Great Smiles - April 2010

My impenetrable Israeli Easter bubble has finally burst!

I was celebrating our daughter turning into an adult and we invited a few of our friends to join us in the Dead Sea it was a dream. Now back and buried deep into the art bubble again.
But even in Israel we managed to check out the vibrant and über trendy Tel Aviv art scene.

We headed to Jaffa and after ate an amazing lunch in the harbour amongst the fishing boats: Shifra from Dvir Gallery joined art lovers Simon, Kenny, Jaqui, Daniel, Amir, Lizzie, Arlene, Tiffany and myself. And then off to Dvir gallery where Shifra and her son proudly stand in the midst of works by Abdel Abdessemed and Claire Fontaine.
















Then we went to the Dead Sea where Thomas Dane and Paul Pfeiffer show off their mud. I promised Thomas i would not show a picture of him without his hat ... so no mud pictures unless Michael Landy begs me to. (Photo: Richard Braine)





Then back to London and 176, where the Library of Babel is in full swing (extended until 13 June art lovers!). We have had so many excellent guest speakers take tours, which as well as the artists in the show include other volunteers from all walks of life.

Tracey dropped by for a tour with Catharina, Sophie von Hellermann and Alex Heim to talk about her photograph called ‘Good Smile, Great Come.’







Sarah Thornton joined Sue Pearce and Anne Welsh who gave talks on collecting and knowledge - it was very entertaining.










Artist Lora Hristova gave a talk on her favourite artists in the show - it was wonderfully dark in nature.










I went to Dasha’s BRIC tea party at Philips, it was a lovely afternoon, then to Fake Modern at Camden Arts Centre for the Outset Big Rip Off day.














I acquired some bricks by Caragh Thuring and some wool by Katja Strunz. Alex De Cunha gave quite a quirky henna Sierra performance....







Then I went to the wonderful lunch for BFAMI. It is their tenth year and Tracey Emin was the honoured recipient of the Woman in Arts award. She gave the most wonderful talk with Tim Marlow interviewing. Then popped on her top hat and raised many twenty pound notes before picking the winner... me! And nope, it was not fixed.

Tracey could see I did not want to give my beautiful mono print away so she generously donated yet another which went to Pamela Crystal.







Then Graham Steele of White Cube desperately counted the money with the help of his assistant Tim Marlow.














Assistant and Chairman Wendy Fisher with Tracey
















Muriel Salem and Georgina Djanogly with Tracey









Heather Kerzner, Tim Marlow and Candida Gertler - giving great smiles.








Later I dropped into the show of Gerry Fox at eleven - the show is very beautiful and an amazing introduction to any collector of Modern Masters who wishes to collect contemporary art.








His few days old little girl also paid a visit to the show...










Then I head of to the Victoria and Albert depositories at Blyth House for the new Artangel project by Judith Clark and Adam Phillips: The Concise Dictionary of Dress.

It is all one big huge mystery that perplexed me from beginning to end, even with Alain De Botton as my walking partner.







Then to Modern Art Inc and the mesmerising show by Nigel Cooke. He gave myself and some ladies a lovely talk on the story of creativity.







Hilary Crisp had created a wonderful show with the help of Graham Hudson. This is a work by RCA student Ed Fornieles. I am wondering if this might influence my younger kids to want to collect?

New York New York

New York New York

Everywhere we went in New York, Alicia Keys' song was blaring in my ears!
We had the most amazing time and our trip was very successful.

The Armory organisers can be very proud of themselves, as they created a great vibe through the city.

The Armory itself was a little too visual for me - especially being jetlagged. But we did spot a few great art works - Rina Banerjee, Philip Lorca di Corcia, David Haines (who sold out his booth within the first minute of the art fair opening).

David Haines







Our first stop was to Dakis Joannou at the New Museum. We bumped into a few great friends,

like Dakis and Lisa Dennison,









Tim Noble with blonde woman,









Richard Flood who was checking in his guests on arrival.









The next day was a whirlwind of art fairs: Pulse, our first stop, where we saw the work of Timothy Berg and Rebekah Myers's Futurama

Then we went to Volta, where Heather Cantrell was creating some interesting new photos. Watch out for the gorilla and the fox in the background of other shots!



Andrew Renton













The Independent fair was by far our favourite. It did not feel like and art fair.

We made a few gallery visits, and our favourite were Bryce Wolkowicz Gallery, showing the Helsinki School. And at Deitch Projects, showing the work of Rosson Crow. And a wonderful show at Andrea Rosen showing Wolfgang Tillmans.

Amir Shariat becoming and MB gallerist for the day at Marianne Boesky Gallery.















We gave a lovely dinner for Tate





We had some wonderful guests, including some collectors from around the world including Rob Diament and Russell Tovey! Also joining us were Gabriel Orozco, Tino Sehgal, Matthew Day Jackson, Susan Collis, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Tracey Emin.

The new married couple, the De Purys joined us and were very happy as their sale was a big success.









Afterwards, we went with Tracey, Rob and Russell to the Avenue, where she kindly gave my friend Jill dancing lessons.














We dropped by Matthew Day Jackson's studio in Brooklyn, and he introduced us to
Nick Van Woert and







Amir Shariat and Matthew Day Jackson









Jorg Grimm, Amir Shariat, Dave McDermott and Matthew Day Jackson















Lizzie checking it out









Our late nighter, we spent at the Mercer, with Thomas Dane and Simon Preston
Thomas and Lizzie







Simon
















Our last stop was visiting Vito Schnabel and his brothers Si and Olmo at the Brucennial 2010, where we purchased his latest discovery, Vahakn Arslannin and purchased our very first Aaron Young for the Collection.






Work by Vahakn Arslannin
















Then back home to London, and at 176 we hosted a panel discussion for Israeli video artists, who had been showing at Tate Modern, chaired by Candida Gertler and organised by Ayelet Elstein.






Then off to the CAS dinner, which was a great success. Everybody looked amazing, dressed in white.







Michael King looked like Larry Gagosian? ...Or Steve Martin? Definitely somebody famous.















Top marks for Elsian! I award her ten out of ten.

The Library of Babel

Max Wigram gave me a special tour of his wonderful new space... he is a very happy gallerist.






He is now exactly where he should be! Go Go Max...

Then we dropped by Conor Harrington's studio. He's one of those artists who never leaves my mind and eats away at it till finally I have to take my thoughts seriously and go for it and commission him to create the biggest painting for our home.





After lingering in the ski slopes with my kids, 176 worked themselves to the ground. Poor Ellen head of exhibitions did not even make it to the opening so she is the unsung hero...hanging the Library of Babel, a show so chaotic that somehow there is definitely some kind of coherence. Everyone tells me it is an amazing show and the art is fabulous. Lizzie, the 176 team, the artists, gallerists, fellow collectors, our advisors, friends are all so happy so I am very happy! BEST SHOW IN LONDON!


















Alex Heim, Nicole Wermers and Sophie von Hellermann









Anna-Catharina Gebbers did an amazing job. So many people came from Germany to visit us, so we gave them a very special lunch at home...

Nick Hackworth, Gosha Ostretsov, Matthew Houlding, Tom Früchtl




Ryan Gander, Anthony Green, Keith Tyson





Lora Hristova standing with her works in my bathroom









Andrew Grassie, Anna-Catharina Gebbers and Bernt Heusinger






Smirting in the garden!









Helen Frik, Poppy Sebire, Neil Hamon, Helene Appel





George Young, Sveinn Fannar Johannson and Henrietta, his partner





Jonathan Viner and Hilary Rose Crisp











David O'Kane

















Giles Eldridge and Bea De Souza






Mummery + Schnelle












George Young and Steve Bishop








Anne Hardy and Kate MacGarry









...then had an amazing party and after-party at Spring Studios for about 500 guests. Thank you everyone for taking the time and effort - we so do appreciate it.

Rob Diament with Scott














Bunny Bridges









Gosha Ostretsov and a friend



















The party at Spring






Me with Oskar Schmidt








Alexander Zika talking with Liz Neal
















The next day Lizzie and I xombied our way to the Rochelle School and met my lil' sis' Yana Peel (a little pregnant), Johnathan Viner, Sophie Von Hellerman and S Mark Gubb for a lovely lunch.