With Patrick Martinez’s grand neon installation offering a backdrop with messages like “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now”, the Whitney Museum of American Art’s annual Art Party felt more united in spirit than ever before.
After a two-year hiatus, one of New York’s most intergenerational parties has roared back, claiming sold-out status with would-be guests even trying their hand for a ticket at the door (for $500.00, on-the-spot). But this isn’t simply a party for party’s sake- all proceeds benefit the Whitney Museum directly and the Whitney’s dearly-cherished Independent Study Program.
With Julian Schnabel and Jenny Holzer counted among its graduates, the ISP is a celebrated “finishing school” for artists, providing a setting within which students pursuing art practice, curatorial work, art historical scholarship, and critical writing engage in ongoing discussions and debates that examine the historical, social, and intellectual conditions of artistic production.
While guests to this event are welcomed to indulge in passed delights by Olivier Cheng and drinks by Tequila Casa Dragones, the most tantalizing incentive to stop is for the unfettered access to the whole the museum, including the latest exhibitions on view, such as the wide-reaching Edward Hopper’s New York, which explores the artist’s relentless fascination with the city, revealing a vision of New York and a clear-eyed record of the city at Hopper’s time.
Guests also had a final chance to explore the celebrated At the Dawn of a New Age: Early Twentieth-Century American Modernism, which showcases art produced between 1900 and 1930 by American modernists including Isamu Noguchi and Pamela Colman Smith.
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck, 1909 (printed c. 1920–30) by Pamela Colman Smith (image: The Whitney)
As for the party, it was very much an A-list situation with guests including Ashley Graham, Karen Elson, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Spector, Nili Lotan (also a sponsor for the evening), Tracy Anderson, Rachel Rossin, Jennifer Fisher, Malcolm Jenkins and many more. Artists who joined the festivities included Mark Carson, Danielle De Jesus, Miles Greenberg, Genesis Tramaine, and Chloe Wise. Authors Candace Bushnell and Sydney Sadick made appearances and influencers included Grace Atwood, Ashley Bestdressed, Liv Schreiber, Dylana Lim Suarez, Melissa Vale joined.
DJ sets by Questlove (who also managed to orchestrate the Hip Hop tribute at The Grammy’s not a week later) and The Muses entertained guests throughout the evening. With a dress code of “your astrological sign”, the Whitney Art Party was, once again, out of this world.
Learn more about The Whitney at https://whitney.org/
