The Renaissance Society, a contemporary art museum located on the University of Chicago campus, held its annual benefit gala and auction Saturday evening. Some 325 art collectors gathered on the eighth floor of the Merchandise Mart, which had been transformed from a blank-canvas event space into a full-fledged gallery, complete with exhibition walls hung with artwork and viewing benches created by Chicago designer Jonathan Nesci. The 50 molded plastic benches (on sale for $250 a pop) followed the evening's black-and-blue color scheme.
The event's title, "Lovely So Real," came from Nelson Algren's book Chicago: City on the Make, which contains the line "Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find livelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real." To keep the city-centric theme front of mind, planners decided to hold the event at the Mart, which Renaissance Society director of development Lori Bartman deemed "so Chicago."
Bursts of blue filled the mostly white space, from the models decked in platinum bobbed wigs and sapphire-hued evening gowns who beckoned guests down a blue carpet into the space to the hydrangeas from Oliver Dogwood that topped the bars, dinner tables, and servers' trays. Dramatic black curtains lined the entryway where trays holding the evening's signature drink—a raspberry-flavored martini—mysteriously jutted out between the folds. More dark draping obscured the dinner tables during the cocktail reception, when guests perused and bid on more than 70 pieces of artwork supplied by galleries across the globe.
"One of our biggest challenges this year was the early Labor Day," said Bartman. "Our event is always the first Saturday after the holiday, and because so many European galleries are closed in August, it made it really difficult."
The evening's live auction started at 8 p.m. in a separate room and began with a welcome by Renaissance Society director Suzanne Ghez. Immediately following the auction, the draping came down, revealing the dinner's first course, which was pre-set. J&L Catering's menu consisted of locally sourced, late summer foods such as an heirloom tomato-and-mozzarella salad with basil and mint chiffonade, plus an entrée of grilled beef tenderloin with caramelized onion, charred tomato, potato pave, and sugar snap peas. After dinner, a Jeff Koons vase went to the lucky raffle ticket holder, and the silent auction closed in three sections (as determined by the display of the artwork), each marked by the clang of a gong.
