A Shed full of celebs
There were famous faces at Frieze New York’s VIP preview on Wednesday. These included the CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper browsing the aisles, no doubt hoping to add to his burgeoning contemporary art collection. Other stars in attendance were the artist and REM singer Michael Stipe—who graced the cover of New York magazine’s Look Book—and the art-fair veteran Leonardo DiCaprio. We are told Leo was holding hands with his mother (bless), with the art adviser Ralph DeLuca by his side. Fellow actor (and visual artist) Sharon Stone also made an appearance, while our spies also spotted Julia Fox at the Shed.
Artistic director James McAnally gave partygoers the triennial lowdown on Wednesday Photo by Casey Kelbaugh, courtesy of Counterpublic
Art’s intoxicating aroma
Guests packed a party in Tribeca to celebrate the third Counterpublic Triennial, Coyote Time, launching in September in St. Louis. The event—presented in partnership with your favourite art publication (this one!) and Frieze New York—was filled with trendy people keen to hear about the Midwestern public art event, featuring works by 50-plus artists. Guests were impressed by the swag, with baseball caps and silk scarves on offer among the cocktails and canapés. Noses twitched when an eau de parfum created by the artist Emma McCormick Goodhart—Cave 0, developed by her scent studio, Ecdysis—was “diffused into space and on cocktail glassware”, providing a sweet odeur. “What a brilliant olfactory experience!” declared a delighted partygoer.
Sound move: Kite (far right) and her ensemble traverse Frieze Photo: Steven Molina Contreras
Following the music
A new commission and performance by the Oglála Lakȟóta artist Kite at the Shed is turning heads. Kite’s all-encompassing musical interludes with a small ensemble are fast becoming a highlight of Frieze New York. As the composer and performance artist has described her project: “The walls feature the design of Lakȟóta symbols rendered from dream discussions with St. Louis community members… We travel through the fair as a group of musicians to play these symbols as a graphic score.” This journey through the fair, up and down the escalators and across the corridors, is beguiling but also a little challenging for some visitors. “I can’t follow that music up and down those stairways,” quipped one dedicated but drained follower.
Strike a pose
The great and the good of the art world are being photographed for a special version of New York magazine’s Look Book—a compendium of the crème de la crème of luminaries gracing Frieze New York. The Look Book, a staple of local events like the New York Film Festival, hits the Frieze fair bins daily and features a selection of portraits snapped in a special photo studio on the fair’s top floor. Frieze London director Eva Langret lined up for a pic on the first day, as did the collector Beth Rudin DeWoody (the singer Michael Stipe and collector Christy Ferer were included in the first issue). How did Rudin DeWoody feel about having a possible starring role in the Look Book? “The problem is you can’t smile,” she told us, “but I threw a few smiles in.” What a rebel.
