Children from local London schools led a parade to celebrate 10 years of Tate Modern with Tracey Emin, Sir Paul Smith and others.

Tickets are still available for Sunday’s Campari bash featuring Art Production Fund’s curated show starring Kalup Linzy.

There always comes a time for the very first dinner party, and ART RUBY’s premiere big bash took place this week in New York. We happily hosted an evening at The Lion to celebrate Richard Phillips, one of our very favorite artists who’s having one hell of a spring. Phillips co-curated Your History is Not Our History exhibit with David Salle (that closes at Haunch of Venison on Friday) and is part of the group showing at the Swiss Institute that will unveil on May 5.  Both Salle and our honoree made it out to West Village last night and even playfully posed with a custom crystallized Moët et Chandon bottle that celebrated their superior wrangling skills and many sleepless hours. Phillips’ better half Josephine Meckseper (who’s a big hit at The Whitey Biennial this time around) was of course there to support her favorite man.

In fact, it was a big night for golden artist couples like Rachel Feinstein and John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage and Matvey Levinstein all came by to toast good friend Phillips with pink champagne, lobster bisque, pan seared sea bass and filet mignon. Others gallery certified guests at the tables of yet unopened eatery included Tom Sachs and Gagosian’s Sarah Hoover, Sean Landers,  Les Rogers, and frequent Art Box contributor Todd DiCiurcio who was accompanied by his lovely wife Megan. There was table hopping, appetizer sharing, and lots of mutual admiration.

Beyond the artists and the gallerinas, other ART RUBY supporters included actress Melissa George with director husband Claudio Dabed,  Jimmy Choo czarina Tamara Mellon, Waris Ahluwalia, Emma Hall, Casey Fremont, Lorenzo Martone, designers Claude Morais and Brian Wolk (of Ruffian), Prabal Gurung, and wild card dinner seatmate Oksana Baiul. Yes, the one that beat Nancy Kerrigan when you still owned a Walkman in 1994.  Artistically inclined surfer and model pair of Danny Fuller and Tori Praver fully enjoyed their dessert of Art Ruby velvet cupcakes and Phillips’ sweet toast to his buddies and our little site.  Until the next dinner and honoree, we hope you enjoy our favorite images from last night’s event.

Over 600 members of the NY art community rallied together at Sotheby’s for a silent auction in support of rebuilding Haiti.

The Armory Show opens this week in New York! An advance look in photos – of 56 works that galleries are bringing to the annual fair.

Opening a Kiki Smith exhibit at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art seems like the obvious choice for the Brooklyn Museum.

Photos from the Cynthia Rowley party at Gagosian Bookstore in New York.

Forget the ultra, super duper VIP preview at the Basel. Nothing gets more exclusive than a Thomas Keller catered party at Jeff Koons‘ West 29th street studio.  The mega Chelsea star hosted the event to celebrate his collaboration with BMW, making him the 17th artist to join the illustrious list of Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Calder, and the latest creative mind to receive a big check: Olafur Eliasson. Sure, Keller’s glittered macaroons were exquisite and this collaboration thing is nice and all but we were just happy to get a sneak peak at Koons’ exciting factory. Art Box and other recognizable faces like Klaus Biesenbach, Yvonne Force Villareal, Ingrid Sichy and Sandy Brant got to see plenty of Bettie Pages and Popeyes, all meticulously organized with color palettes for some of dozens of Koons land assistants.  The most colorful and striking image of Miss Page was almost ready to be shipped to a private buyer (perhaps one of the Russian collectors circling the room like an eagle) and the rest are due at Jeff’s next big show that may well be more than sixteen months away.  Until then, clear your walls. These canvases are not for amateurs.

© BILLY FARRELL/PatrickMcMullan.com

MoMA will host an evening benefit to celebrate the opening of The 2010 Armory Show on Wed., March 3, 2010, from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Paul Laster’s photos of Art Basel Miami Beach.

It took us a whole week to process four fairs, fifty-six events, and hundreds of faces we’ve encountered in Miami during this year’s Basel. Here’s your complete A-Z guide to places, works, and names you should keep in mind until the next craze fest kicks in.

Altmejd, David. The Canadian (!) delivered and we all wanted to keep staring at that strange Glasswalker mutant.  Well done, Andrea Rosen.

Ben & Jerry’s. Yes, the ice-cream maker finally joined the performance art derby by having thousands of people peacefully dancing on the beach to a John Lennon number curated by Natalie Kovac. Cherry Garcia lovers were rewarded for their efforts with sweets.

Chow, Eva and Michael. Most diners went into for lobster with ginger and left with a pocketful of business cards. Deals were made, every big name artist paid a visit to a brand new eatery, and Larry hosted his own big dinner on Mr. Chow premises.

Deitch, Jeffrey. Sure, we enjoyed the booth (Shepard Fairey and Miranda July were very strong) but it seemed like everyone had an even better time at Jeffrey’s Santigold concert at The Raleigh. Could the music promoter be his next big job title?

Efron, Zac. Yes, the High School Musical icon made it to Basel thanks to Richard Phillips’ Five Most Wanted Men series. It was sold almost immediately.

Fernández, Teresita. One of Maupin’s brightest stars and a Miami native had a strong week: cocktail party in Setai in her honor, strong reviews, and good Chelsea show momentum.

Geers, Kendell. That “F&%!” disco ball was pretty cool to look at.

Hirst, Damien. You might have heard of this fella.

Irwin, Robert. Two strong works (at Pace and White Cube). At 81, he can still knock it out of the park.

Jackson, Michael. The gloved one’s presence was felt but our favorite tribute had to be David LaChapelle’s at Tony Shafrazi. Elle McPherson was interested too. Kehinde Wiley finished close second with his massive painting.

Kjartansson, Ragnar. This Icelander has a difficult name and his God installation at MOCA was far away but he stole that group show with cheery, big band ease.

Louboutin, Christian. The happy French cobbler was all over Basel. He went to the fairs, ate BBQ at Craig Robbins’ mansion, and entertained guests at the Mattia Bonetti blowout at The Standard.

Mayet, Jorge. His brilliant floating Cuban hut named Deseo was inescapable, even for those of us working on our tan instead of clocking in hours at the Convention Center or Pulse.

Navarro, Iván. The Chilean photogenic man on a rise led a strong group of Latin American artists. His neon sculptures were spotted in several galleries but the Distrito 4 piece was our favorite.

Okay Mountain. The Austin based art group opened up a hilarious and totally made-up store in the middle of Pulse selling everything from lottery tickets to Diet Pickles to ATM Poker.  Nothing cost more than $8,000.

Penny, Evan. That crazy, stretched sculpture simply stole the show. And $300,000 suddenly seemed like a good deal.

Quinn, Marc. Penny might have got the most digital camera photos out of his two sculptures, but Quinn’s creations dominated the fair by appearing in seven booths and attracting plenty of foreign interest.

Ryden, Mark. Paul Kasmin hit a $900,000 jackpot with his portrait of that curious, big-eyed girl.

Stallone, Sylvester.  Yes that was really him hawking off  $50,000 paintings at Galerie Gmurzynska. Steve Wynn liked them and your aunt liked Rocky’s autograph.

Toledano, Philip. The photographer’s “America: The Gift Shop” highlights were our undisputed favorites at Scope. Remember his name.

Uffner, Rachel. We thoroughly appreciated Sara Greenberger Rafferty’s prints at the Orchard Street based gallery booth.

Viktor & Rolf. The ingenious Dutch fashion duo hit Basel for the first time and served caviar at The Webster. However, they failed to deliver one of those awesome holed out dresses to the South Beach.

W South Beach. This was the first Basel for W and they didn’t disappoint by hosting up to five events nightly, having Peter Brant poolside, Naomi Campbell in the lobby, and Vito Schnabel on the balcony at all times.

Xu, Zen. Plus Xiang Liqing, Xue Song, and Yang Fudong at Shanghart. High stakes Chinese art is here to stay and the super gallery was full force in Miami with multiple Shanghai based superstars.

Yablonsky, Linda. She can hit the clubs with the best of them. Did you see those moves at 2 AM at Aby Rosen’s dinner after-party at the W? We sure did.

Zipp, Thomas. The German showed in eight galleries, sold more than most, and proved that he can rock out at Basel here and in Switzerland.

Tracey Emin’s “Only God Knows I’m Good” at Lehmann Maupin features interviews with Vincent Fremont and Glenda Bailey.