Daily Front Row

2012 October 18

Connecting The Dots

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Donna Karan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Patrick McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

(NEW YORK) Donna Karan corralled an artsy lot at Urban Zen on Greenwich Street last night to celebrate her late husband, artist Stephan Weiss. “My husband Stephan taught me the power of connecting the dots in life," said Karan. "This special evening connects Stephan with his art, his life, and the love of his city." The monochrom troupe, packed with VIPs like Lucy Liu, Martha Stewart, Julian Schnabel, Elie Tahari, Kelly Klein, Joanna Coles, Simon Doonan, Fern Mallis, Loree Rodkin, and Petra Nemcova, gathered in the cavernous space to view Weiss's first-ever collective exhibit and flip through the newly launched, 208-page tribute tome called Stephan Weiss: Connecting the Dots, Portrait of a Man, written by Karan with a forward by Ingrid Sischy. Inside, images of Weiss played out on the walls, which once served as his artist studio, while a myriad of sculptures and paintings inhabited the rest of the space, along with still life memoriums curated with rare or never-before-seen mixed media art, stacks of sketchbooks, and scribbled notes from Weiss to Karan. Later in the evening, Karan "connected the dots" by presenting Mayor Bloomberg with the Stephan Weiss Apple Award, a small-scale replica of Weiss's 8-foot bronzed apple sculpture which resides in Hudson River Park, a stone's throw from Urban Zen. "In Stephan’s memory, we honor our city, New York, with the Apple Award, as accepted by His Honor Michael Bloomberg, a man who so admirably embodies the great city he leads," said Karan. "For me, this evening is personal and heartfelt.” The Connecting the Dots exhibit will be on display through the holidays until December 31.
MARIA DENARDO