“People like to see collections of contemporary art in people’s homes,” says Contemporary Museum executive director Irene Hofmann, which is why on an early spring evening, 23 guests visited three Baltimore collectors’ homes as part of one of the museum’s popular Director’s Dinners.
The evening’s activities were organized as a progressive dinner party, and began with prosecco and hors d’oeuvres, including chopped mushroom crostini with truffle oil and dates stuffed with Black Diamond cheddar, served among C-prints by Shirana Shahbazi and Rineke Dijkstra and an enormous silver cloud sculpture by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle at Hoffman’s own mid-century modern home in Green Spring Valley. Next, guests moved to the home of Larry Eisenstein and Robin Zimelman for a meal of Escolar a la Veracruz and basmati rice with coconut and pineapple, prepared by Irena Stein and her staff from Azafran Catering.
Pastries and coffee greeted guests at the final stop of the evening, the home of Bill Goldiner, where Erwin Wurm’s life-sized sculpture “The Artist Who Swallowed the World When it Was Still a Disc” caught the attention of more than one observer, and the powder room wallpaper designed by artist John Baldessari that read “I will not make any more boring art” caused more than one wry chuckle.
