NEW YORK CITY SALONS
AUTUMN 2005
We visited New York the week of the Contemporary Art Auctions. Barrett White, a specialist at Christies, previewed the sale and discussed the contemporary art market with our members.
Later, that week we attended the evening sale and witnessed a Mark Rothko painting selling for over 22 million dollars amidst a packed audience. 18 artists set records for their work and Christies said it was their most successful sale ever in Contemporary Art.
Architectual historian, Matthew Postal of the Municipal Arts Society and the City of New York Landmarks Preservation Commission let a walking tour of Greenwich Village, highlighting the architecture, culture, history, and transformation of this legendary neighborhood.
Aileen Hovanessian Agopian, a contemporary art specialist at Phillips dePury previewed the highlights of their evening auction and discussed the contemporary art market from their point of view. The Warhol on the cover of their catalog sold for over 2 million dollars. The Jeff Koons "Wishing Well" (pictured here) sold for over 1 million.
New York Times art critic, Roberta Smith, discussed her role as an art critic and lead a provocative discussion on Contemporary Art hosted by Salon 94.
We visited the studio of painter Sophie Matisse with her dealer, Francis Naumann. Sophie is the great-grand daughter of artist, Henri Matisse. Her new show opens the week after our visit at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art on the Upper East Side.
Climbing up five flights of stairs to the studio of painter, Inka Essenhigh, we were treated to a viewing of her work and a lively conversation with her about art.
Painter, Caio Fonseca gave us a tour of his studio and recent work, and charmed us with a classical piano performance.
Some of us had great seats to the hottest show on Broadway ... Sweeney Todd. It starred our friend, Michael Cerveris with Patti LuPone in a very artistic interpretation of the Sondheim classic.
Curator, Peter Eleey gave us a private tour of Creativetime's "The Plain of Heaven," located at the base of the High Line.
The High Line is a disued elevated rail structure that runs up the west side of Manhattan. Creativetime is part of the team that will transform the High Line into a public park.
We had a great conversation with Kurt Anderson, host of PRI's "Studio 360." "Studio 360" can be heard in Phoenix at 3:00 PM on Saturday afternoons on KJZZ.
WNYC hosted our meeting with Kurt Anderson at the top of the Municipal building where we had a 360 degree view of Manhattan.
While we were in Manhattan, the first biennial of Performance art, Performa05 was taking place all over the city. Some of us experienced several memorable performances. Marina Abramovic recreated performance-art classics at the Guggenheim.
... one last cappucino !