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There was an incredible atmosphere and so much to see in New York. As I arrived I was transported directly into ‘Masquerade’ - it was perfect timing as Shai Baitel had organised a wonderful night - nine performances taking place though numerous spaces and places with incredible scenes taken from Andrew Lloyd Webbers ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ We had a treat as Marina Abramović gave an intimate interview with the performers and ourselves.
We were overwhelmed by the professionalism of the acting and performers. There were multiple Phantoms and Christine performing through the night. Our couple were electric but so was ALL the crew and actors. For the first act we were surrounded by a huge chandelier which fell down upon us - or seemed to - and in this room Marina took questions from Shai
At the end was great applause to Marina and the actors surrounded her with love and affection
It was a week of so many highlights: We managed to sneak a peek at Mauricio Cattalan’s Gold Toilet before Sotheby’s sold it for more than Ten Million and it would you believe it or not - it really did go to Ripley’s! Word is that the last person to sit on it at Blenheim Palace before it was stolen was Tif Zab. I am not saying she melted down with some sharp thinking ‘tea leaves’… but…
The biggest happening was also at Sotheby’s in the new MET Breuer building – they had assembled many private collection sales to make one spectacular show – a record breaking ‘Greatest Sale on Earth.’ The Leonard A Lauder Collection was one of the group and I was not sure what all the fuss was about - but then we all understood when ‘Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer’ fetched over 200million dollars. Klimt worked intensively on the painting between 1914 to 1916 and it has not been seen since it was confiscated by the Nazi’s during the second world war. It was returned in 1948 and subsequently purchased that same year by Lauder. What a story
For me the standout work was ‘Interior with Sudden Joy’ in the Exquisite Corpus sale by Dorathea Tanning, painted in the early 1950s. it is amazing example of her deep symbolism - and features her dog Katchina. This work sold for more than 2 million dollars
Then also an incredible Frida Kahlo ‘El Sueño (la Cama)’. Which talks about death and decay, it sold for more than 50 million dollars
Another highlight was visiting Luhring Augustine and seeing Ragnar Kjartansson ‘Sunday Without Love’. It was a painting in motion, based on a postcard that always lived on the artists fridge. A romantic melodic song runs through with the repeating refrain: ‘you must learn to live without love’
Another was the incredible opening of Frank Gertsch at Hauser & Wirth
But first was Manuela at Manuela’s
We dropped by to see Sam Mckinniss work ‘Law and Order’, the work was about Britain and fully charged. We had a lovely tour by Jeffrey Deitch himself
Talking of Toilets at Salon 94 was a wonderful chair show by Urs Fischer and he displayed this wonderous work amongst his many imaginary chairs
I enjoyed visiting the Guggenheim so much and walking down Memory Lane viewing all the wonderful Rashid Johnson works in chronological order. He has come a long way since he started but always keeping a straight pure vision throughout his practice
I was intrigued by one of the last displayed work where Rashid lay upon Grave of Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson was the first black American heavyweight to defeat titleholder James J. Jeffries on July 4, 1910. The prize fight and his victory happened at a time of extreme hostility and led to race riots across the country
Great to see the Tate owned work Black and Blue 2021, dealing with the mundane moments in Lock Down during Covid
While at the Guggenheim I was mesmerised by ‘Voice of Space” from 1931 by René Margritte; an iron orb looming over a pastoral scene is maybe a warning of the war to come
Outside the art world was so much light and nature downtown. I was stunned and surprised how luminous the streets were and how bright the sun was
I continued by little gallery hop at Canal 47 and liked weathering’ by Wang Xu
Also on show was Lewis Hammond’s ‘The Rabbits’, a work steeped in history, looking at religion, art history, mythology and psychology
Back in the streets of Soho so many weird and wonderful things happen
One of my friends showed me the painting of Tracey in a Cigarette box drawn for him back in the 90’s…
It was impressive to visit Gagosian Richard Prince’s ‘Folk Songs’ exhibition, as always, he is looking and drawing inspiration from many artists
Jeff Koons new work ‘Porcelain Series’ was show stopping, he had found new techniques and processes to create layers of transparent colour
Then at Gladstone Gallery was Andro Wekua’s great new work
I loved the weird and wonderful world of Jana Euler at Greene Neftali. ‘The Center does not Fold’ where there is no centre but rather connections. Unusually she had written her own personal press release. There were many great works but I liked ‘The fantasy of a highly potent creative act with little participation of human mankind and the sheer multitude of packages the fly back in return’
At Max Levai I adored Daniel Lind Romas ‘The Green Guardian’, Daniel draws forth the spirt of those once enslaved in Porto Rico
It was a joy to see to see the work of Machteld Rullens after she had been on residency at Josef and Anni Albers foundation
Then to ‘STY’, the Nicole Eisenman show at 52 Walker where a group of paintings look at the past and present. Here is a sculpture in front of ‘The Auction (2025) where there are eager art buyers under a baroque sky
At PPOW we loved the work of Phoebe Helander ‘Paintings from the Orange Room’ - Phoebe paints a new painting every day
And at Mendes Woods it was wonderful to see the resurrection of Hiroshi Sugito ‘slicing apples’ his first exhibition in NYC since 2007
