Bringing Paris to the Meat Market

(NEW YORK) "I want my apartment to look just like this!" exclaimed Jean Paul Gaultier last night during Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld's curated exhibition, "The Martus Maw," a collection of works by French artist Nicolas Pol. While the old downtown meat market wasn't exactly the paragon of "homey," it certainly impressed Gaultier and the rest of the culture-seeking crowd as they ventured to the Lower East Side to peruse Pol's work. Friends (and family) including Carine Roitfeld, Stavros Nicharos, Erin Wasson and Tom Sachs were welcomed by a beaming Roitfeld and a swirling cloud of incense.

The young curator was the face of the evening, but he made sure to spotlight the artist in the same manner he did the oil paintings. "I think [Nicolas Pol] is one of the most incredible talents I've ever met in my life," said the 24-year-old. "Although I know I'm still really young!" "This is my first time here in the city," Pol confessed. "I can't wait to visit Brooklyn. Oh, and the MoMA. I've got to get there!"

It was a family affair in the revamped meat market last night, as Carine Roitfeld paused from catching up with fellow Parisians to stay close by her curator son's side. However, even closer was another Vogue editor...Giovanna Battaglia of Vogue Italia.  "When I was a child I hated being dragged to museums," she said. "I tried to escape. But now I've met Vladimir, and it seems like art follows me! My family is from art, and Vlad is bringing me back to my roots." Conversely, her boyfriend had a different sentiment. "You know when you're a kid and you have to go on a school trip to the museum and you get ready for a really boring day? It wasn't that way for me. I remember going to a Picasso exhibition in Paris when I was 10 years-old, and it was the best day of my life."

Gaultier (who found himself in town to work on his Target line), slowly took his time to soak in each piece of artwork. "I wasn't sure what day this was happening, but I'm so glad it's today, because here I am!" he said, before darting off for dinner at The Standard Grill. "All the light coming through the painting; it looks so alive. I think this is marvelous." Gaultier gesticulated widely and explained, "Art, all of this, can be a sort of freedom of the spirit that you can't obtain, maybe, in real life...and in this economy." He motioned towards the painting's red tags and added, smiling, "But also, art is economy!"

Wasson meandered through the warehouse, searching out good friend Nicharos. "I have always been loosely connected to the art world," she explained. "I worked in the Angstrom gallery in Texas as a 16 year-old." But what was really on the designer's mind in the midst of all this artistic erudition? "I'm thinking about my trip to the Bronx this Thursday. I'm going horseback riding!"
EMILY POPP