You’ve gotta love a TriBeCa Ball, run by the New York Academy of Art, it’s a chance for the great and the good of New York – i.e. those with money, to take a peek at the emerging artists from NYAA – i.e. those who are skint.
The evening tends to pass buy in a jocular manner as socialites and celebs teeter around the tiny stalls that the artists inhabit by day – which have been lovingly spruced up for the big occasion. Whilst the poor artists are thrown in at the deep end with their first forray into serious sales i.e. they want to flog their work to you.
For celeb spotting there was Eileen Guggenheim, Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, Baz Luhrmann and Alexandra Richards. I did see Robert DeNiro’s name on the check in list but I guess he had other parts of TriBeCa to manage that night. There were a plethora of designers – Rachel Roy, Cynthia Rowley and Kate and Andy Spade. Even Serena Shvo in the tiniest gold Herve Leger dress I’ve ever witnessed.
So what about the actual art…
We saw oil on canvas, prints, installations – including a bizarre brillo pad sculpture that could surely have recycling value should you run short of cleaning materials once you are bored of the picture. There were magicians and a rather annoying dancing girl who was sweating proffusely and roaming the 5 storey building being trailed by an accompanist on an accordian – I’m not sure if that was art in motion or just the entertainment.
And then there was my favorite – the people watching ….
For my bit I kept the UK support group going by purchasing a cute print from the lovely Imogen Slater – a Brit striving to make her mark in New York, who had very cute shoes on…
