Auction Raises $650,000 for MOCA

The scene: An art auction to benefit the Museum of Contemporary Art Friday night at the Temporary Contemporary, a location that is really living up to its name.

The Temporary is shutting its doors for two years because of construction at nearby First Street Plaza. For math whizzes, 600 people attended the auction, and approximately $650,000 was spent on art.

The Buzz: The economy. People surmised that although many high-ticket items sold below their estimates, at least they sold, so the market isn’t completely dead.

A second theory: Depending on your outlook, pieces either sold low, reflecting the bad economy, or high, reflecting possible optimism.

Theory three: People are generally conservative in their buying habits because of the Angst in our society.

Quoted: “I’ve been buying things I can’t afford all my life,” said museum trustee and movie producer Dan Melnick, while contemplating his next bid.

Overheard: “My husband said, ‘Go tonight. Have a wonderful time. Don’t even think about buying anything.’ ”

How to survive an art auction: Sotheby’s chief auctioneer, John Marion, may have been conducting the auction, but the event was not like a typical commercial sale. It was a fund-raiser--and the audience was impatient.

The level of chit-chat was high except during the bidding war between Sid and June Moray and Leonard and Susan Bay Nimoy over Roy Lichtenstein’s “Collage Study for Mobile I,” painted and printed paper on board made in 1989. (The Morays prevailed and went home with the piece for $60,000.) An hour and 20 minutes into the proceedings, museum trustee Jane Nathanson observed, “The natives are restless.”

Fashion statements: MOCA associate director Sherri Geldin’s narrow ankle-length column of Fortuny-like pleats, an unidentified woman’s thigh-high fringe skirt and man-tailored jacket, Dan Melnick’s Richard Meier-esque jacket without lapels.

Who was there: Artists, art collectors and dealers, including Gordon Hampton; James and Linda Burrows; Leonore and Bernard Greenberg; Doug Cramer, president of the board of trustees; Joan and Fred Nicholas, chairman of the board; Count Guiseppe Panza di Biumo; Eli and Edythe Broad; Richard and Geri Brawerman; Bea and Philip Gersh; Andrea Van de Kamp; Judy Henning and Richard Rosenzweig; Aviva and Carl Covitz; Sam Francis; Lita Albuquerque and Carey Peck; Karen Finley; James Ewan; Judy Fiskin; Linda Cathcart, plus event co-chairs Barbara Jacobson and Susan Gersh.

Glitches: The sound system. It was impossible to hear the auction, and lip reading came in handy for conversing over the orchestra music.

Triumphs: Cheap-chic centerpieces that were plaster copies of classical busts draped with garlands of ivy and sprinkled with edible flowers. Designer Chris Slack whipped them up for about $10 each. “We were really resourceful,” said Susan Gersh. “It’s almost embarrassing,” added Phyllis Rowen Sugarman, who helped choose the decorations.