Something for everyone

For one night, Saturday, Neiman Marcus transforms itself into the C Lounge, where art and its aficionados converge for the ultimate hookups during the 12th annual ConTempo 2006 Emerging Collectors live and silent auctions. Enjoy martinis, savories and dancing from 9 p.m. while browsing the gallery and bidding on art and fine wine valued at from $175 to $1,200 in the silent auction before Contemporary Museum curator Michael Rooks starts the live auction at 9:30 p.m. Fifty percent of funds raised will go to the artists, with the remaining 50 percent benefiting TCM's exhibition and education programs.

ConTempo 2006 Black-tie fundraiser and silent auction benefiting the Contemporary Museum exhibition and education programs: When: 9 p.m. to midnight Saturday, with live auction of select art and fine wine from 9:30 p.m. Place: Neiman Marcus, first-floor escalator area Admission: $125 per person Reservations: 237-5227 Note: Preview silent auction artwork online at www.tcmhi.org or at NM through Saturday. Deadline for absentee bidding is 5 p.m. Friday. Call 526-1322.

All are invited to view the artwork during the "ConTempoRarities 2006" exhibition at Neiman Marcus, or online at tcmhi.org through the event.

Works were selected in a wide range of media by 36 prominent and emerging mainland and local artists.

Among pieces to be offered during the live auction are Koi Ozu's colorful untitled sculpture of painted CDs, Richard Shaw's glazed porcelain trompe-l'oeil sculpture "Inko Figure with Black Pump," one of three bird teapots by Annette Corcoran, and an oil-on-panel work by Catherine Courtenaye entitled "Forty-four Stags."

The fundraiser is intended to appeal to both neophyte and seasoned collectors, with retail value of the works ranging from $375 for a cast bronze sculpture, "The Swing," by local artist Jacqueline Mild Lau, and $500 for a "Narra Seed Pod" silver gelatin print by new artist Rujunko Pugh, to $50,000 for "Pieces of Infinity," a series of numbers rendered in purple heart and oak hardwood.

In a show in which there seems to be something for everyone, the mechanically inclined might find themselves drawn to Christopher Reiner's "Circumstantial Mood Oscillator," crafted from found objects he dubs "obtanium," such as a gas can and parts from a fishing reel.

Also in the whimsical vein are Roy DeForest's "Ode to Rin Tin Tin," a color lithograph and woodcut with painted frame, edition 2/15, a zany homage to one of America's favorite canine heroes; and Sally French's dark but riveting "Bad Kitty and Hasmat Smoke Cigars/Bad Kitty Swims the South Fork Toe River," prismacolor on book-cover cloth, in which the highly consumer-friendly and benign "Hello Kitty" morphs into its tough and sexualized evil twin.

Bidders must register. Call TCM's administration office, 237-5232.