He, too, expressed his enthusiasm for the night, welcoming guests to explore his home. A team helmed by Melissa Ireland works almost year-round to populate the auction’s lots—on view for the public for nearly three weeks before the event—and per Howard, one not-to-miss piece this year was by Rashid Johnson. Yet the night, he explained, was also about discovery. “What we learned during the course of asking, soliciting, and attempting to build the exhibition is that you see a microcosm of what’s going on in the contemporary art world, a snapshot of what’s happening today—you see figuration, abstraction, hybrid works, text works, you see a range of things. And I learn a lot from it. I admit that a third of the artists in tonight’s presentation are artists whose work I had not known prior to exploring the exhibition.”
After guests had toured the works, they were welcomed into an igloo-like tent for a caviar and Wagyu beef supper from famed chef Thomas Keller. There, they chatted and sipped on wines and cocktails that kept on coming—a clever tactic to get all involved properly lubricated for the art auction ahead.
But first came a performance from Nile Rodgers and Chic, who started things off with “Le Freak” before peppering in some much-loved tunes that Rodgers had collaborated on: “Get Lucky” and “We Are Family.” The set concluded with a silver confetti shower, and as soon as the final piece of tinsel had fluttered to the floor, Sotheby’s SVP Michael Macaulay was on stage encouraging attendees to bid generously on works by Johnson, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Kyle Dunn, Ulala Imai, Spencer Lewis, Rafa Macarrón, a trip with Tynan Travel Company and One&Only Resorts, among other lots.
Johnson, dressed in a beachy take on black tie (he topped his tuxedo with a black-and-white Polynesian-esque floral robe), gave quick remarks in accepting his award from Two x Two. He spoke of his memories as a “scrawny kid wandering the halls of the Art Institute of Chicago,” and his desire, as an artist, to express his loves, hopes, and fears, which included seeing the AIDS epidemic continue to ravage the creative community. (Johnson cited an artist friend of his father’s passing away from the condition.) It’s the organization’s twin causes—arts funding and AIDS and HIV research—that “makes Two x Two so special,” he told the audience.
Soon after, the artist’s work fetched nearly $2 million. That provided reason enough for everyone to gather at the after-party, located in the backyard of the house, for festivities that lasted well into the night.
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