Transformer is thrilled to announce our 2024 Collector’s View series, sharing private collections of DC’s prominent contemporary art collectors!

Through this series of intimate Thursday evening receptions taking place April – May, 2024, guests will be provided insider perspectives on the motivations, interests, and passions of our dynamic Hosts on the artwork they collect. Presented within collectors’ homes, this program is both an educational and development program of Transformer, cultivating new audiences, and building awareness of the broad relationships that grow from supporting artists and collecting visual art.

Transformer thanks our 2024 Collector’s View Sponsor Sotheby’s International Realty, Atlantic Coast Mortgage, Allied Title & Escrow, Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers, Wild Side Media for their generous support.

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Attendance for each View is limited, so be sure to secure your tickets today!

$75 / Individual View tickets

Participation for Collector’s View is $75 per person for each View.

$350 / Full Series Subscription*

Transformer is offering a special discount package of $350 + a Bonus View for registration of all five Views in this year’s series.

All Collector’s View ticket and subscription purchases are tax-deductible, with proceeds directly benefiting Transformer’s exhibitions and programming.

Light fare and libations will be served at each View.

Addresses for each View will be emailed to confirmed guests a few days prior to each event.

*Bonus View for Full Series Subscribers. Join the Visionary Leaders Circle to receive Collector’s View series subscriptions as part of your membership.

HOSTS | COLLECTOR’S VIEW 2024

Thursday, April 25 | Elise Hoffmann & Chris Niemczewski (Chevy Chase, MD)

Elise Hoffmann and Chris Niemczewski welcome Collector’s View participants into their Chevy Chase home to view their collection of contemporary art. Many of the artists in their collection work (or have worked) in the DC area, but tend to embrace an aesthetic and a point of view that extend well beyond the region, with a focus on such themes as politics and identity, suburban malaise, and anomie. Artists include Trevor Young, Johab Silva, Hadieh Shafie, Lillian Hoover, Chan Chao, Jason Gubbiotti, Loredana Nemes, Dierk Maass, Julie Wolfe, Holly Bass, Hsin-Hsi Chen, and collaborative works from Dennis O’Neill’s Hand Print Workshop. Trevor Young & Johab Silva will be present at the View.

Thursday, May 9 | The Honorable Ann Brown (Forest Hills, DC)

The Honorable Ann Brown and her late husband, Don, have been collectors of contemporary art, and students of contemporary architecture, since their marriage almost 66 years ago. In 1968 they commissioned California architect Richard Neutra to design a home for them in the Forest Hills section of Washington, DC. Their Neutra home contains works by Calder, David Smith, Picasso, Lichtenstein, Stella, Hodgkin, Kelly, Guston, Samaras, Serra, Nevelson, Flannagan, Avery, Longo, Artschwager, and Red Grooms.

Thursday, May 16 | Tim Ehrlich & Christian Clesi (U St Corridor NW, DC)

Drs. Tim Ehrlich and Christian Clesi are looking forward to hosting Collector’s View guests into their U street Corridor home, and, weather permitting, their rooftop for cocktails and a peek into a somewhat quirky and eclectic collection of art, photography and sculpture. As natives of New Orleans, local artists James Michalopoulos and Nilo Lanzas are standout features, along with photographers Eugenie Uhl and George Long. But this collection is far from one note with a mix of pieces collected over the course of 25 years of travels both domestic and international, including works by noted artists Peter Gee, Dave Newman, Tyler Sean, Alexander Beznicov, Butch Anthony, Lennart Grau, Mark Hobley, Javier Melius, Ivan Duran and so much more!

Thursday, May 23 | Jérôme Lamy & Wilfried Zeisler (Mount Pleasant, DC)

Jérôme Lamy and Wilfried Zeisler’s collection includes paintings, prints, photography, and decorative arts. Jérôme grew up in Paris in an artistic milieu while Wilfried was fascinated since childhood by the history behind his great-grand-father’s oil portrait. Buried in the woods, the painting was protected from the war’s destructions, before passing the Berlin wall by mail, travelling to France packed on a vespa, and finally crossing the Atlantic in a container to land in DC 10 years ago. This story probably nurtured Wilfried’s interest in portraiture and the human experiences they reveal while Jérôme’s artworks brought from Paris speak to his love for modern art and abstraction. For over ten years Wilfried and Jérôme have supported local artists through DC galleries and the collection is as eclectic as the juxtaposition of a portrait of a European Emperor with beautiful collages by Paula Mans, prints by Maurice James Jr, and photographs by Jennifer Sakai and Redeat Wondemu.

Thursday, May 30 | Julie & Jon Garcia (Bethesda, MD)

The Garcias have been collecting art since the 1990s as souvenirs from their travels. Many pieces have personal significance – purchased off the wall of a restaurant or directly from an artist’s home studio. The overall result is vibrant and whimsical, and the Garcias enjoy a playful rather than formal approach to living with and enjoying their collection. They choose pieces with an appreciation for the artist’s emotive power or honed craft. The eclectic mix of art and objects include works by Banksy, Burgess, Gilliam, Hijack, Hush, Kusama, Mr. Brainwash, Rauschenburg, Ai WeiWei and Jonas Wood. The Garcias have recently added outdoor commissions by local artists Chris Kraft and Chris Tousimis, and an interior installation by Yuriko Yamaguchi. Their first Transformer works are from Korey Richardson.

BONUS VIEW!
Thursday, June 20 | Offices of Arnold & Porter LLC (Mount Vernon Triangle)
*Special Bonus View for Full Series Subscribers.

The law firm of Arnold & Porter has amassed a major art collection over the past 50 years working with galleries and art dealers including Andre Emmerich and Chris Middendorf. Its collection features paintings by artists including:  Morris Louis, Gene Davis, Kenneth Noland, Sam Gilliam, Christenberry, Robert Stackhouse, Frank Stella and many others. They own prints by De Kooning, Motherwell, Pollock, Warhol, Richard Serra, Grant Wood, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Edward Hopper, Richarc Estes, James Rosenquist and Chuck Close. Their collection of photographs including Diane Arbus’s ”Triplets in Their Bedroom.” Their oldest piece is an ancient Greek krater from 400 BC.  This Bonus View for Transformer’s Collector’s View Series Subscribers is a very special opportunity to View one of the DC’s most impressive private art collections.