (left), Nancy Allen-Blum and Marlene O’Sullivan
Palm Springs Art Museum’s Contemporary Art Council’s (CAC) exciting exhibition and fundraiser, ARTrageous, attracted 245 collectors and enthusiasts who helped raise $350,000, largely through the live and silent auctions, as well as through sponsorships and ticket sales.
The bright, colorful and wildly energetic four-week exhibition featured 75 intriguing artworks of contemporary paintings, photography, prints, oils, watercolors, glass, ceramics and sculpture, donated by museum patrons, major collectors from across the country, artists and galleries.
The 2015 biannual auction and dinner, supporting contemporary art acquisitions and exhibitions at Palm Springs Art Museum, drew a sell-out crowd and resulted in robust bidding at the February 23 silent auction and dinner event. The evening included a special introduction of the artist of honor, Hung Liu, one of the most prominent Chinese painters working in the United States and the subject of a retrospective exhibition that opened the following night at the museum. Bidders raised their paddles to help the museum add Liu’s 80-by-80-inch painting, Shanghai Triad, to the permanent collection. L.A. and Santa Fe collector, Cindy Miscikowski, donated the painting to the auction.
Highlights of the live auction were museum quality art works in various media by Dale Chihuly, Dennis Oppenheim, Pablo Picasso, Brian Wills, Gisela Colon, Martin Janecky, Steven Klein, Naomie Kremer, Therman Statom, and Boaz Vaadia. The silent auction also featured strong art works by Arman, Sam Francis, John Buck, Sandro Chia, Richard Diebenkorn, Herbert Hamak, Helen Pashgian, George Rickey, and William Wegman. The lots included work by several locally based artists, including Edith Bergstrom, David Einstein, Jim Isermann, Forest Moses and Mary Ann Turley-Emett.
Before the live auction began, emcee and Contemporary Art Council Chairman Steven Biller thanked the event’s co-chairs – Sandra Comrie, Marlene O’Sullivan, and Nancy Allen-Blum – for their success in selling sponsorships, acquiring art and presenting a fine dinner and auction experience. They had the help and guidance of the museum’s Chief Curator Katherine Hough and CAC Coordinator Gabriela Rodriguez-Gomez.
ARTrageous graciously recognizes Presenting Sponsor Harold B. Matzner; Platinum Sponsors Donna MacMillan, Dorothy and her late husband Harold J. Meyerman, JoAnn McGrath and Arlene Schnitzer; Gold Sponsors Mary Ann and Charles LaBahn, Candice Connell and Barry W. Morse, the Muzzy family, Herman and Faye Sarkowsky Charitable Foundation and Phyllis and Gary Schahet; Silver Sponsors Nancy Allen-Blum and Mark Blum, Naomi and Jeffrey Caspe, Carol Frankel Cohen, Rita and Seymour Cohen, Sandra and Keith Comrie, Carol Bell-Dean and Edward Dean, Barbara Freemont/Freemont Foundation, Helene Galen, Frank Garofolo and Donald Osborne, Cher and Martin Gellman, Robert Moon and Robert Hammack, Libby and Burton Hoffman, Beth and Fred Karren, Deborah and Kenneth Novack, Annette and Theodore Lerner, Marlene and Bill O’Sullivan, Diane Rubin and Leonard Eber, Ann Sheffer and Bill Scheffler, Pamela Smallwood, Nita Soref, Debra and Mickey Star, and Kimberly and Roger Swanson; and Corporate Sponsor Renova Solar.
For more information about the Contemporary Art Council, contact Gabriela Gomez at (760) 322-4823 or via email at CAC@psmuseum.org.
