Press Kit - The Brant Foundation

Transcription

April 15, 2011
April 14, 2011
Josh Smith in Venice And Connecticut
Carol Vogel
The New York painter Josh Smith calls Peter Brant “the guy with the eye.” It’s an apt phrase for a well-known talent spotter and dealmaker who was in his 20s when he met Warhol and has
since amassed one of the largest holdings of work by that Pop Art master. (Mr. Brant also owns
Interview Magazine, which Warhol founded in 1969.)
But his holdings extend far beyond that, with dozens of examples of paintings, drawings,
photographs and sculptures by art stars like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons and Cindy
Sherman. Two years ago he opened the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, an appointment-only
space in Greenwich, Conn.
Right now the place has been quietly taken over by Mr. Smith, who, with the help of Urs Fischer
and Julian Schnabel — two artists who have shown there before — is getting ready for an
exhibition of his paintings that opens there on May 7. The show will feature some canvases that
Mr. Brant owns and some Mr. Smith is painting on site. “I am trying to work out of my comfort zone, making really large paintings — a few over 30 feet square — on canvas,” he said, speaking by telephone from the foundation. “I’m also taking advantage of the perfect light and huge open space that has ceilings 25 or 30 feet tall.”
Mr. Smith’s work is colorful and incorporates elements like abstract swirls and scribbles along with recognizable natural objects like fish and leaves. Some of his paintings feature his name
written in different ways.
http://nytimes.com/2011/04/15/arts/design/josh-smith-brant-foundation-venice-biennale.html
Mr. Brant explained that about four years ago he started buying Mr. Smith’s work, including an 18-panel collage that was part of “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus,” the 2009 exhibition of emerging artists at the New Museum. “I love Josh’s paintings and also some of his printed
works, like the books,” he said.
Known for his prolificacy, Mr. Smith has filled his Manhattan studio with stacks and stacks of
paintings and collages.
For the exhibition at the Brant Foundation he has also been painting on cardboard, because he
likes the idea of creating things that are disposable. “It takes the commodity out of art,” he said. (The idea of the ephemeral isn’t a new one for Mr. Smith, who painted on the walls of the former dealer Jeffrey Deitch’s Long Island City space right before it closed last year.) “It’s purely about looking, and to take pressure off the idea of art as object,” Mr. Smith said.
He is also busy planning several projects for this summer’s Venice Biennale. Among them is a
design for the facade of the Palace of Exhibitions (previously known as the Italian Pavilion). An
1895 colonnaded structure, it is the first thing visitors see when they walk through the Giardini di
Castello’s iron gates, into where the national pavilions are located. It is also here that the artistic
director presents a special exhibition, and this year’s show is titled “ILLUMInations.”
For that show, which includes the work of many artists, Mr. Smith is toying with the idea of
putting the word Illumi-nations (the title of the exhibition, but with a dash that splits it in a way
that highlights the word nations) in large blue letters across the building. (At the last Biennale,
John Baldessari took over the facade with image of sky, sea and palm trees.) To some Mr.
Smith’s contribution might feel like urban scrawl, but he described his vision as “more of a mannered style of graffiti.”
SELLING VLAMINCK AND ‘LIZ’
In 1994, when the auction market was in the doldrums, one savvy telephone bidder snapped up
“Paysage de Banlieue,” a colorful Fauvist Vlaminck landscape from 1905-06, at Christie’s in
New York for $6.8 million. It was the highest price of the evening.
While the name of that buyer was never revealed, it was widely thought to have been Theodore
J. Forstmann, the leveraged buyout pioneer. Mr. Forstmann has since sold the painting. In 2002,
it was bought by the hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, who has now decided to sell it at
Christie’s on May 4.
Over the years, Mr. Cohen has played nearly every role in the auction world: buyer, seller,
investor and collector. Highlights of his holdings were even exhibited in Sotheby’s 10th-floor
galleries two years ago, accompanied by a lavish, hardbound catalog.
This season, Mr. Cohen will be among the most high-profile sellers. While he declined to
comment on his decision to auction the Vlaminck, experts familiar with his holdings say he has
been buying more contemporary works recently. Christie’s expects the Vlaminck will sell for $18 million to $25 million.
“In recent seasons we’ve seen the demand from collectors worldwide for prime period Fauvre pictures increase exponentially,” said Conor Jordan, who runs Christie’s Impressionist and
modern art department in New York. “These people are attracted to the combination of modernity and accessibility.”
It’s not the only painting Mr. Cohen is selling next month. Phillips de Pury & Company is auctioning a 1963 Warhol, “Liz No. 5,” one of the artist’s images of Elizabeth Taylor, which is
expected to sell for $20 million when it goes on the block on May 12. Four years ago the actor
Hugh Grant sold another portrait of Taylor executed the same year for $23.5 million.
PERFORMA COMMISSIONS 5
To celebrate the latest edition of the performance-art biennial Performa, its curator and creator,
RoseLee Goldberg, has commissioned five artists to create works for Performa 11, which will
run from Nov. 1 to Nov. 20.
“One of the underlying themes will be the issue of language and translation,” Ms. Goldberg said. “There is often a misunderstanding about what is performance art and what is theater.”
Among the artists who have received commissions are Shirin Neshat, whose new work,
“Overruled,” will present live actors and projections in a courtroom scene based on “The Last Word,” a 2003 video project by the artist.
The work of the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson will also be featured. He received a great
deal of attention two years ago when he represented his country at the Venice Biennale, where he
created one painting a day for three months, each one of his friend Pall Haukur Bjornsson, an
Icelandic performance artist, wearing a Speedo bathing suit. For Performa Mr. Kjartansson has
created “Bliss,” a six-hour performance in which the final aria of Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” will be performed over and over again with five singers in period costumes set against a lavish backdrop.
Other artists creating works are the team Elmgreen and Dragset, Iona Rozeal Brown and Guy
Maddin. Ms. Goldberg said there would be more commissions to come.
April 2011
April 19, 2011
Art World ‘Bad Boy’ Josh Smith Is Peter Brant’s New Protégé
Rising art star Josh Smith, famous for painting his name over and over, obsessively, on abstract
canvases, has a well-considered strategy for success. “The best thing I could do for myself would
be to not work. Just go to more cocktail parties and smile more. Go to more fashion shows,” he said.
Arrogant? Sure. Wrong? No. What’s interesting about Mr. Smith (and he knows it) is that talent at this specific moment in his career is–almost–secondary. Any art that’s been bought and displayed by Charles Saatchi (circa 2006), shown by Jeffrey Deitch (2007) and, as of next
month, installed by Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour in the collectors’ private museum is, if not a masterpiece, at least a solid market play. For Mr. Smith, for good or ill, fame is coming like
a freight train. “He seems to be having a particularly good moment,” said Lisa Varghese, his dealer and a director of the Luhring Augustine gallery, in an understatement.
On a recent rainy afternoon, dozens of bright, messy Smith paintings and collages were stacked
up against the walls and in piles on the floor of Mr. Brant’s stone barn-turned-museum in
Greenwich, Conn. The collector’s estate is large and lush;; polo ponies play in the paddocks
adjacent to the Brant Foundation Art Study Center. For the past three weeks, the 35-year-old
painter has been creating and installing works for his solo exhibition that will open at the bucolic
space on May 7.
http://observer.com/2011/culture/art-world-bad-boy-josh-smith-peter-brants-new-protege
Relatively unknown until recently, the Tennessee transplant has abruptly become a darling on the
New York art scene. His exhibition in Greenwich is just a precursor to a bigger fuss–he’s contributing a large grid of collages to the Venice Biennale and decorating the facade of its
Palace of Exhibitions with large vinyl letters in a show opening in June.
Mr. Smith moved slowly around the gallery in a white T-shirt and suspenders, often tearing at
the paper in his collages or instructing an assistant on how to glue them together. He is short and
a little soft-bodied, talkative, with a nasal braggadocio that betrays his irreverent, occasionally
cocky, demeanor. “I knew I was one of the best–going to be one of the best–artists, so I came to
New York,” he said of his decision to come here in 1998.
Mr. Brant prides himself on his Pied Piper reputation for spotting new talent and leading others
to it. “You have to remember that I asked Josh to do the show two years ago, and Urs [Fischer] three and a half years ago. Now Urs is recognized as one of the best contemporary artists in
America. Josh has the Venice Biennale,” is in talks for some shows in California and has a major commission from Dakis Joannou in Greece.
It’s no coincidence that the exhibition will also expose his work to important collectors just in
time for the May contemporary art auctions, potentially raising his prices there. Mr. Smith didn’t do too well at Phillips de Pury last year: Of the four pieces he had on the block, two didn’t sell and one fell below its circa-$15,000 estimate. This year, he has two works in its May 13 sale, a
2007 painting estimated disingenuously low (it’s a way to manufacture bidding fever) at $8,000 to $12,000, and a pair of collages at about $25,000.
The Brant exhibition will open doors worldwide for Mr. Smith. “It’s acknowledged that [Brant] is very well connected both within the art world and the press, so I’m sure this exhibition will certainly make a splash,” Ms. Varghese said. Artist Urs Fischer’s exhibition there last year, which featured a melting wax model of Mr. Brant and a giant pit tearing through the gallery’s new floor, drew the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Val Kilmer, Jeff Koons and a handful of
influential art collectors, curators and critics.
Mr. Smith has been working quietly for 13 years. But he didn’t attract much attention in the U.S. until 2009, when he had a large collage in the New Museum’s “Younger Than Jesus” exhibition. It was later bought by Mr. Brant. The following year, he painted a series of pieces directly onto
the walls at Deitch Studios in Long Island City, challenging notions of art ownership and
commodification. It doesn’t hurt that he keeps company with other art-world “bad boys,” as Ms. Varghese put it, like Harmony Korine and Urs Fischer. Mr. Smith worked as an art handler at
Luhring before his other employer, the artist Christopher Wool, got him signed on there. (The
New York Times‘ Roberta Smith has dubbed some of his work “terrific.”)
But not all of the subsequent attention has been positive. Mr. Smith has been criticized for his
intentionally sloppy aesthetic, which has been called amateurish and even downright ugly. And
his prolific output–for the Deitch show he created 47 paintings in just three and a half days–
suggests to some a flippant attitude toward his work.
And the carelessness is part of the message, Ms. Varghese said. “He treats the paintings and collages a little more roughly than people are used to. There’ll be a stack of collages in his studio stuck together, or paintings with a footstep on them,” she said. “He’s trying to take away the preciousness of it all.”
“A lot of artists go after me, hate on me,” Mr. Smith said. “I really just do it effortlessly and I don’t care, and people can pick up on that.” Apparently he’s not too worried about this exhibition, either. “I’ve done every big show and lots of galleries, so I don’t view this as a big thing at all,” he said. The process was all very casual, with Mr. Brant, “a collector I’d met 20 times,” first approaching the artist about the show in passing. Mr. Smith eventually thought to
invite Julian Schnabel and Mr. Fischer to come to Greenwich and advise him.
“I wanted some of Urs’ venom and casualness toward destruction injected into my work,” Mr. Smith said. “And I also wanted Julian’s casualness toward scale.” Mr. Schnabel encouraged Mr. Smith to take advantage of the gallery’s double height ceiling. Mr. Smith took the advice: He’s currently at work painting a 30-by-30-foot canvas. But being one of Mr. Brant’s edgy adoptees may have its downsides. “I want to downplay the element that it’s just a bunch of guys up here with shotguns and jeeps making art shows,”
One of Mr. Smith’s friends, Hungarian painter Rita Ackermann, insisted that for all the talk, Mr. Smith is an intensely serious artist. “He’s always in the studio,” she said. “He’s the hardestworking artist I know,” echoed Mr. Brant. “You don’t have to like the work, but anyone who doesn’t see the talent there is blind.”
May 2011
May 7-8, 2011
May 7, 2011
Hating It Is a Good Sign: Peter Brant on Collecting
As a child, newsprint magnate Peter Brant collected coins. By his teen years, contemporary art
had taken over. At age 20, in 1967, he paid $5,000 for Andy Warhol's "Shot Blue Marilyn," a
Pop portrait of Marilyn Monroe that remains one of the gems of Mr. Brant's collection. He says
he learned how to collect art by befriending powerhouse dealers like Leo Castelli and watching
New York taxi tycoon Robert Scull and others built up their art holdings. Mr. Brant and his wife,
model Stephanie Seymour, show parts of their collection in their private Brant Foundation Art
Study Center in Greenwich, Conn. This week, Mr. Brant, who owns White Birch Paper Co. and
Brant Publications, discussed his collection. Below, an edited transcript.
—Kelly Crow
"I discovered Josh Smith's work about four years ago. [On Saturday, the Art Study Center will
open a show of Mr. Smith's work; visits by appointment.] He's from Tennessee, and he was
Christopher Wool's assistant for seven years. He does a mix of things, including abstract
printing, painting and collaging using different materials like wood, craft board, masonite panel,
canvas and paper. If you look at his work, you see the roots of contemporary American art: the
Abstract Expressionists, Warhol, Basquiat, Rauschenberg, Johns, even Twombly. Josh has a
tremendous knowledge of art history, but he's creating his own definitive style. Much of it
actually revolves around his own signature, in literally writing out his own name.
"I've also bought a lot of works lately by Urs Fischer, the artist who once dug a huge hole into
the floor of his dealer's gallery. He's influenced by imagery that we all see on our computers and
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703834804576301351377559400.html
in magazines. Artists consume what's around them and develop their work based on what they
see. It's not copying—it's how they understand our culture.
"One of Urs's works I bought is a 6-by-8-foot silkscreen of a 1950s portrait of the actress
Veronica Lake with a huge silver spoon placed on top of her, bisecting her face. I thought it was
extremely clever and beautifully done. It's a painting, but it's also a sculpture.
"And then I really like David Altmejd's work. He's a cross between a minimalist and a classical
sculptor of anatomy. He delves into sexuality using papier-mâché, taxidermy birds, fake
werewolf heads—he gives you a Hitchcock feeling about life. The last piece of his that I bought
is hard to describe, but it has bees in it and heads floating in space.
"The thing is, when you look at a great work of art, it has to evoke in you something that's
troublesome. If you hate it, it's probably a better indicator than if you just think it's OK. An artist
is supposed to be telling you something that's not obvious or something you've not thought about
in that way before. It can be very alienating. If you looked at my "Shot Blue Marilyn" in 1964, it
was alienating—a garish photograph of a movie star in heavy make-up. It was always great art,
but people at the time weren't ready for it. You have to be ready for it, now."
May 7, 2011
http://artinamericamagazine.com/the-scene/brant-foundation-opening/
May 9, 2011
Scene Last Night: Ganek, Koons, Brant, 35,000-Pound Teddy
By Amanda Gordon
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-09/scene-last-night-ganek-koons-naomi-campbellbrant-35-000-pound-teddy.html
May 9, 2011
http://wmagazine.com/artdesign/2011/05/peter-brandt-josh-smith-ss#slide=1
May 10, 2011
GREENWICH, Conn.— In 1776, around this season in fact, the United States broke away from
the monarchical trappings of the British Empire and its vestigial feudal systems of landed gentry
and so on. Sometimes, however, this can be easy to forget, as it was at the palatial grounds
of Peter Brant's Greenwich, Connecticut, compound over the weekend, where a sprawling,
manicured polo ground ("the game of kings") stretched out under the azure sky, and a tent flying
pennants from its poles sheltered a swarm of art-world royalty, some of whom lounged on white
pasha's pillows that were spread on the grass, eating lavish canapes. (Those who needed to
relieve themselves of the flowing champagne, meanwhile, had access to wood-paneled porta
potties furnished by the deluxe Royal Flush corporation.) Of course, the reason to be there —
aside from the chance to glimpse what, for the art journalists present, must be a preview of where
good hacks go when they die — was to see the latest exhibition at the Brant Foundation Art
Study Center, which this year is presenting an extraordinary survey of Josh Smith's paintings.
Occupying two floors of the impeccably lit, airy space, the show, called "The American Dream,"
is composed of a flood of paintings by the prolific artist, who has become famous for often
abstract works bearing his name in bold, outsize lettering — his "signature style," as the pun
goes — as well as for working at a churning pace, knocking out pieces to stack in piles and then
display in packed groups. Here all of these tendencies are on view, in work rendered on a variety
of surfaces (cardboard, linen, paper) with a variety of techniques (laser printing, brush strokes,
and combinations thereof), but the real pleasure and surprise can be found in his figurative
works.
One towering, double-height room is dominated by an enormous painting of a cartoonish
dinosaur roaring against the backdrop of an erupting volcano — a boy's dream poster writ
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/37643/peter-brants-sumptuous-fte-for-josh-smith/
extremely large, and perhaps a nod to Paul Thek's dinosaur reliquaries. Other tall walls in the
room evidence a similarly scientific iconography of fish, leaves, and snakes, creating a strange,
alluring duet between between the concerns of advanced painting and the backward-looking
discipline of natural history. Then, elsewhere, there is a series of skeleton paintings that read like
wet kisses to Munchand the German Expressionism of Nolde and Kirchner. The color sense
throughout the show evokes Matisse, but the lush brush marks are pure "bad painting." The
show, over all, was one of exceptionally good "bad painting," and generous artistic
overabundance.
The party shared that latter quality. Lambs were spitted over a fire on the side of the field as
plates of food were delivered to full tables that were quickly emptied by the well-heeled guests.
Everyone seemed rich. ("It was too much money for me," one equally well-heeled guest said to
her companion as she walked out of the tent.) Naomi Campbell was there, and so
was Christopher Walken — a neighbor — but the real power lay in the assorted art cabals that
came together for Brant's picnic, like blue-blooded houses assembling for a medieval fair, trying
to get in good with the wealthy duke (whoseWhite Birch paper company, which has seen better
days, actually owns the property).
In that spirit, Phillips de Pury was represented by Simon and Michela de Pury (together with
their new baby), CEO Bernd Runge (a former East German patriot who, ever secretive, wasn't
identified in the party photos), and Mercury Group co-owner Leonid Friedland, who bought out
the auction house in 2008. The Russian luxury magnate was joined by such countrymen as
oligarch Vladislav Doronin (Naomi Campbell's boyfriend) and heiress-cum-art-patron Maria
Baibakova.
As for the dealer camp, Larry Gagosian came with his plus-one Shala Monroque and his London
gallery director, Victoria Gelfand. Gavin Brown, whose artist Urs Fischer memorably filled
Brant's last show, rolled particularly deep, coming with girlfriend Hope Atherton and his young
children as well as artists Fischer, Jonathan Horowitz, Rob Pruitt, Peter Doig, and new
recruit Joe Bradley.Andrea Rosen appeared to come alone, but that didn't stop whispers that her
artist, David Altmejd, will be the next artist to get the Greenwich space. Curators too were in full
effect, with Francesco Bonami, Massimiliano Gioni, Klaus Biesenbach, Cecilia Alemani, Casey
Fremont, and Stacy Engman all on hand.
But perhaps the most impressive, and to some unlikely, retinue was that of Julian Schnabel.The
Picassian artist, who helped conceive Brant's exhibition space, was joined by his girlfriend,Rula
Jebreal; her daughter, Miral; his son, Vito; his daughter,Lola; and his first wife, Jacqueline. (This
unconventional family spirit may have been welcomed by this particular host, who has recently
gone through a roller-coaster of marital acrimony and reconciliation.) Finally, as usual, the
coolest guests were Richard Phillips and Josephine Meckseeper, the husband and wife artists
who sported black leather jackets and shades in Greenwhich, then doffed them a few hours later
to attend David Salle's celebratory dinner for his new Mary Boone show, even as most partyhoppers had to stop home and change.
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/37643/peter-brants-sumptuous-fte-for-josh-smith/
May 10, 2011
In Greenwich, Paintings and a Pig Roast
Marshall Heyman
GREENWICH, Conn.—You wouldn't necessarily think it because, heck, it's a schlep to get out
to Greenwich on a Saturday afternoon, but a lot of people made it up to Peter Brant's private
Foundation Art Study Center this weekend.
Maybe they came to see the exhibit—a huge collection of paintings by the young artist Josh
Smith. Mr. Brant has collected him for the last few years and invited Mr. Smith to spend the last
six weeks at the foundation creating work. (Otherwise, seeing the work is "by appointment.")
Maybe they came to enjoy the pig roast among their art friends on a sunny late spring afternoon.
Maybe they wanted to get a tiny glimpse into the private life of Mr. Brant and his wife,
Stephanie Seymour. Their estate is a few doors down, which, in this part of town, translates to
many, many acres away.
Maybe it was a little bit of all three.
Regardless, it was a lovely day for a visit to Connecticut. Mr. Brant, his family and his publicists
were expecting upward of 500 guests for the day. As the hogs roasted by a fire, many guests—
including several Schnabels, Adam Lindemann and Amalia Dayan, the Shayes, the Lynnes and
Naomi Campbell and her boyfriend, Vladislav Doronin—walked through the barnlike gallery
space. Ms. Seymour made a brief appearance, though her children with Mr. Brant spent a good
deal more time socializing.
The crowd was pretty dressed-up: suits, colorful pants, only a little bit of denim. Julian Schnabel
wore a blazer over his pajamas. Stacy Engman, the curator for the National Arts Club, wore a
black neckpiece by the French designer Claude Montana over a sparkly cocktail dress.
"What else do you wear to Connecticut?" Ms. Engman said upon arrival, just before she entered
a Porta-Potty.
Still, the art was pretty cool. There was a huge painting of a T-Rex that covered an entire wall.
You'd need a pretty big house to hang it—not that it was for sale. Clearly, Mr. Brant doesn't have
a problem in that department.
"I hung them all myself, or rather I said where they should be hung, but I never counted how
many we had," Mr. Brant explained of the work in the show. He was nibbling on a cookie that
had been emblazoned with one of Mr. Smith's paintings and baked at Sweet Lisa's Exquisite
Cakes nearby. "Josh paints with such fluidity, and he's very productive. The only thing you can
fault him for is the work is easy on the eyes. But I don't fault him for that."
Elsewhere in the gallery, Mr. Doronin was mingling with Ms. Campbell and Tony Shafrazi.
They were discussing a new show at Mr. Shafrazi's gallery of constructivist Russian film posters
Mr. Doronin has amassed.
"He bought every one that was available," said Ralph DeLuca, a private dealer who works with
Mr. Doronin.
"But the important thing is that luckily, many of them went to one person," said Mr. Doronin, the
chairman of the board of Capital Group, an investment corporation. "My original idea was to
show them in a Russian museum. But so many people want to see them here. I don't want to sell
them, I want to bring the collection to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Many people in Russia don't
know about them. Do you know the architect Zaha Hadid was even influenced by them? She is
doing my house in Moscow."
Many of the original posters, explained Mr. Shafrazi, had been destroyed by Stalin. But, he
added, they were a benchmark for many Western artists to follow, even Andy Warhol and
Donald Judd. "But we're in another art show," said Mr. Shafrazi. "We shouldn't be peddling
this."
So, instead, the group took a long, absorbed look at Mr. Smith's work, then joined the Schnabels,
the Shayes, the Lynne and eventually the actor Christopher Walken for a gander at how those
barbecued pigs turned out."
May 10, 2011
http://style.com/peopleparties/parties/scoop/newyork050911_Josh_Smith_Aaron_Young_Nate_Lowman_Openings/
May 12, 2011
Same Difference
Left: Artist Louise Lawler. Right: Architect Frank Gehry with dealer Larry Gagosian. (Except where noted, all
photos: Linda Yablonsky)
LAST WEEK, while the rest of the country obsessed over the demise of Osama bin Laden, the
New York art world fell captive to itself. Beginning with the May 4 start of the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas along the Bowery, the town soon erupted in such a torrent of openings, talks,
performances, screenings, book signings, and dinner parties it would have taken Noah’s ark to ride out the rising tide of events.
Three galleries (Matthew Marks, Nicole Klagsbrun, and Team) inaugurated new satellite spaces,
while about a hundred more opened exhibitions calculated to attract collectors in town for this
week’s contemporary auctions. Sixty dealers signed on for New York Gallery Week, actually a three-day, fraternal rush of living artists and more than a few—namely Keith Haring, Jack
Smith, Martin Kippenberger, Robert Mapplethorpe, Donald Judd, and Salvatore Scarpitta—who
have left their bodies but not the market, ravenous as ever for the new, the tried, and occasionally
the true.
Leo Villareal took the shimmering lead uptown on Wednesday at Gering & López, while Katy
Moran went dark and semifigural at Andrea Rosen in Chelsea and the Haring estate moved
into Barbara Gladstone’s Twenty-First Street space for a handshake of a show cementing the
new partnership. Central to the display were Haring’s not-for-sale sketchbooks—pages and
pages of decorative line drawings and studies of penises drawn, say the handwritten captions, in
front of places like Tiffany’s and the Museum of Modern Art. “There were some I’d rather not have seen,” admitted the artist’s mother during dinner at Del Posto. She preferred to talk instead of the protomural Haring drew for a high school show on a continuous roll of adding machine
paper—sadly missing now.
http://artforum.com/diary/id=28241
Left: SF MoMA senior curator Gary Garrels with artist Vija Celmins. Right: Artist Jasper Johns.
There was no absence of material on Thursday night, when Jasper Johns and John
Chamberlain each gave past themes and forms a spry, wisdom-with-age spring boost. An
unusually jocular Johns showed guests around Marks’s Twenty-Second Street gallery,
where Charles Ray, Terry Winters, and Vija Celmins took in recent bronze and aluminum
castings of the master’s sturdy gray numerals. “That’s what artists do when they get older,” Celmins observed. “It’s all about looking back and inching forward again.”
Over at Gagosian, the eighty-four-year-old Chamberlain sat in a wheelchair surrounded by
gleaming towers of crushed American cars, shaking hands with the likes of James
Rosenquist, Alanna Heiss, andFrank Gehry, who then toured the show with Gagosian. “We’re always together,” the architect explained. Hmmm.
Standing apart from collectors at Tanya Bonakdar, Gillian Wearing returned to New York after
an eight-year hiatus with a searing group of video and photo portraits not seen here before, all
guaranteed to make viewers cringe through their tears. At Anton Kern, it was clear that Mark
Grotjahn had emerged from his monochrome butterfly cocoon: He brought a slew of bright
paintings that suggested fireworks.
Left: Dealer Stefania Bortolami (right). Right: Michael Stipe and artist Thomas Dozol.
Down in SoHo, Jose Freire inaugurated his second gallery, a fresh white cube reclaimed from a
Girbaud jeans shop, with a show of paintings by David Ratcliff. (Jakob Kolding handed out his
posters in the dealer’s original space on Grand Street.) Team players Ryan McGinley, Banks
Violette, and Cory Arcangel hung out for a dinner in the new back room, while I felt duty-bound
to check out the return of Area, the druggy performance-driven 1980s nightclub, that Creative
Time promised for its annual benefit. Though hundreds of paying customers (artists, collectors,
dealers, Courtney Love, Moby) came to honor the exuberant philanthropist Liz Swig, the only
vestige of Area in evidence were two windowed cubbyholes in which costumed performers acted
out debauched revels that anyone could join. Few did, but everyone cheered for Shots!, a riotous
music video directed by Paula Greif that featured a chorus line of high-kicking socialites on the
Creative Time board.
Friday was fright night in Chelsea, as the late Kippenberger, Judd, Mapplethorpe, and Smith had
to compete with Ashley Bickerton, Alexander Ross, Richard Tuttle, Louise Lawler, Roe
Ethridge, Paul Sietsema, and Sean Landers, who all fired off scarily good shows at once. Dressed
in a purple suit, Bickerton perfectly complemented his “Jimbo Fatsurfer Bali,” the lurid, electricblue blubber of a man in several of his opulently framed paintings. “They’re not supposed to be
weird,” Bickerton said. They’re not. But they are beautifully strange.
Death has certainly not diminished the influence, or even, apparently, the output, of Jack Smith,
whose color photographs and films have been restored to a luster they never had during the
artist’s lifetime in a stellar show at Gladstone curated by Neville Wakefield. “Gosh, I never saw any of these pictures before,” said performance artist Augusto Machado, one of Smith’s former collaborators. Next door, at Metro Pictures, Louise Lawler also broke new ground by blowing up
some of her photographs to billboard size and printing them on vinyl. “I gave up a lot of control to do this,” she said, explaining that buyers could order the pictures in a size suited to individual
sites. One of the most alluring images was a monumental detail of a Degas ballet dancer. “It’s upstairs,” she said of the sculpture. “But I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”
Left: Artists Rob Pruitt and Roe Ethridge. Right: Writers Joan Juliet Buck and Salman Rushdie.
The dinner for Lawler was on one end of the terrace of the Gramercy Park Hotel. Andrew
Kreps nabbed the other end for Ethridge, who mistakenly walked into Lawler’s party and stayed, thinking it was his own. “You mean I’m in the wrong room?” he asked, only just noticing that the guests included Lawler cohortsCindy Sherman, Robert Longo, and Laurie Simmons. His own
friends and followers (Mike Ovitz, Sam Orlofsky, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, and Liz Swig, among
others) were bellying up to the bar in a room where every wall had a George Condo painting. No
wonder Ethridge was confused.
Early on Saturday, when a record eleven thousand people visited the Alexander McQueen show
at the Metropolitan Museum, Chelsea went eerily quiet. That was because the blue bloods had
ferried themselves to Greenwich, Connecticut, where the polo-playing collector Peter
Brant threw open his enormous barn for “The American Dream,” a show of paintings and sculpture commissioned from Josh Smith, whose version of America, like his previous works,
mostly bears his own name. Back in Manhattan, I relaxed in the plush screening room hidden
within the Bumble and Bumble hair salon, whereRainer Judd was unspooling a sweet short about
her father’s transformation of Marfa, Texas, from a cattle town to a sacred art site.
With so many people having a day in the country, visiting the auction previews, or nursing
hangovers from the night before, the triumvirate of 2013 Carnegie International curators roamed
Chelsea in relative peace. But not for long. A van painted with the words “Scarpitta Art and Racing” pulled up in front of the Boesky Gallery to unload a Scarpitta race car branded with the name of its original sponsor, Leo Castelli. Down the street at Mary Boone, David Salle drew a
crowd of art stars and writers like Fran Lebowitz, Salman Rushdie, and Francine Prose, who all
mingled before new paintings that recapitulated Salle’s appended canvases of the ’80s, only with more lightbulbs and contorted nudes than before. Clifford Ross also did what he does best in his
landscape photographs at Sonnabend, but added color abstractions that were animated in a film
with a soundtrack by Phillip Glass. “It’s only five minutes,” Ross said. “You have to see it.”
Left: Dealers Friedrich Petzel and Tanya Bonakdar. (Photo: Linda Yablonsky) Right: Artist Josh Smith.
Buzzed from all this old-is-new-again excitement, I found perennial enfant terrible Aaron
Young flipping the American dream at Bortolami, where he was showing patinated sculptures of
folded American flags. “Wild that this came in bin Laden week,” Young said, recalling an outside world that had almost disappeared from view. Nate Lowman also touched base in his
humongous double show at Gavin Brown and Maccarone, in canvases that referred to floods,
plane crashes, and other conflagrations. “But this is the fire-sale room,” said collector Mera
Rubell, coveting one of the many de Kooning–esque Marilyn Monroepaintings installed in a
gallery at Brown. “They’re selling like hotcakes.”
Hotter still was the combined Salle/Ross dinner, an upbeat affair that took up the whole of
Matsuri in the Maritime Hotel, absolutely the most glamorous event of the week. Jeff and Justine
Koons, Cecily Brownand Nicolai Ouroussoff, Amy Sillman, Alex Katz, and Prose, for example,
somehow all ended up at one table. I took the lone remaining seat in the house among the
members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation, Vito Schnabel, designer Elise Øverland, and
consultant Alex Marshall. Suffice it to say anyone who wasn’t there was at the combined Lowman/Young fete at the Jane hotel, a boozy party from which Lowman’s mother left early and the younger crowd stayed late, as if there were nowhere else to go. But in the ritualized world of
contemporary art, there is always another place and a new tomorrow, even if it looks just like
today.
May 12, 2011
Curious Art World Adventure Discovers Josh Smith Exhibition at Brant Foundation
Most images below courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Last weekend, I was invited to attend a Josh Smith opening in the mysterious hamlet known as
Greenwich, Connecticut, at the Brant Foundation Study Center. For those of you unfamiliar with
Peter Brant, he is an art-loving businessman and publishing mogul whose company, Brant
Publications, owns the magazines Art in America and Interview, to name a couple. His
Greenwich abode features a sprinklings of puppies (the Koons variety) and ponies (the real
kind.)
The drive from Chelsea would take a little over an a hour each way, with about two hours to
spend in Greenwich. A gang of press people climbed into black vans in front of Luhring
Augustine and headed off to the Connecticut countryside.
http://blogs.artinfo.com/imageconscious/2011/05/12/curious-art-world-adventure-discovers-joshsmith-exhibition-at-brant-foundation/
We got lost. After staring at green stuff for a couple hours, it’s believed that we traversed to another dimension.
The Greenwich porthole
We exited the black vans and traversed up a footpath to find a white structure emblazoned with
the words “The Royal Flush.” Apparently it was a sort of luxury version of a communal commode.
Ornamentation found within the interior of “The Royal Flush”
Hark! We found civilization at last–and a quite impressively civilized one, at that. Crowds are
buzzing and storm clouds rolling. We survey the perimeter.
My comrades and I stumble upon what appears to be a ritualistic installation or ceremonial
offering. The smell proves quite compelling to the nose.
Shaking us from the intoxicating scents of sacrifice was none other than Peter Brant on a John
Deere!
He escorts us back to an alien-looking tent where crowds continue to gather.
A ceremonial feast and merriment ensue. Hearing rumors of paintings larger than houses and the
presence of mind-boggling lifeforms, my crew and I set off to investigate the stronghold.
On our way, we are greeted by none other than our friends Naomi Campbell, Peter Brant (again),
and Josh Smith! Hey guys!
We arrive at the stronghold’s facade.
Inside we are welcomed by a lively array of paper products, flowers, and baked goods. Upon
closer inspection, the cookies are decorated in the style of the artist Josh Smith!
“EAT ME”
Aha! Here we are at last–an interior oasis replete with paintings.
Here’s a screenprinted painting-poster announcing the exhibition. “The American Dream,” indeed! Could this be the brand of Kool-Aid that I’m drinking?
We approach a wall of paintings lit by beams of sunshine from a skylight.
I remember this work. We saw it very recently at Smith’s exhibition at Luhring Augustine in Chelsea. While before we saw many a flopping fish and leaf, his latest exhibition unveils a new
obsession with skulls and curious stage-like props festooned with canvas displaying Smith’s name.
I take Smith’s ubiquitous, sprawling signatures to signal a reaction against the authoritative subjectivity of the historically machismo painter. While the signature generally functions as a
symbol of authenticity, operating within a scarcity model, its overabundance effectively renders
it meaningless. (For those interested in “real talk,” I wrote about this a while ago in a Flash Art
feature entitled “Signature and Style.”)
On a more simplistic level, I’ve always enjoyed Smith’s paintings because they appear super
honest. You can tell he just really loves to paint.
Back to “reality,” my comrades and I approach a large prehistoric beast two stories tall. What sort of creature could create or wield such a large canvas? What could be the function of such an
unyielding object?
Bepuzzled and with full tummies, we venture back toward our entourage of black vans. But not
without a last otherworldly experience.
Mayday! An alien approaches!
We manage to nimbly scamper away from the leggy being, who actually seemed quite pleasant
and stationary, and ventured down the footpath to our coach.
Leaving amidst a sublime approaching storm, we will never forget our fateful holiday at Brant
Foundation.
May 17, 2011
Josh Smith Invades the Brant Foundation
By Dorothy Spears
Josh Smith and his dinosaur painting, Brant Foundation/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
If lush green paddocks, a pig roast, an abundance of celebrities, artists, art dealers, pretty young
hipsters, collectors and, yes, champagne, could determine quality in art, then the New Yorkbased painter Josh Smith, may have just hit the big time.
http://huffingtonpost.com/dorothy-spears/josh-smith-at-brant-found_b_860466.html
Julian Schnabel and Peter Brant/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Vladislav Doronin, Jeff Koons, Tony Shafrazi/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Christopher Walken and Naomi Campbell/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
At the May 7th opening of his solo show, The American Dream, at the Brant Foundation Art
Study Center, in Greenwich, Connecticut, cultural heavy-hitters showed up in droves to pay
homage to their powerful host's most recent endorsement. Like a present-day Gatsby, newsprint
magnate and mega-collector Peter Brant opened his converted barn to Smith's buttery large-scale
paintings. Loosely rendered fish, skeletons, and a giant, exceedingly goofy, dinosaur, were all
apparently dashed off in a single frenzied month.
Party shot/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Maurizio Cattelan/coutesy Billy Farrell Agency
The fabulously dressed guests, the hushed, high-octane vibe (everything--from the valet parking
to the catering--ran like a well-oiled machine), the spectacular sky, accented with the occasional
fluffy white cloud, gave the party a magical feel, as if we were witnessing the American Dream
incarnate.
Installation view, Brant Foundation
Yet it was hard not to feel a tad skeptical about the pleased-as-punch smiles of Christopher
Walken and Naomi Campbell, not to mention art stars Jeff Koons, Julian Schnabel, and Maurizio
Cattalan. And what about those dealers? They all looked like best friends! It was as if the
gorgeous day, and Brant's star-studded event, somehow made Smith's paintings wonderful by
extension.
Bob Colacello, Vladimir Roitfeld, Andy Valmorbida/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Peter Brant, Miral Jebreal, Rula Jebreal, Julian Schnabel/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Smith apparently consulted the Swiss provocateur, Urs Fischer, during the making of this
show.Fischer's trompe l'oeil overhaul of the Brant Foundation last year was far more radical and
intellectually layered. (Could he have kept his best secrets mum?) Schnabel, big man paintercum-acclaimed-film-director, also put in his two bits. Maybe that was the problem. The art here
looked as if it were intended for a movie set. It had a cardboard feel (some paintings even
appeared to be painted on card board).
Party tent/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Bill Powers, Simon de Pury, Anthony Haden-Guest/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
David Adjaye and Ashley Shaw Scott/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Which I guess, was exactly the point. These brightly-colored, gestural paintings looked exactly
like what they are: empty painted gestures. They bear the imprint of so many other artists--Albert
Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger, Jonathan Meese, and Christopher Wool came to mind, as well as
party attendees, Schnabel, and perhaps most pointedly, 1980's copycat artist Mike Bidlo. That
could make them funny. But there was an unctuousness to Smith's paintings, as if imitation were
the only form of flattery he could come up with.
And Smith's repeated loopy signature, mocking the old-school concept of "signature style," while
saying, "hey, look at me!" felt like a joke told so many times, so that instead of laughing, I just
scratched my head.
Pigs roasting/courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
ALSO PICKED UP BY:
The Palm Beach Proper
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Home Puzz
May 18, 2011
22 Questions for Art Dealer and Curator Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld
Courtesy Billy Farrell Agency
Art dealer/curator Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld (right) with artist Nicolas Pol
An installation view of Josh Smith's show at The Brant Foundation
Name: Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld
Age: 26
Occupation: Art Dealer/Curator
City/Neighborhood: New York City
What project are you working on now? I've just opened a show with Nicolas Pol, "Sick
Atavus of the New Blood," in New York City, which runs through May 22nd. Andy Valmorbida
and I are working on our next exhibition for Retna, which will open in London at the Old Dairy
on June 8th.
What's the last show that you saw? Josh Smith's "The American Dream" in Connecticut at the
Brant Foundation Art Study Center
What's the last show that surprised you? Larry Gagosian's current Picasso show
http:/artinfo.com/news/story/37703/22-questions-for-art-dealer-and-curator-vladimir-restoinroitfeld/
Why? It's one of the most incredible exhibitions I have ever seen.
What's your favorite place to see art? In a museum
What is it that attracts you to the art world most? Working with artists
What was the first art show that you organized? Marco Perego in Paris, June 2008
How did that come about? I graduated from USC in 2007 then worked as a P.A. at Paramount
and a talent agency. I was fed up with Hollywood; I had the feeling it was too political and there
was very little interaction with creativity. I had a good friend of mine, an artist, living in New
York, named Marco Perego. We talked — he knew I was fascinated with art — and we decided
to start working together. I did a show for him and the whole process was a revelation for me.
Right away I knew this was what I wanted to do.
What artist or artists would you like to work with the most? I am really blessed to work with
the current group of artists I have. I enjoy very much working with Nicolas Pol and Retna, but
I'm always looking for up-and-coming young talents.
Do you make a living off working with art? Yes
Where are you looking for new art these days? Artist studios, art fairs, through friends, etc.
Do you collect anything? I do collect pieces of the artists I work with.
What's the last artwork you purchased? A Nicolas Pol painting
What's the first artwork you ever sold? A Marco Perego painting in Paris, June 2008
What's your favorite post-gallery watering hole or restaurant? Indochine
Do you have a gallery/museum-going routine? I pretty much go to Chelsea every weekend and
I enjoy going to the Whitney and MoMA.
What's the last great book you read? The biography of Leo Castelli
What work of art do you wish you owned? A Basquiat
What would you do to get it? I'll work and sweat until I can afford it.
What international art destination do you most want to visit? I'm going to Hong Kong for
the first time for the fair at the end of the month and I'm super excited. I hear that there is a lot of
enthusiasm and great energy for art.
Who's your favorite living artist? So MANY — Tom Sachs and George Condo are a few of
my favorites.
What are your hobbies? Spending time with my family, my girlfriend, my friends, and
traveling
June 1, 2011
The Biggest Show He has Ever Done
DESPITE his rising status in the art world, Josh Smith leads a humble life. He doesn't even have
his own apartment. He sleeps at his girlfriend's place or in his New York studio. "If you have an
apartment, then art is a job you have to go to," he explained recently. "But if you don't, then art is
your life."
For six weeks Mr Smith's studio was in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he worked to fill the
9,800-square-foot Brant Foundation Art Study Centre. His exhibition "The American Dream"
opened on May 7th. Peter Brant, a media magnate and art collector (pictured top right with Mr
Smith), opened the centre two years ago as an appointment-only space for new art, and he gave
Mr Smith free reign. "We consider Josh to be one of the most talented and interesting artists
around today," he said.
"It's kind of the biggest show I've ever done," offered Mr Smith, adding that it was a challenge to
fill such a large space. He received some guidance from Julian Schnabel and Urs Fischer, two
http://greenwichtime.com/local/article/The-Dish-Kathie-Lee-Frank-Gifford-Hang-over1409976.php
artists who have exhibited at the Brant centre, but Mr Smith is still recovering from the task of
filling such a large space. "I may never even do another show this big again."
The vaulted rooms encouraged Mr Smith to experiment with 30x30 foot canvasses, one of which
became a painting of a dinosaur. The colourful show includes several works in which the artist's
name is swirled abstractly—a play on the idea of a "signature style". While most of the pieces
were created onsite, some recent works are featured as well, such as an 18-panel collage Mr
Brant purchased from the 2009 "The Generational: Younger than Jesus" exhibition at the New
Museum, and some three-dimensional pieces from his solo show at the Luhring Augustine
gallery earlier this year.
The foundation provided Mr Smith with two assistants, but he prefers to work alone. "You
shouldn't have to communicate every thought to someone else before you can do it," he said.
They helped him put up the over-sized canvasses, but ultimately the arrangement didn't work
out. "I'm not receptive of help," he acknowledged. "To me it means I have to do something
twice. If I don't make it, it's not even art."
Mr Smith has earned a reputation for being difficult. He is quick to blame this on his disinterest
in attending social events and his inability to make eye-contact during conversation. "I just work
hard and I miss a few key social events a year, which makes it seem like I don't care, and then
you're a bad boy," he mused.
What's next? This summer Mr Smith will have several pieces at the Venice Biennale, including
an installation for the facade of the Palace of Exhibitions. But he seemed reluctant to be in Italy
for the show's opening this week. Instead he might just attend his cousin's graduation in
Tennessee, where he grew up. "I don't want to go see a bunch of American hustlers over there,"
he admitted. "I'm scared shitless."
"The American Dream" runs through September at the Brant Foundation Art Study Centre in
Greenwich, Connecticut; by appointment only. Venice's 54th International Art Exhibition opens
on June 4th and runs through November 27th
Picture credit: Billy Farrell Agency; Courtesy of Farzad Owrang/Luhring Augustine;
June 2011
June 2011
June 2011
April 18, 2011
http://mnaves.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/who-the-fuck-is-josh-smith/
April 21, 2011
http://openingceremony.us/entry.asp?pid=3257
April 27, 2011
http://artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/josh-smith-the-american-dream.asp
May 7, 2011
JOSH SMITH OPENING AT BRANDT FOUNDATION ART STUDY CENTER
Maurizio Cattelan and Roland Augustine in front of epic dinosaur painting
http://blog.exhibitiona.com/2011/05/josh-smith-opening-at-brandt-foundation-art-study-center/
Man of the hour Josh Smith....next stop Venice Biennale
David from ArtForum on Josh Smith stool.
Julian Schnabel arriving
Roadkill in front of Jeff Koons' Puppy
This entry was posted in Art Yo. Bookmark the permalink.
May 9, 2011
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/people/robinson/josh-smith-5-9-11_detail.asp
May 9, 2011
Bettina's Take: 'Josh Smith: The American Dream,' at the Brant Foundation Art Study
Center
By Bettina Zilkha
Peter Brant held his annual exhibition and barbecue at The Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich, Conn.,
an irresistible invitation on a beautiful and sunny Saturday. The approach to the parking area at White Birch
Farmdidn't disappoint: An enormous Jeff Koons topiary puppy, in full bloom, greeted us as we drove in.
Josh Smith: The American Dream was the featured show, and supporters from the art world came to pay homage to
both Brant and the artist. Standing among Smith's enormous, colorful works, I asked Brant which was his favorite.
"The fish," he replied. "I watched him paint it, and it's brilliantly painted."
Maurizio Cattelan, the Italian artist known for his satirical sculptures, also liked the show. I told him how much I
love his Good Versus Evil chessboard depicting pop culture icons as pawns. "I was reconsidering my chessboard and
I think it's one of my major works, so we think alike," said the dapper artist.
Julian, Lola and Vito Schnabel, Christopher Walken, Bob Colacello, Alberto Mugrabi, Cora SheibaniBischofberger, Naomi Campbell and Vladislav Doronin, and Diana Widmaier-Picasso also toured the exhibition
before indulging in platters of baby lamb cooked asado-style by an Argentinean roasting master.
http://fashionetc.com/blogs/etcetera/1781-bettinas-take-josh-smith-the-american-dream-brandtfoundation
"Have you seen Jeff Koons?" I overheard someone ask. Yes, we've all seen him naked, thanks to Amalia Dayan
(Lindemann)'s amazing recent show of the remaining Cicciolina works, but this time he was fully dressed and
chatting outside the beautiful tent designed by Raúl Àvila.
The vibe was laid-back and easy, friends and acquaintances relaxing on pillows outside the tent, sipping a glass of
lemonade or a flute of champagne, enjoying nature. One guest was so relaxed he fell asleep on the enormous white
pillows.
As we were leaving, we took one last glimpse back at the bucolic scene, filled with notables from the worlds of art,
business and entertainment—and the sleeping guest who was still in dreamland.
Wake up, man. You're missing a great party!
Photos: the tent at the Peter Brant Foundation barbecue (top); Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan (bottom)
http://fashionetc.com/blogs/etcetera/1781-bettinas-take-josh-smith-the-american-dream-brandtfoundation
May 9, 2011
http://www.myglobalhustle.com/wp/2011/05/08/the-brant-foundation-art-study-center-openingof-josh-smith-the-american-dream/
May 10, 2011
Spring Awakening
Jeff Koons Puppy on the Greenwich Estate of Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant, Greenwich, CT, April 7, 2011
Spring arrived just in time for the annual Danspace Project Gala on April 26 with an evening of
performances honoring Marina Abramovic. Executive Director Judy Hussie-Taylor opened the gardens
of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery to toast the artist whose recent MOMA exhibition The Artist is
Present pulled down record-breaking numbers for the Museum with attendance for her three-month
endurance challenge totaling 561,471. Rob Storr introduced the artist who quickly turned the stage over
to performers including Trisha Brown Dance Company, Stephen Petronio Dance Company with
accompaniment by Rufus Wainwright, Jr. and a spellbinding musical performance by Laurie
Anderson. www.danspaceproject.org
A few nights later at the Stephan Weiss Studio in the West Village Anne Barlow, Executive Director of
Art in General greeted guests who immediately high-tailed to the rear of the studio to view DoubleBlind
a unique auction where 10 nominators: Peter Eleey, Yasmil Raymond, Joel Meyer, Jens Hoffmann, Janice
Guy, Sean Kelly, Alan Cumming, Dan Cameron, Tanya Bonakdar and Spencer Sweeney selected 10
artists: Jeremy Deller, Shannon Ebner, Scott Foley, Tim Lee, Matt Mullican, Shirin Neshat, David
Remfry, Ted Riederer, Thomas Scheibitz and Andrew W.K. who each photographed a single roll of film
that remains undeveloped and unseen. Like a time capsule, the images will ultimately represent the
artist’s singular perspective, one that can only be shared with the single patron who won the bid. The
suspense of it all caused swarms of people to place bids. The evening was an instant
http://outwithmary.com/home/spring-awakening.html
success. www.artingeneral.org
Spring just wouldn’t be spring in New York without the fabulosity Anna Wintour generates for the Met’s Costume Institute Gala, this year paying tribute to the late Alexander McQueen with a retrospective of his
work Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty curated by Andrew Boulton. Harold Koda, Chief of the
Costume Institute expressed how “his work fits so easily within the discourse of art,” noting “the retrospective paralleled the aesthetic of its subject more closely than any recent gala—necessitating little,
if any, reinterpreting.” In true McQueen fashion, the event knocked down all museum records raising
$10.4 million. www.metmuseum.org
The David Zwirner Gallery transformed an annex of their West19th Street chain of galleries into a
monastic dining room replete with cathedral ceiling for a dinner party to celebrate the preview of Minus
Space reductive art, an exhibition of works by Donald Judd drawn from the artist’s seminal 1989 exhibition held at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany. The exhibition brings together
works that comprise one of Judd’s few explorations of color on a large scale using anodized aluminum.
The pieces, mostly borrowed from international public and private collections, reflect the artist’s intended clarity and rigor in its installation. The serenity was interrupted during cocktails when the bar was
stocked with colorful tequila drinks in the spirit of Cinco de Mayo. Rainer Judd performed a traditional
family toast, tossing a drink over her shoulder and a party kicked in. http://www.davidzwirner.com/
The perfect spring afternoon ushered in Josh Smith: The American Dream at the Brant Foundation Art
Study Center on the polo grounds of Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant’s Greenwich estate. An eclectic
mix of hipsters, historians, and established and emerging artists huddled under a tent where a Moroccaninspired buffet of lamb, cous-cous and grilled vegetables was served. Nearby in a converted barn dating
from 1902, home of the BFASC, Smith installed riotous colorful paintings in a succession of rooms over
two floors, in some instances from floor to ceiling. The exhibition thrills with pure artistic
energy.http://www.brantfoundation.org/
MORE PHOTOS >
http://outwithmary.com/home/spring-awakening.html
( Bijutsu Techo)
June 3, 2011
June 6, 2011
The Dish: Kathie Lee, Frank Gifford 'Hang' over in Port Chester
Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford at the Dana's Angels Research Trust benefit in 2010. Lee and Gifford were seen with
their children, Cody and Cassidy in Port Chester, N.Y. last weekend at a showing of "The Hangover Part II." Photo:
ST, Shelley Cryan / Stamford Advocate |
Out there ... The Breast Cancer Alliance Men In Pink Committee will host the first annual Pink
Party on at 6:30 p.m. June 16 at the Loading Dock on Fairfield Avenue in Stamford. The
evening's festivities will include drinks, dinner, and dancing to the Motown band Liquid
Pleasure. The band, led byKenny Mann, has played at the past two presidential inaugurations and
with the likes of the Temptations, Aretha Franklin and Paula Abdul. Men in Pink was founded in
2010 by more than 125 men to help raise awareness for breast cancer and support the mission of
the Breast Cancer Alliance, especially amongst men. For tickets go to
www.breastcanceralliance.org/meninpink.
Scene ... Riverside residents Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford were seen with their children, Cody
and Cassidy, at AMC Loews theater in Port Chester, N.Y., last weekend at a showing of the hit
movie, "The Hangover Part II."
Out there ... Doppio opened at 41 E. Elm St. in Greenwich on Wednesday. The restaurant, open
for lunch and dinner, offers an artisan selection of tapas, panini, salads, brick-oven pizza,
gourmet gelato, and a wine and beer bar. The Italian-inspired eatery is owned by Stamford
natives and brothers Louis and Joe Barresi. For more information, call 203-340-9470 or visit
www.eatdoppio.com.
Out there ... John Barricelli, host of television's "Everyday Baking from Every Day Food" on
PBS, will appear at the Greenwich Historical Society on Strickland Road in Cos Cob from 10
a.m. to noon June 14 for a tasting and signing of his book, "The SoNo Baking Company
Cookbook." Barricelli, who owns the SoNo Baking Company & Cafe in South Norwalk, is also a
contributor to the "The Martha Stewart Show." For reservations (historical society members $10;
nonmembers $15), call 203-869-6899, ext. 20 or go to www.greenwichhistory.org.
Scene ... Several lifelong Greenwich residents got together for dinner over the Memorial Day
weekend at Valbella restaurant in Riverside. Greenwich Town Clerk Carmella Budkins enjoyed
a birthday celebration for her sister, Donna Horton, with friends Lucille Kaye, Judy Riley and Jo
Chiappetta, May 27. The group has a history of more than 30 years of dining out at local
restaurants on Friday nights.
Out there ... The Big Top at the Circus Soiree will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mill River
Park in Stamford. The evening will begin with hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, followed by a
signature circus performance at 8:30 p.m., then dinner and dessert. Auction items include four
nights at Curtain Bluff, Antigua; two nights at the Ocean House in Watch Hill, R.I.; and his and
her watches from Nagi Jewelers in Greenwich. The opening performance of the circus takes
place at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. All proceeds from both events benefit Mill River Park and
Stamford Downtown. For more information and tickets, call 203-348-5285 or go to
www.stamfordcircus.com.
Out there ... Meghan Kerwin, a sophomore at Northwestern University and
Greenwich High graduate, has released her first single on iTunes by her a cappella group
Extreme Measures. The song "Ignorance," by Paramore, can be heard at
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ignorance-single/id439965568.
Scene ... Old Greenwich resident and actor Terry Crews was seen with his children at the
concession stand at Greenwich Point over the Memorial Day weekend.
Out there ... Stamford resident Annie Nirschel, a sophomore at the Academy of Information
Technology & Engineering, has been selected to perform solo at the Salute to Israel Parade on
Fifth Avenue in New York City June 5 celebrating the 63rd anniversary of the creation of the
state of Israel. Nirschel will be singing on the Jewish Agency for Israel float and in concert in
the afternoon.
Scene ... Greenwich residents Judge Judy and Judge Jerry Sheindlin were seen having dinner at
Terra Ristorante in Greenwich recently.
Out there ... A guided tour hosted by the Greenwich Arts Council of "The American Dream," by
artist Josh Smith will take place at 1 p.m. Friday at The Brant Foundation Art Study Center on
941 North St. in Greenwich. For reservations (Greenwich Arts Council members $40, $50
nonmembers), call 203-862-6750.
And that's all for now.
Later ...
Got a tip? Seen a celebrity? Email Susie Costaregni at [email protected].
June 10, 2011
http://artruby.com/josh-smith-opens-up
June 21, 2011
http://chicago.racked.com/archives/2011/06/22/watch-the-cynthia-rowley-resort-2012collection-live.php

Press Kit - The Brant Foundation

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