Russell Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation Art for Life Benefit is always a great night, but this year’s benefit, “Midnight at the Oasis,” at Fairview Farms in Bridgehampton, was special thanks to a performance by Cynthia Erivo. Much beloved for her Tony awarded turn as Celie in last year’s revival of The Color Purple, Erivo channeled Whitney Houston for “I Want to Dance with Somebody,” and begged indulgence for an under rehearsed cover of the Beatles’ “Let It Be.” Trust me, no apology was necessary. Meantime, Simmons who is vegan, is finding more and more inventive ways to serve pasta “Bolognese” and “chicken” over waffles to the large crowd supporting this charity every year.
The next day, at a swank Sagaponack estate for brunch, art lovers heard Audrey Flack explain why she loves Jackson Pollock, and the reasons are complicated. But Flack, a painter and sculptor, can spin a good tale: back in the day, a young beauty named Ruth Kligman included Flack in a show she was curating, and later wanted Flack to introduce her to the painters of the day: Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Jackson Pollock. Flack pointed the way to the Cedar Bar, and the rest, as they say, is history. As you know, Kligman, with whom Pollock was having a, eh, liaison, was sole survivor in the car that he crashed in 1956, killing himself and her girlfriend.
Of course, talk went to another artist, Alfonso Ossorio, who lived at the Creeks, and who befriended Pollock and his wife Lee Krasner. On the panel with Audrey Flack were Daniel Schrader and Nick Cinque who worked on the recent Ossorio show at Sotheby’s. The art house hosted this event in collaboration with Guild Hall whose head curator Christina Strassfield moderated. Over bellinis, bite-sized eggs benedict, and chocolate, this was a luxurious way to indulge stories about reckless, scruffy artists.
We ended up at Amagansett’s Sotto Sopra for a state of the art Italian dinner, sticking with the classics: Caprese salad, veal Milanese, and tiramisu, all simply perfect.
Next weekend: LongHouse Reserve’s “Boom!” gala promises provocative art installations, an art auction, awards to “explosion artist” Cai Guo-Quiang and the Guggenheim’s Alexandra Munroe, and a celebration of LongHouse founder Jack Lenor Larsen’s 90th birthday.
Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura
Comments