Lester and Penelope Marks

HOUSTON, TEXAS–Lester Marks and his wife, physician Dr. Penelope Gonzalez Marks, are among the most active collectors in the state. Their art-packed West University home features avant-garde installations and vitrine-like rooms that resemble the Cornell boxes Lester so assiduously acquires. The Marks Collection boasts in-depth holdings of Anselm Kiefer and Houston’s two-time Whitney Biennial-exhibited Trenton Doyle Hancock, as well as artworks by Richard Long, Tony Oursler, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Radcliffe Bailey, and Ruth Asawa. Recently, Lester has pivoted to focus on social-justice art. He says of the talents currently on display at Casa Marks: “I would call attention to a handful of blue-chip artists whom I find to be inspirational, such as Kerry James Marshall, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nick Cave, Titus Kaphar, Amoako Boafo, Otis Quaicoe, Jammie Holmes (Dallas), Deborah Roberts (Austin), Angelbert Metoyer (Houston), Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Michael Ray Charles (Houston), Clementine Hunter, Banksy, Nathaniel Donnett (Houston), Robert Pruitt (Houston reared), and Betye Saar.”

ART:

Joseph Cornell, Anselm Kiefer, Richard Long, Tony Oursler, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Radcliffe Bailey, Ruth Asawa, Kerry James Marshall, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nick Cave, Titus Kaphar, Amoako Boafo, Otis Quaicoe, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Michael Ray Charles, Clementine Hunter, Bansky, Robert Pruitt, Betye Saar

CV:

Texas’ most active collectors; regularly hosts receptions and benefits for museums, nonprofits, artists. Among the earliest acquirers of Trenton Doyle Hancock, Angelbert Metoyer, Deborah Roberts, Jamme Holmes.