PARK HOUSE ACTIVATES AN ENGAGING ART PROGRAM AND

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INTRODUCES CHARLIE BILLINGHAM IN THE FIRST ROTATING EXHIBITION.

CULTURE CLUB

Entrance to Park House featuring Tony

Oursler, Cam-Camo-C rush, 2014, lm,

video, aluminum, acrylic paint, one

LCD screen, 42.5 x 43 x 2 in.

t’s early February last year when I rst visit with Deborah Scott regarding the buzzed-about Park House,

a private social membership club that just opened in Highland Park Village in December. Deborah, a

globetrotting New Zealand native living in Dallas, is one of four admired founders among a group which

also includes her husband John, the much-loved former President and CEO of Rosewood Hotels, Megan

Wood, an orthopedic hand surgeon, and her husband Brady Wood, who is one-half of the genius behind

WoodHouse, an entertainment, hospitality, and advisory rm he helms with his brother Brandt—the creators

of José on Lovers Lane.

75 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

BY TERRI PROVENCAL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN SMITH

Top row, from left: Matt Kleberg, Soapbox, 2017, oil stick on canvas, 20 x 16 in.; Allison V. Smith, Giant. McCamey, Texas, 2016, chromogenic color photograph, 30 x

30 in.; Samantha McCurdy, Turmeric and Double Nude, 2018, wood, spandex, and latex, 24 x 9 x 8 in.; John Pomara, Divorce Court, 2007, oil on enamel on aluminum.

Bottom row, from left: Kristen Skees, Radiant II, 2016, archival inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag paper; Maximilian Schubert, Untitled, 2018, resin, berglass, and

oil paint; Danielle Kimzey, Grouping Pairs, 2016, gouache on panel; Nan Coulter, August 21, 2017, 2017, archival inkjet print; Paul Winker, Untitled, 2017, acrylic and

enamel on canvas, 33 x 25.5 in.

Left to right: Hans-Jörg Mayer, Why Not, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 in.; Bruce Nauman, Soft Ground

Etchings - Yellow, Coral, Lavender, 2007, three color etchings, 29.5 x 39 in. each, collection of John and Lisa

Runyon.

Allison V. Smith, Giant. McCamey, Texas, 2016,

Chromogenic color photograph, 30 x 30 in.

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Top, above dining table: Fernando and Humberto Campana, Sushi Mirror (T

Grand Green), 2012, pictures, wallpapers, mirrors, frames, silver mirror, carpet,

rubber, EVA and fabrics, structured aluminum and stainless steel. Below: David

Korty, Commission, 2018, paper, ashe, and ink on canvas.

“The seed of Park House was planted when long-time biking

buddies, John and Brady, were mountain biking the hills of

Aspen one summer eight years ago,” Deborah shares. The

“need for a comfortable, dynamic venue to gather, work, and

dine,” was the order. That seed became a reality when, scouting

locations a few years later, Brady Wood glanced up at the top

oor of Highland Park Village above Starbucks and Chanel

at what would ultimately become the club’s future location.

Meanwhile, while living in London, the Scotts were actively

joining and researching successful private social club models

such as 5 Hertford Street, Annabel’s, The Arts Club, and the

seven London Soho Houses.

“The Arts Club in particular is a favorite of ours and has

an amazing permanent collection in addition to many rotating

exhibits each year, some solo and other grouped by gender,

medium, or subject. We were also inspired by their interior

design—comfortable, chic and elegant—a perfect background

for their art to shine.” Which makes sense, as the founders are

immersed in the arts. “[Art] was a strong driver in the overall

decor of the club and ensuring that the spaces felt personal.”

Four people can be three people too many in decision

making, so the couples tapped John Runyon of Runyon Arts

to curate the permanent collection as well as design and

implement a multi-layered art program. “We’ve been working

with John since the 90s when we owned the Green Room

and he had his gallery in Deep Ellum next door,” says Megan

Wood. “Working with someone we knew and trusted was a no

brainer,” she notes.

77 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Occupying the entire top oor, with three private dining

rooms and event spaces, four bars and lounge areas, an outdoor

patio (with a developing artist-inspired water feature by Sarah

Crowner), and fresh views of Dallas, the club is vast and needed

a lot of art. Knowing both couples for many years, Runyon

combined their “collective energy” in his edits: “It was clear to

me that an

austere or minimal art presentation was not going

to work for this group or

this setting. Their opinions and input

were integral to the development of this

collection.”

Park House’s art program is essentially three-pronged. The

permanent collection boasts commissioned works by Dallas-

based artists Nic Nicosia, hanging in the main dining room,

and Francisco Moreno, who painted the ceiling in the Peacock

Parlour along with a salon-style wall that includes works from

local artists and gallerists. “We denitely wanted to have

something that represented Dallas and a connection to the

local art community. Danielle Kimzey was my neighbor and

I used to babysit her. Allison V. Smith took the photograph

Giant, 2016, which had been the Coyote Drive-In that Brady

owned,” says Megan. Other local artists include John Pomara,

Paul Winker, and Nan Coulter, whose August 21, 2017, a portrait

of Margaret McDermott watching the eclipse, is bound to spur

recollections of the late grande dame of the arts.

Left to right: Nic Nicosia, AM PM II, 2018, graphite on Arches cold press;

Nic Nicosia, 24 Hours (Second by Second), 5.29–6.27.2018, graphite on paper.

The second part of the program includes loaned work

from club members and galleries, of which Runyon says he is

particularly proud. “We requested specic works

that t the

curated program and they all graciously accepted. Now the

lenders and club members can share and enjoy the artwork in

this special environment, while providing visibility to these

works. This adds another element of camaraderie and intimacy

to the club.” The loans include Yasumasa Morimura’s Self

Portrait (Actress) After Marlene Dietrich 1 from The Rachofsky

Collection; a suite of six screen prints by Ed Ruscha, News,

Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews & Dues from the collection of Christen

and Derek Wilson, produced by the artist in the early 70s during

an extended stay in London; and Lisa and John Runyon’s Soft

Ground Etchings: Lavender, Coral, Yellow by Bruce Nauman. On

loan from the Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Tony Oursler’s Cam-

Camo-Crush is the observing eye that greets you when you step

off the elevators.

The third part of the arts program is the rotating exhibition

space in the hallway leading to the club’s offerings. It’s here

amid the dust and progress of pre-opening that I meet London’s

Charlie Billingham—the inaugural featured artist. At rst

glance, Billingham is someone who one might imagine shyly

observes the wry humor in life. Quiet, and at once kind, his

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Top, from left: Charlie Billingham, Mrs. Pepys, 2018, oil on linen; Charlie Billingham, A Well Deserved Break, 2018, oil on linen; Charlie Billingham, Blockbuster, 2018,

oil on linen; Charlie Billingham, Untitled, 2018, oil on linen. Courtesy of the artist and Travesía Cuatro. Bottom, from left: Charlie Billingham, Royal Rumble, 2018,

oil on linen; Charlie Billingham, No Offence, 2018, oil on linen; Charlie Billingham, Strawberry Split, 2018, oil on linen. Courtesy of the artist and Travesía Cuatro.

79 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

in Park House are from sections of drawings and prints by

Thomas Rowlandson—I was looking at crowds and scenes of

ghting and brawling.” In evidence, sts in Royal Rumble, and

what appears to be a boxing match in No Offence, display such

fracases, as does the scufe in Tight Rope where an arm thrusts

into one side of the canvas to pull the braid of a man who

runs out the other side. Sagging britches beneath big bellies

and other exaggerations in A Well Deserved Break, Strawberry Split,

and Untitled, are equally lively. “Paintings, especially ones made

out of oil paint, are made of fat, so the more corpulent parts of

the body lend themselves as good subjects,” expands the artist.

“We see Park House as a place to nurture art talent through

our rotating exhibitions,” Deborah Scott says. “Charlie is a

humble, sweet guy who came into the middle of a construction

zone with dust ying, went to Home Depot to buy his supplies,

and got to work over a three-day period to stamp the walls

and position his art. We then put his works back in storage,

covered the walls in foam wrap, he returned to London, and

construction started again. When we were ready to reveal his

art, it was a quick transformation from a dusty hall into the

beautiful space you see now with the marble oors and his

stunning, humorous works to welcome you into Park House.”

The artist will “return to Dallas for a celebration of the space

and the exhibit.”

Runyon concludes, “Park House is a place to socialize,

work, and relax. In total, the collection

provides a high

energy, multimedia backdrop for all of these scenarios.

There

are discovery opportunities throughout the entire club. The

artwork

projects playful sexy sizzle in certain locations and

quiet, non-objective respite in others.” P

practice is inspired by Regency-era satirical prints.

Choosing this artist for the inaugural exhibition, Runyon

reveals, “I saw reproductions of Charlie’s work in digital and

print publications, but the real impact came from

a rst-hand

interaction with the works at an art fair I attended in New

York last year. Charlie block-stamped the walls

and installed

his work directly on top of his repeating imagery.” Shown by

Travesía Cuatro in Madrid, “I had never

seen anything like

it. The English connection and the playfulness seemed just

perfect for the inaugural Park House exhibit and our Park

House art committee agreed.” Deborah Scott concurs, “I loved

that he was from London, the inspiration for much of the

Park House experience, and that he works in such a dramatic,

colorful way.”

Billingham’s early stimulus took the form of eight George

Cruikshank prints, “from his Monstrosities series, which show

groups of people in London in the early 19th century in

exaggerated fashionable clothes. They were hung around the

house and from a young age they had a great impression on

me.” Though, “It wasn’t until later in my life when I studied at

the Royal Academy Schools that I started to research and look

into them and other prints from that period in more detail, and

to use sections in my art.”

For Park House, Billingham block-printed the corridor with

painted bows reminiscent of a formal living room atop which

the paintings are mounted. “There is a long history of using

bows and ribbons as motifs in wall decorations and I believe it

works well with paintings.”

Not at all akin to the outsized personalities cropped and

distorted in his works, he illuminates, “Most of the paintings

Charlie Billingham, Tight Rope, 2018, oil on linen. Courtesy of the artist and Travesía Cuatro.