Chairman and Honored Artist Announced for 2016 TWO X TWO FOR AIDS AND ART
Noted Philanthropist and Art Patron Nancy C. Rogers Returns for Second Year as
Gala Chairman of 18th Annual Fundraiser
Distinguished Artist Laura Owens to Receive 2016 amfAR
Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS
Presenting Sponsors are Harry Winston and Cadillac
(Featured slideshow photo by Noah Webb. Courtesy the artist Laura Owens and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York and Rome, Sadie Coles HQ, London and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.)
DALLAS (July 8, 2016) – Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, hosts for the annual TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art, are pleased to announce that Nancy C. Rogers will return for a second year as the 2016 Gala Chairman and distinguished artist Laura Owens will be the recipient of the 2016 amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS.
This will be the 18th annual TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art fundraising event which will take place on Saturday, October 22, 2016 at the Richard Meier-designed Rachofsky House. Since its inception, TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art has raised over $60 million in support of essential AIDS research at amfAR and for the Contemporary Art Acquisitions Fund at the Dallas Museum of Art. The 2015 event raised a record-breaking $8.6 million.
Noted philanthropist, art patron and longtime TWO x TWO supporter Nancy C. Rogers has accepted the position of Gala Chairman for the 18th annual gala and auction, for the second year in a row. Mrs. Rogers is recognized as one of the most generous patrons of non-profit organizations throughout the Dallas area.
“Each year, TWO x TWO has raised the bar in fundraising goals for two important organizations, the DMA and amfAR, both leaders in their fields. The scientific and medical achievements that amfAR is making in the fight against AIDS are unmatched. And, the contributions of the DMA to the citizens and city of Dallas are wonderful,” said Nancy C. Rogers. “Last year was a record-breaking one for TWO x TWO and I wanted to return to hopefully break another fundraising record. We are so very grateful to our generous supporters and I look forward to collaborating with my dear friends Cindy and Howard Rachofsky on the 2016 event.”
This year’s recipient of amfAR’s Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS will be noted artist Laura Owens.
Laura Owens (b. 1970, Euclid, Ohio) lives and works in Los Angeles. For the past two decades, Owens’s influential work has questioned the parameters and possibilities for making and viewing a painting today. She has continually shifted the terms of her practice, incorporating figuration, abstraction, digital techniques, and gestural mark making into multivalent compositions that confound expectations of pictorial space.
Owens’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2016); Secession, Vienna (2015); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2011); Kunsthalle Zürich (2006); Camden Arts Centre, London (2006); Milwaukee Art Museum (2003); Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2003); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2003); and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2001), among other venues.
Owens’s art has also been featured in group exhibitions such as Forever Now, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2014); The Spectacular of Vernacular, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2011); Undiscovered Country, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2004); Whitney Biennial (2004); Public Offerings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2001); Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh (1999); and Vertical Painting Show, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (1997). She is the founder of 356 S. Mission Rd., a contemporary art exhibition space in downtown Los Angeles.
As part of TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art 2016, Laura Owens will receive the amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS in recognition of her generous support of amfAR’s programs. The award presentation will take place during a brunch on Sunday, October 23, hosted by Cindy and Howard Rachofsky at The Warehouse. TWO x TWO is honored to have Laura Owens as the featured artist of our 18th annual event. On behalf of amfAR and the Dallas Museum of Art, we extend heartfelt thanks to Laura, and to Gavin Brown, Sadie Coles, and Gisela Capitain, for their extraordinary support of this event.
Past TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art honorees include renowned artists Ellsworth Kelly, Wade Guyton, Luc Tuymans, Richard Phillips, Mark Grotjahn, Christopher Wool, Peter Doig, Jim Hodges, Elizabeth Peyton, Tom Friedman, Cecily Brown, Julian Schnabel, April Gornik, Ed Ruscha, Joel Shapiro, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Drawing prominent artists, art collectors and philanthropists from around the world, the annual TWO x TWO black-tie gala is part of a week-long series of events. It is the largest U.S. fundraiser for both amfAR and the Dallas Museum of Art. Widely anticipated and sold out each year, the gala benefit features a seated dinner for 450 guests under a geodesic dome tent with both a live and silent auction consisting of major works of contemporary art and unique luxury items.
The Saturday night gala and auction, conducted by Sotheby’s Chairman Jamie Niven, has included VIP celebrity guests such as Alan Cumming, a dedicated supporter of TWO x TWO who has made numerous appearances at the event as both emcee and as a featured performer; Harry Belafonte, Taylor Dayne, CeeLo Green, John Benjamin Hickey, Cheyenne Jackson, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Shirley MacLaine, Barry Manilow, Gilles Marini, Jesse Metcalfe, Liza Minnelli, Natasha Richardson, Gavin Rossdale, Sharon Stone, Robin Thicke, Stanley Tucci, Diane Von Furstenberg, Dita Von Teese and Sigourney Weaver.
The Rachofsky House is also open for guest tours of the TWO x TWO exhibition during the two weeks leading up to the gala. During these two weeks of public and private guest tours, preview parties and events over 1,500 people will visit the Rachofsky House.
All sponsors and donated lots are featured in hard copy catalogues, which feature the artist and gallery websites, and which are sent to collectors around the globe for absentee bidding.
National and international sponsors have partnered with TWO x TWO over the years. Currently, the list of sponsors for the 18th anniversary weekend includes:
- Presenting Sponsors: Harry Winston and Cadillac
- Platinum Sponsor: Sotheby’s
- Gold Sponsor: Dom Pérignon
- First Look: Forty Five Ten x Fossil®
- Additional sponsors: Chanel, Chubb Personal Insurance, Citi Private Bank, Moët Hennessy USA, Todd Events; for a full listing of sponsors, please visit twoxtwo.org/sponsors
Prior to the gala and auction dinner on Saturday, October 22, there will be several distinctive and exciting events which are part of the 2016 TWO x TWO schedule:
Thursday, October 20
FIRST LOOK: A Preview Party and Fundraiser
Presented by Forty Five Ten x Fossil®
Chairmen Taylor Tomasi Hill and Nick Wooster
Cuisine by Lombardi Family Concepts
Sips by Moët & Chandon Ice Impérial
Tickets $500 each; available at www.twoxtwo.org/First-Look
7:00 – 10:00 p.m. at The Rachofsky House, Dallas, Texas
Sunday, October 23
Sunday Brunch and Award Presentation
By invitation only
Honoring Laura Owens, Recipient of amfAR’s 2016 Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS
Hosted by Cindy & Howard Rachofsky
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at The Warehouse, Dallas, TX
For more information, please visit www.twoxtwo.org.
About TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art
Since its inception 17 years ago, TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art has raised over $60 million in support of amfAR’s essential AIDS research initiatives and the Dallas Museum of Art’s Contemporary Art Acquisitions Fund. To date, over 220 exceptional works of art have been acquired by the Dallas Museum of Art with proceeds from TWO x TWO exclusively from dealers and artists who have supported TWO x TWO in the past. This reinvestment strategy creates a synergistic partnership designed to benefit all associated with the event. TWO x TWO has become amfAR’s largest fundraiser in the United States and is also the DMA’s largest fundraiser. All donated artwork is installed in the Richard Meier-designed Rachofsky House and is on view during the two weeks prior to the auction for a series of events and range of collecting audiences among the 1,500+ visitors. All sponsors and donated lots are featured in superb hard copy catalogues, which feature the artist and gallery websites, and which are sent to collectors around the globe for absentee bidding.
BENEFICIARIES
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, founded in 1985, is dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research. With the freedom and flexibility to respond quickly to emerging areas of scientific promise, amfAR plays a catalytic role in accelerating the pace of HIV/AIDS research and achieving real breakthroughs. Intensifying its research efforts, in 2014 amfAR launched the “Countdown to a Cure for AIDS,” a bold new initiative aimed at developing the scientific basis of a cure by 2020 and supported by a $100 million research investment strategy. The cornerstone of the strategy is the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research, established on World AIDS Day 2015 and situated at the University of California, San Francisco. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $450 million in its programs and has awarded more than 3,300 grants to research teams worldwide. TWO x TWO is amfAR’s largest fundraiser in the United States. amfar.org
The Dallas Museum of Art, established in 1903, has an encyclopedic collection of more than 26,000 works spanning 5,000 years of history and representing all media with renowned strengths in the arts of the ancient Americas, Africa, Indonesia, and South Asia; European and American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; and American and international contemporary art. The Dallas Museum of Art is the anchor of the Dallas Arts District and serves as a cultural magnet for the city with diverse programming ranging from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary readings, and dramatic and dance presentations. The Museum serves more than one-half million visitors a year and offers more than 3,500 education and public programs annually, designed to engage people of all ages with the power and excitement of art. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of Museum members and donors and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Proceeds from TWO x TWO support the DMA’s Contemporary Art Acquisitions Fund and exhibitions and have been used to purchase over 220 major works of contemporary art for the museum over the last seventeen years.
dallasmuseumofart.org
(Press release courtesy amfAR TWO X TWO.)
