Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party
Power in the art world is often discreet—etched into museum walls, discussed over gala dinners—but this certainly wasn’t the case on Tuesday night, where pioneers of the industry and New York’s glitterati gathered in full force to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index at Maison Nur in the Lower East Side.
Under black suit jackets and striking wall projections, gallerists, artists and award winners mingled, strategized and celebrated their achievements, interrupted only, of course, by the delicate canapés and the commencement of speeches. “In 2009, Peter Kaplan told Charlie Rose that ‘Observer was meant to diagnose power,’” rang the voice of Observer’s head of editorial, Merin Curotto, from behind the DJ booth. “It was meant to be tremendous fun,” Curotto continued. “Tonight, we embody that spirit.” Scanning the room, it seemed to be just the right diagnosis—a stylish one, at that.
“Observer has chronicled the art world for over four decades,” Kristy Edmunds, director of MASS MoCA, said, perched on a velvety leopard-print sofa as the honoree portion of the evening got underway. The awards spotlighted the figures shaping how capital and vision move through today’s art world, and Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan was up first. Brennan wove through the crowd to collect her award from Muys Snijders, head of art services at Private Client Select, the evening’s presenting sponsor.
“This is a room full of visionaries,” Brennan said as she took the stage. “You are innovative and creative in a time when we face challenges, and we also face opportunities.” She was followed by Artsy CEO Jeffrey Yin, who accepted his honor from Perrotin director and former Guggenheim curator Ylinka Barotto. “Artists tell stories,” Yin said to an enamored room. “They tell stories about ourselves that we didn’t even know.”
Between speeches, chatter rose and cameras shuttered. “There’s some beautiful jewelry in here tonight,” one attendee, leaning on the marbled bar, whispered to her friend on a zebra stool. She may have been referencing Daniella Hull, De Beers’ director of high jewelry, who sparkled in a corner booth. “I love the location, it’s super chic,” said another, somewhere to my left. Pisco sours and espresso martinis floated through the crowd as guests claimed corners in the dimly lit basement. And, they weren’t just any corners. The walls were adorned with art from the private collection of Nur Khan, New York nightlife’s self-proclaimed “pied piper” and owner of Maison Nur. Two large, kaleidoscopic works by Damien Hirst, taken directly from Khan’s home, were hard to miss as you walked in—though, if you did, a third illuminated the lower-level bar. “All my friends are artists,” Khan was overheard telling Curotto as he introduced her to famed fashion photographer Sante d’Orazio. “Sante’s first job was working for Andy Warhol,” Khan said.
Later in the evening, artist Derrick Adams presented Gagosian director Antwaun Sargent with an award in recognition of Sargent’s tireless advocacy for artists. Adams’ art resides in the permanent collections of The Met, the Whitney, the Brooklyn Museum and other top institutions. (In April, “View-Master”—a comprehensive survey of the artist’s twenty years of multidisciplinary practice celebrating contemporary Black life and culture—opens at the ICA in Boston.) Adams offered a gushing, heartfelt tribute as he welcomed Sargent to the stage. “Individuals like Antwaun are the people I speak about when I talk about discovery.”
“The art world is really just about making artist projects come alive,” a soft-spoken Sargent said, adding that he thinks it takes a village for this to happen. “Observer’s Art Index really does shine a light on all of us who are working together with artists to make their ideas come alive in the gallery spaces, museums, and other spaces that make up the institutionalized art world.”
The final honoree of the evening was Dustin Yellin, artist and co-founder of Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn, who accepted the Social Sculpture Award in front of an increasingly packed room. “Ultimately, Dustin built Pioneer Works on the conviction that culture functions best as a commons—an idea many give lip service to but few follow through on,” Observer arts editor Christa Terry said by way of introduction. In his acceptance speech, Yellin implored the room to “work a little harder to love each other more,” and “to find ways to build bridges to each other.”
Most art parties are transient drop-in affairs, part of a curated calendar of gallery openings in a seemingly never-ending cycle of dinners and other happenings, but attendees at the Art Index lingered. Some, like Artforum editor-in-chief Tina Rivers Ryan, Sotheby’s chief communications officer Karina Sokolovsky and gallerist Nicholas Olney, drifted upstairs, where the restaurant had been closed to accommodate an oversubscribed guest list. Others milled around silver platters of pastel macarons. Artists Ryan McGinness and Sébastien Léon Agneessens flitted, all smiles, from one intense conversation to the next. Artnet China publisher Jessica Zhang circled the room in an ornate silk coat as art advisor Maria Brito swept through at full tilt in a giant fur, lamenting that she had to leave so soon. Mega-influencer Jessica Wang glowed beside Joseph Meyer, Observer’s owner and chairman. Ebony L. Haynes, a director at David Zwirner, chatted with Dmitry Komis of Marian Goodman Gallery in Tribeca and Tyler Blackwell, curator of contemporary art at the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky.
“It’s very exciting to be amongst so many great thinkers,” Blackwell said as the music got louder. Komis, standing beside him, nodded. “I think it’s a beautiful evening to celebrate peers and people of influence in the art world,” he added.
