NEW YORK — Peter Norton would never divulge his favorite contemporary artist. Why would he?
Many collectors probably would follow his lead, and the billionaire computer entrepreneur and Museum of Modern Art board member would have less to choose from. His modern art collection is said to be one of the biggest private collections in the world.
Norton and fiancée Gwen Adams opened their art-filled Upper West Side apartment on Thursday evening for the trunk show of Ronni Simon, a fashion jeweler and friend.
Simon, whose sister-in-law is musician Carly Simon, hand-crochets sterling silver and gold-filled wire into bracelets, necklaces and earrings with an artisan feel. Simon, an artist, discovered jewelry when she was looking for a new medium. “I see it as wearable art,” said Simon, who came in from her home on Martha’s Vineyard. “It’s like mermaid jewelry. The crochet can look like a fishnet.”
Simon uses colored stones such as coral, rock crystal and rose quartz in her pieces, which range from $100 to $500. Guests were scooping them up for holiday gifts.
Before, during and after shopping, guests toured the apartment and were supplied with a layout and map of the artwork, which is found even in the powder room.
Norton, who often has guests, changes the art every August, working with a curator. Notable among the 102 pieces listed on the map are: Margaret Bourke-White’s “DC-Flying Over New York,” on the front door; Kaz Oshiro’s “Pink Marshall Stack Wall” made of six Marshall amplifiers painted fuchsia, in the living room, and Jeanne Dunning’s “The Toe Sucking Video,” which hangs over the commode in the powder room.
“I don’t have a favorite, but if I did, it might be this,” said Norton, going over to Teresita Fernandez’s “Twice,” a sculpture of two opalescent cubes stacked on top of one another.