A tribute to Jasper. And Twitter is distracting...

I haven't seen a site so over-rated. If you are following more than 10 people at a time how can you keep up with all of their twittering? Hopefully some of them, like some of my 190 + following are not posting every single thing they do at every single minute of the day. Narcissism taken to an extreme is what I see it as.
Anyway, getting back to art according to the beez...

After AAF I went to Banks Violette's opening at Team Gallery. I love the name of that artist. And I love the gallery's name. Violette's sculptures are well known but there weren't many in this exhibition. I took a picture of the piece de resistance because recently someone I know died in a motorcycle accident. His name is Jasper and he was a friend of my friends Arnoud and Arthur. Motorcycle riders are people that love life, love adventure, and love risk. Death is a part of life, and I'm sure the transition must be as exciting as any high we experience on earth.

After Team Gallery I met up with my friend Terry for the opening at the Garden of Ono at the Gansevoort. There was an In Style Magazine party upstairs so we went there after. Georgina Chapman was there as well as three of her beautiful dresses on models. Georgina's partner, and fellow designer,Keren, I forget her last name, was also there. Marquesa is a line I love; they show every season at the Chelsea Art Museum where I work. When they show it's like living sculpture. Or art made livable; to live in; art made alive. If you click the link you'll get to Marchesa's site. Enjoy!

Some Auction Results From Christies and Sothebys

I think it's safe to say that these sales underperformed sadly. Not a lot of work, and not that many works selling at high prices. Good for buyers! The link takes you to a New York Times Article by Carol Vogel. She wrote something yesterday too I think. Worth reading if you're into this sort of buying/selling stuff.

Impressionist and Modern Sales Are On

I went to a cocktail party at Sotheby's after John Chamberlain. Some great work, though not a lot of it. Some paintings by Tamara de Lempicka. I love her work. They came from some German guy's collection. I guess German, but could be wrong; Wolfgang Joop. There was an Egon Schiele too. And of course the Mondrian. I think the slim pickings are a result of several factors; perhaps people selling privately; looking for a higher sale price; or anonymity. Who knows? For sure some dealers are doing well in the downtown...

There were some young people there. A certain blonde art heiress who I like and partied with not too long ago at Olivier's. Her parents have a gallery in Zurich I think. She knows one of the business development people at Sotheby's because that person's son works at her parent's gallery.

Image Courtesy of www.sothebys.com:
LOT 26

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF WOLFGANG JOOP
TAMARA DE LEMPICKA
1898 - 1980
PORTRAIT DE LA DUCHESSE DE LA SALLE

4,000,000—6,000,000 USD

John Chamberlain at L & M Arts

I loved seeing this stuff; so manly, masculine, male. I especially loved the soft sponge sculptures, such a great contrast to all that crushed steel. One of them, I swear, looked like a soft feminine orifice...I asked the price from one of the girls at the gallery. Of course, it wasn't for sale. Yeah, right!

Saturday Night: Walpurgis Night

Gwen and her friend Alexis had a party at the Mark Murray Gallery. The text from the invite read: "The Viking Goddess (High Priestess Gwendolyn) and Czech Goddess (High Priestess Alexis) cordially invite you to celebrate 'Walpurgisnacht' on May 2nd at the Mark Murray Gallery.

Walpurgis Night is not Halloween. It is a traditional pagan holiday in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe that celebrates the arrival of spring. The name is attributed to a nun in the 8th century named Valborg who spoke out against sorcery. Valborg was canonized a Saint on May 1, 779 (1,230 years ago). Walpurgis Night honors Valborg's sainthood and the turning-tide in between seasons when the barrier between our world and the supernatural is easily crossed. The dead and chaotic spirits are said to walk among the living on this day! We will protect our guests by dressing in costume, hanging blessed sprigs of foliage and lighting candles around the gallery to keep evil at bay.

Just to be safe, we ask that you all kindly arrive with spirits (wine ideally) as an offering to the phantom hounds known to bedevil UES art galleries on this day."

From the Upper East Side I went downtown to meet Derrick at a Tribeca party on the West Side Highway. Beautiful night to be out.

Studio Visit with Anton Ginzberg

Though I hardly write about the studio visits I do (two, sometimes more a week) I thought I'd add a link to this artist's portfolio. We met about a year ago, I'm not sure where, and though we said I'd visit his studio, somehow it fell through the cracks until I came upon our email exchange (from almost a year ago) and got in touch with him again.

I hope we can find a way to place him into a context at one of CAM's exhibitions, or something perhaps of my own.

Spring is Finally Here!

Last night I went out in a light silk dress and a jacket. It was a beautiful evening where you could feel sexy wearing very little. Missed a French maid party in Tribeca, but had a great dinner with some friends at a relatively new restaurant in the West Village called Braeburn; the food was fabulous and the service splendid.

Today I had a picnic on the Hudson River. The air was still a bit chill but it was great to be outside. Tribeca Family Day was all abuzz with kids in the street having fun and bands on every corner.

This New Yorker Article About Beez on Coke is Hilarious!

Buzzed
by Noah Baumbach May 4, 2009

To learn more about the biochemistry of addiction, scientists in Australia dropped liquefied freebase cocaine on bees’ backs, so it entered the circulatory system and brain.
The scientists found that bees react much like humans do: cocaine alters their judgment, stimulates their behavior and makes them exaggeratedly enthusiastic about things that might not otherwise excite them.
—The Times.

Oh, my God, get over here . . . hurry . . . come on come on come on. Taste this nectar, taste it, taste it. . . . Slurp. . . . Is that not, is that not the best fucking thing you’ve ever had? Like nectar of the fucking Gods! It’s like the greatest hits of nectar. A double-album greatest hits, like those red and blue Beatles records where they’re looking down at us off a balcony but they have facial hair in one of them. Oh, my God, I just flew over to this, to this lily. Look at me on the lily?! Is that not, is that not so weird? I’m like buzzing around and then I land. . . . I don’t know why that struck me as so odd just then. My little feet on the petal. Is that odd? It seems so funny to me. Oh, my God, you gotta try this pollen. It’s so fucking . . . it’s better than the nectar, even. This is the best fucking pollen I’ve ever had. God, I so badly wanna just go sting the fuck out of someone, you know? Just land on their ass and sting. . . . I’m so fucking jazzed right now. And then I hope they’re allergic and they just blow up! We gotta get out of this hive, we gotta get mobile . . . “Going Mobile”! The Who was a good band. Let’s go find a picnic or some sunbathers or something. . . . I’d love some coconut suntan lotion or a . . . beer. Wouldn’t you love a six-pack of Stella Artois right now? That’s the best beer. Stel-la! That was actually a pretty good imitation, don’t you think? The guy who played him in the movie, the “Streetcar” . . . who am I thinking of? It’s on the tip of my . . . Jesus, what’s wrong with me I can’t come up with this dude’s name? . . . Or how about, how about: a coconut Stella Artois beer?! Wouldn’t that be the best and you could spread it all over your body and it’s U.V. 1,000 or 1,000 proof or something. God, I want to sting someone. . . . Oh, my God, my antennae are like supersensitive right now. . . . Don’t . . . don’t touch . . . I said don’t! It’s O.K., it’s cool, it’s cool. You see that little bee . . . you see that little drone? Trigona minima! Amo, amas, amat. Let’s go over and beat the living crap out of him. I don’t know why, but I just hate him right now. He’s so small and smug. . . . Look at that bee . . . just look at him. . . . Oh, my God, there’s a picnic. Let’s totally go there right now. . . . I think this fat kid’s allergic . . . I’m so going to sting him! Oh, my God, he’s totally swatting me . . . did you see that dude’s face! Fucking hilarious. He was all, like, “It’s a bee, it’s a bee!” And his mom was all, like, “Don’t aggravate him!” Aggravate him is right! I’ll go ballistic on you, tubby! Marlon Brando! Stel-la! Got it. I’m on fire. Let’s do another line. I don’t know, behind that hibiscus, I don’t give a fuck. What do you mean, I did the last of it? I just need a bump. We should totally fly downtown, score some more blow, and get back here before the picnic breaks up and then do more coke. God, I’d kill for a cigarette. I’m gonna start smoking, I know, I know, but I look so fucking debonair when I do it. I wish we had some tunes. Early Van Halen or . . . you know what would be perfect right now? The Smiths. I’m serious. “Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know, it’s serious.” There’s that yellow jacket, Devin, by the potato salad. Do you think he’s got any blow? He’s a great guy, just a really great laid-back kinda no-cares-in-the-world but totally together guy and very funny but easygoing and totally disarming and I think he’d really appreciate our sort of world view and be a nice addition to our hive. . . . I’m totally fucking with you! He’s a total prick. Let’s kick the shit out of him and steal his coke. There’s that fat kid again. I’m going to sting this whole family! “Aah!” They’re running! I’m buzzing, I’m buzzing, I’m buzzing, this is incredible. I’m in the car! I’m in the car. I’m in the car! Everyone’s screaming and flailing and . . . this is lame, get me out. . . . I’ll fly out this window and . . . Ow! Wait a minute, and . . . Ow! Ow! Ow! What the fuck? It’s like a . . . ow! . . . clear force field. . . . Whoa, I just totally accidentally stung the mother. . . . Sorry, but you’re like moving so much and this force field is killing me. . . . Ow. . . . Oh, wait, the force field is rolling down and . . . Ahh! Did you see me? I was totally in a moving car. So crazy. Wait, wait, head rush. I’m woozy. I gotta sit, I gotta . . . Where’s a pistil or a stamen when you need one? . . . This spilled soda will do for the moment. . . . Wait, slow down, slow down, slow down. . . . My heart is racing . . . gotta relax . . . gotta . . . say something soothing . . . I don’t know . . . talk about honey or strawberry jam. . . . I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die. . . . Where’d you get this shit? I think it’s laced with insecticide or something. . . . My heart is going like a mile a millisecond. It’s going to burst through my thorax and all over the jacarandas. Ha! Stop making me laugh, stop it, stop it, I got pollen coming out of my nose. I need to sit down . . . I need . . . I can’t do this again . . . this is the last time, really . . . no, I mean it. . . . From now on, nothing stronger than honey. Jesus, the sun’s going down, where’d the day go, you wanna get dinner, I’m not getting any sleep tonight. ♦

ILLUSTRATION: LAURIE ROSENWALD

Chuck Close Opening At Pace Wildenstein and John Giorno at CAM

John Giorno performed Thanks For Nothing and other poems last night at CAM. Earlier, I stopped in for the exhibition opening of Chuck Close at Pace Wildenstein. Keenyah was obviously channeling the gods as she got Chuck Close's email address and will follow up to model for him!

Belvedere Bash, Derrick becomes a Mason and Uri Back in Town

There was a fun party in Soho the other day. Somebody from MH USA invited me and it was so much fun dancing. I had met up with Uri at Wallse earlier to catch up. He had spent 7 weeks in Israel and had a lot of good news re: his exhibitions and sales and interest from important gallerist.

Later I met up with Derrick my intern who had had dinner with a powerful group of men, including Mayor Bloomberg! who inducted him into the first stage of being a mason. I know this old world stuff sounds esoteric, but it's definitely still happening. There were guys from other high level positions in the city there and Derrick brought some of them by to the after party for the Tribeca film fest which my friend Christian was throwing in a loft downtown and where this one guy was breaking it up on the dancefloor.