Daily Front Row

2010 July 26

Dear Daily: Hamptons Edition!

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Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Stone
MARC DIMOV/PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

Dear Daily,

Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center was super hot on Saturday night---and it wasn't just the temperature! Bob’s annual summer soirée was boiling with fabulous art, fashion and people.

Heavenly was the dress code and if art is your passion, Watermill was heaven on earth!  As I arrived in my angelic Marchesa with the devilishly handsome duo of Mark Mullett and Keith Bloomfield, artist cherubs rose from the incredible gardens. Glamorous co-chairs Valerie Boster, Amanda Hearst and Dalia Oberlander were exploring the outrageous performances and installations in the woods, which included a “fantasy sculpture” filled with objects of dreams by Thailandese artist Sarawut Chutiwongpeti.  Georgina Bloomberg, who did not let a broken foot stop her from discovering the magic of Watermill, walked through the “Gateway to Paradiso” created with light boxes and caskets by English artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

The Watermill Center is described as a “laboratory for performance” and as Bob explained, “every guest is part of the evening’s performance.” Art and fashion aficionados, including Lisa de Kooning, Arden Wohl, Calvin Klein, Tatiana and Campion Platt, Debbie Bancroft, Lisa Perry, Anne Hearst McInerny, Fern Mallis and Zani Gubelman, caroused in the silent auction tent, where the “competition performance” was fierce. The incredible artworks, with pieces from Annie Leibowitz to Shepard Fairey to Marilyn Minter to Robert Mapplethorpe, motivated the feverish bidding, with Fabiola Beracasa smiling proudly after she captured the Genesis photograph of “metallic teeth.”

Over 600 artists and guests inspired the “dinner performance” hosted Watermill’s Jorn Weisbrodt. Terence Koh, one of the fashion world’s (and now Lady Gaga’s) favorite artist, may have been part of a “secret performance,” but given that Koh was not speaking, one can only guess.  Richard Phillips, the magnificent painter who collaborated with Jimmy Choo to create my most treasured clutch, was on the scene with his beautiful partner, the brilliant artist Josephine Meckseper, whose artwork was one of the highlights in this year’s Whitney Biennial.  

Hollywood star power sparkled on Watermill this year. Sharon Stone was the guest auctioneer and given her seductive powers, the live auction was set on fire---especially when Sharon announced with a wiggle that “a bug just flew up my dress.” No one was able to resist Sharon’s charm, including Rufus Wainwright, who marveled the crowd with an impromptu acoustic rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” and Alec Baldwin and Jay McInerny, who both purchased a private performance by Rufus. Bravo’s newest discovery, Simon de Pury, the master of the auction, lured the hottest Mexican contemporary collector Eugenio Lopez into the scene, who hooked an amazing Donald Judd.  

The third and final part of Dante’s Divine Comedy is Paradiso, and the spectacular spinning of Touch of Class was the evening’s finale. And as our travels though Watermill’s Heaven came to end, I turned to Bob and said, “Thank you for the most extraordinary experience of the summer!”

Lisa xo