Whitehot Magazine
"The Best Art In The World"
by Paul Laster
LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton embraces the idea of living with art in all of its forms. Since the founding of the 16-acre sculpture garden and arboretum by renowned textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen in 1991, the Reserve has grown to include beautifully landscaped grounds, 60 sculptural works, and seasonal exhibitions.
The sculpture garden features important installations by Willem de Kooning, Sol LeWitt, Yoko Ono, and Dale Chihuly, and this year’s exhibition program highlights contemporary works by Alice Aycock, Yoan Capote, Ai Weiwei, and Jack Youngerman.
The LongHouse Summer Benefit Gala is one of the most anticipated social events in the Hamptons. July 20th’s glamorous affair was attended by hundreds of artist, collectors, curators, dealers, and philanthropists.
Dubbed “White Night,” in homage to one of this year’s honorees—architect Richard Meier—the gala featured entertainment by the experimental Elisa Monte Dance, avant-garde saxophonist Dickie Landry, and Iranian singer and composer Sussan Deyhim. Other 2013 honorees included Chinese artist and activist Ai Wewei and the late Lisa de Kooning.
The Alice Aycock exhibition marked the first public viewing of her magnificent sculpture Maelstrom, a 30-foot long, white, painted aluminum piece that will be expanded to 70-feet when next exhibited on New York’s Park Avenue in 2014 (thanks to Berlin’s Galerie Thomas Schulte, Salomon Contemporary in New York, and the Fund for Park Avenue.)
“When Dianne [LongHouse president Dianne B] and Matko [executive director Matko Tomicic] approached me about Alice’s work over the winter, it seemed like a natural fit,” James Salomon told Whitehot at the gala. “I have been coming to LongHouse since 2005 and they host one of the most enjoyable parties of the summer . . . you can walk off and explore, then come back to the festivities.”
“Besides that,” Salomon added, “I am truly honored to be working with Alice and Thomas on this mammoth Park Avenue project, and equally thrilled to be sharing a preview of the installation here.”
Maelstrom, which will be sited in front of the iconic Seagram Building, is part of a six-sculpture series—titled Paper Chase—that will grace Park Avenue between 52nd and 57th Streets next spring and summer.
The White Night party also provided a sneak-peak of the upcoming Ai Weiwei exhibition—Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold—that opens on August 2nd, along with a show of works by Cuban artist Yoan Capote, at the Reserve. And, it gave guests another chance to view Jack Youngerman’s Black & White show, which opened on April 20th and runs through October 12th.
Scroll through the images below to view some of the faces in the crowd at White Night. WM
Paul Laster is a writer, editor, curator, artist and lecturer. He’s a contributing editor at ArtAsiaPacific and Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art and writer for Time Out New York, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Galerie Magazine, Sculpture, Art & Object, Cultured, Architectural Digest, Garage, Surface, Ocula, Observer, ArtPulse, Conceptual Fine Arts and Glasstire. He was the founding editor of Artkrush, started The Daily Beast’s art section, and was art editor of Russell Simmons’ OneWorld Magazine, as well as a curator at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, now MoMA PS1.
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