Am leaving the hustle and bustle and tiredness of deadline month for New York tomorrow … and a long weekend of Art awaits. First stop is the much anticipated collaboration between the Christie’s and Murakami, previewing at the Gagosian and then the Impressionist and Modern view … and off course, plenty of oysters and a dinner at Peter Luger’s to see in the weekend.
is how my friend Jini summed my life up atm. Flying between San Francisco, New York and London on a monthly basis she asked how I do it? Weird question! I guess to many it seems tiring but for me, I still love the thrill of a plane ride and … these three amazing cities? - who can complain?
I didn’t used to get New York but recent months and a hectic schedule have meant that it has become the natural meeting point between SF and London for me and my long long looong distance boyfriend. I actually used to hate the fact it was so big and in that sense, so similar to London - size and walkability is something SF trumps over. But … recent trips and forays into NY have made me love it a little more from the dodgy looking subway even though in reality it is probably much safer than the tube, to the quaint little neighbourhoods with their upscale or downright cheap eateries. To follow are some of my haunts I’ve have frequented recently so I remember them, my memory at the age of 28 seems to lapse all too easily (!)
Drinking at The Soho Grand last night.
Oh! To be Marie-Thérèse Walter!
Who’s the Most Popular Girl in the Art World?: Why, Marie-Thérèse Walter of course. Last year Picasso’s painting of his nymphet mistress set a $106.5 million world record at Christie’s New York, her portraits are the subject of a ravishing Picasso show at Gagosian, and now Christie’s will be presenting another of the artist’s libidinal paintings of her as its marquee lot in London on June 21. Titled “Jeune Fille Endormie,” the Fauve-paletted 1935 painting of Walter napping (while her vaginal hands hint at where the artist’s mind really is) will be hitting the block with a high estimate of £12 million ($13.55 million), with the proceeds pledged by its anonymous seller to the University of Sydney’s medical research fund. Not seen in public for 70 years, according to the auction house, the painting joins another Walter portrait that is heading to Sotheby’s in May.
Roy Lichtenstein’s Ohhh…Alright…, 1964
The top lot of Christie’s 10 November Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York was Roy Lichtenstein’s Pop Art masterpiece Ohhh…Alright… which achieved $42,642,500, establishing a new world auction record for the artist. Painted in 1964 using his signature Ben-Day dots, Lichtenstein’s image of a blue-eyed, flame haired beauty illustrates the brash comic styling of the artist’s most celebrated period of artistic production.
