Brooklyn Bowl!

19 April 2012
by Art Rubynstein

You never know what to expect from the Brooklyn Museum Gala. Jennifer Rubell dominated one year with her edible masterworks, Takashi Murakami brought out Marc Jacobs and Anna Wintour with his own presence, and Sarah Jessica Parker made a quick cameo last year. This year’s big event honored great female artists with announcement of the establishment of the Sackler Family Endowed Curator in Feminist on premises. And of course guests enjoyed their usual, centerpiece dominant dinner. Here are the highlights:

Artists at the dinner tables: Kiki Smith, Dustin Yellin, Judy Chicago, Aurel Schmidt, and honorees Martha Rosler, Amy Sillman, and Mickalene Thomas.

Other notables: Elizabeth A. Sackler, David Maupin, Gloria Steinem, Annelise Peterson, and yes, Connie Chung.

Most respectful celebrity chair: Brooklyn native Marisa Tomei who brought her own reading glasses for the auction part of the evening and respectfully waited in line to get her dinner assignment. “This whole place looks like a dream,” she told us.

Best centerpieces: Double sided mirror paintings by Natalie Frank, and Saya Woolfalk’s performance art infused table.

Dinner menu: Pan-seared poussin with purple potatoes (!) and black truffle vinaigrette salad.

Number of after party guests: 1,000

Number of Stefano Tonchi sightings at the W sponsored after party: 0

Something New and Something Borrowed: The New Museum Gala Aimed Big

12 April 2012
by Art Rubynstein

New Museum changed up venues for its 35th Anniversary Gala, moving on up to the Cipriani Wall Street address this year. The event’s best ever crowd came out for the bellinis, special performance by spectacularly named The Pimps of Joytime from Brooklyn, and face time with more A-list artists than we could count. 560 patrons occupied tables on Wall Street and $1.6 million was raised. Here are the highlights:

Hosts: Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis, and Saul Dennison

Big artist alert: honoree Paul McCarthy, George Condo, Elizabeth Peyton, Roni Horn, Marilyn Minter, Dasha Shiskin, Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Aaron Young, Tom Sachs, Rob Pruitt, Lisa Yuskavage and Matvey Levenstein, Lorna Simpson, Hanna Liden, Dustin Yellin, Cecily Brown, Wangechi Mutu, Tony Oursler, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Will Cotton, Sue Williams, and many more.

SAG members in attendance: Honorary co-chair Chloe Sevigny and Leelee Sobieski

CFDA members in attendance: Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Adam Kimmel, and jean loving Francisco Costa.

Most popular designer of the night: Costa’s work for Calvin Klein. Nora Zehetner, Amanda Brooks, Anh Duong, Yvonne Force Villareal, Minter, Olympia Scarry, and Piper Marshall all wore his designs to the dinner.

Most fascinating accessory: Massimiliano Gioni’s Mickey Mouse like gloves.

Runner-up: Sue Hostetler’s Barbara Kruger blessed column.

Best possible parting gift: Carsten Höller’s mini-version of Giant Triple Mushroom sculpture made especially for the gala. $5K was the minimum bid for the piece.

Best auction item: A George Condo portrait commission, a first of its kind for the artist.

2012 Brucennial: High Quality & High Capacity

01 March 2012
by Art Rubynstein

This year’s Bruce High Quality Foundation and Vito Schnabel’s Brucennial billed itself as the “The single most important art exhibition in the history of the world. Ever.” And judging from attendance it didn’t disappoint. 376 names (famous, semi-famous, and total unknowns) participated in this year’s salon style extravaganza at 159 Bleecker and thousands more paid tribute at the opening. Here are the highlights:

Capacity crowd: “We’re expecting 15,000 people tonight,” said Vito Schnabel at 6:20 PM. Exactly three minutes later, the joint was filled to capacity.

Artist cameos: Francesco Clemente, Aurel Schmidt, Dustin Yellin, Terence Koh, Danny Fuller, Michael Avedon, and maybe 200 others.

Other notables: Mary-Kate Olsen, Bob Colacello, Yvonne Force Villareal, Casey Fremont, Waris Ahluwalia, Bill Powers and Cynthia Rowley

Most recognizable wall pieces: Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and George Condo

Best curatorial advice: “Julian Schnabel told me to blow up my work to 70 by 70 inches, and so I did,” Danny Fuller on of the show’s big highlight pieces.

Best rain outfit: Terence Koh’s clear raincoat finished off his signature white fur.

Most notable sculpture: Dustin Yellin’s first floor centerpiece. “They told me recent, and I chose this baby,” he said.

Best parting gifts: “Harderer. Betterer. Fasterer. Strongerer.” scarlet BHQF tees..

Best indications that people are having fun: More beer can recycling bins than we could count.

Best homage to the Hirst Spot Challenge: Why…a Hirst spot painting! Though someone named Victoria Campbell claimed it as her own with a pencil signature.

Dustin Yellin’s New Domain

29 January 2012
by Art Rubynstein

Dustin Yellin had a big day on Saturday. “We moved in to the new studio and hosted this party all in one crazy night,” smiled the artist. Of course, Yellin not talking about ANY random studio. Artist’s new space on Pioneer & King in Red Hook might be the biggest, most exciting, new artist space right now in New York…or anywhere for that matter. It’s so huge that it took three co-hosts in Bob Colacello, Vito Schnabel and MGMT’s lead man Andrew VanWyngarden to host the intimate dinner opening for the space and launch of Yellin’s intriguing Intercourse magazine.

But first back to the studio…A former rail repair station might just be the Brooklyn’s answer to the P.S. 1 thanks to it’s size, location, and Yellin’s intended commitment to helping nourish other young talents. The artist also took the opportunity to unveil his epic 24000-pound triptych inspired by Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and guests like Aby Rosen, Sybil Yurman, and Dasha Zhukova, took the massive work in wonder. Even Yellin’s own mom flew in from Hawaii for the unveiling. Others like the entire crew from MGMT enjoyed the meatball and pasta family style buffet, their new surroundings, and of course the Art History Astrology section of Intercourse. And Colacello (pictured) happily discovered his self-portrait amidst all the action.

Young & Tough

08 May 2011
by Art Rubynstein

Aaron Young opened his anticipated Built Tough showcase on Saturday at Bortolami and he didn’t disappoint. His Americana themed works ventured where the artist hasn’t gone before: full scale entrancing paintings, polished youth propaganda sculptures, and meaningful prints. He had plenty of support during the weekend as he co-hosted his opening and party with Nate Lowman at Jane , who also had a fair amount of stars and stripes in his show.

Young supporters: Jane Holzer, Tom Hooper and Tara Subkoff, Richard Phillips and Josephine Meckseper, Terry Richardson, Dustin Yellin and Linda Yablonsky.
Most supportive art girlfeind award: Young’s favorite woman, Laure Heriard Dubreuil who’s always smiling and wearing better clothes than others in the room
Guest who most resembled one of Young’s sculptures: James Franco
Jane hotel patrons in Young’s support: Waris Ahluwalia and Vito Schnabel among others
Best surprise: DJ Aziz Ansari taking over the bash

Big Time in Brooklyn

29 April 2011
by Art Rubynstein

Brooklyn Museum’s Artists Ball always manages to surprise and amuse on many different levels and Wednesday’s gala was no exception. The focus this years was on the local artists (or rather the astounding dinner tables they each curated for the evening.) And oh yeah, Sarah Jessica Parker and Liv Tyler showed up as well. Here are the highlights:

Brief but welcome cameo: Sarah Jessica Parker who schmoozed for 15 minutes before rushing out to a Broadway opening in midtown to join her husband.

Most unlikely best friends: Liv Tyler and Dustin Yellin, who’ve known each other forever. “And everytime I come to visit Dustin in his Brooklyn studio, I feel like I’m on vacation,” smiled Tyler. “It’s all very chill here.”

Best table installation: That honor also goes to Yellin, who managed to create a gorgeous, peaceful cube series just for the event. “Hopefully these things will go somewhere great or join a museum collection,” the artist told us.

Artists galore: Mickalene Thomas, Fred Tomaselli, Fred Wilson, Lorna Simpson, Shinique Smith, Sara VanDerBeek, Aleksandar Duravcevic, Valerie Hegarty among many others

Most welcome random guest: One of the Winklevoss twins (you tell us which one was it!)

Most appealing suit: Bo Joseph printed black and white sensations

Best moment: A guest accidentally broke a glass right in front of Liv Tyler during the cocktail hour. Her response? “Mazel Tov!”

Photos – Nicholas Hunt / PatrickMcMullan.com