For the second year, the Parrish Art Museum’s annual Midsummer Party was held in its new home in Water Mill on Saturday, July 12th. A summer highlight, the Midsummer Party is a festive social gathering of art collectors, artists, socialites, entertainers, philanthropists, and business leaders from the Hamptons and beyond. This year, the Parrish raised $1,250,000 and honored philanthropist Inga Maren Otto, as well as award-winning author and filmmaker Katharina Otto-Bernstein, for their contributions to both the Parrish and arts and culture around the world.

Julio and Gazira Gaggia with Josie Paz and Douglas Polly

Jay and Kelly Sugarman

Lisa Perry

World famous event designer Ron Wendt Design presented the 2014 Midsummer Party’s décor, inspired by artist Jennifer Bartlett’s painting, Amagansett Diptych #1. Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception inside the Museum, followed by a sit-down dinner al fresco on the Mildred C. Brinn Terrace at long tables featuring custom blue washed denim tablecloths offset by electric pink chair covers. Reflecting the prominent grid pattern of Bartlett’s work, Wendt lined the tables with handmade narrow gridded wire boxes filled with beach stones and tall hand blown glass vases which reflected the candlelight and supported Nerine lilies overhead. Bands of projected water imagery reflected down the length of the charcoal wooden walls of the terrace while ultra violet lights illuminated glowing pink architectural details in the ceiling. After dinner, guests danced in the Museum’s Lichtenstein Theater, relaxed in lounge areas around the Museum, and visited the exhibitions in the galleries.

Ron shares his inspiration for the stunning decor with KDHamptons: “I allways believing in strong colors for an evening party. This year, I chose electric pink fabric to jacket the chairs and cover the giant lanterns overhead. We then shot ultraviolet light down on them to make them glow pink. For the tables, I took inspiration from Jennifer Bartlett’s painting “Amagansett” which features a beach scene in rich blues as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans. So I made tablecloths in custom dyed denim! The guests sat before handmade long wire boxes which evoked the grid pattern so evident in her work. These were filled with cream colored beach stones and tall hand blown clear glass vases which sparkled in the candle light and held clouds of delicate nerine flowers of shocking pink overhead. The sunset to the west reflected all these colors as the “SuperMoon” rose in the
east!”

Ron Wendt atmosphere…

ATTENDEES INCLUDED:

Deborah Bancroft
Janna Bullock
Liliana Casabal
Melissa Chiu
Stewart Lane & Bonnie Comley
Beth Rudin DeWoody
Kyle DeWoody
Gale & Ira Drukier
Susan de Franca
Mary & Howard Frank
Barbara Goldsmith
Kim Heirston
Dottie Herman
Tony Ingrao & Randy Kemper
Sandra Lee
Dorothy Lichtenstein
Howard Lorber
Nicole Miller
Richard Mishaan
Jamie Niven
Hilary Geary & Wilbur Ross

Campion and Tatiana Platt

Yan Assoun with Polina Proshkina

Josephine Meckseper

Samantha & David Yanks with Debbie Bancroft

Artists in Attendance:

Alice Aycock
Jennifer Bartlett
Ross Bleckner
Bryan Hunt
Mel Kendrick
Maya Lin
Donald Lipski
Josephine Meckseper
Dan Rizzie
Dorothea Rockburne
Clifford Ross
Keith Sonnier
Ned Smyth
Donald Sultan
Robert Wilson
Joe Zucker

Kyle DeWoody

New York-based singer Coleman performed along with dancer/choreographer Richard Move and his multidisciplinary dance/theater company MoveOpolis! On view in the galleries is Jennifer Bartlett: History of the Universe—Works 1970–2011. This first major museum survey of work by the groundbreaking artist Jennifer Bartlett features prime examples of work from each of her creative periods and series, ranging from her signature plate pieces, to complex architectural combinations of paintings and sculpture, to expansive diptychs and triptychs.

Jamie Niven

Also on view at Parrish:

Platform: Maya Lin (through October 13). Maya Lin’s ecologically inspired works exist at the intersection of art, architecture, and environmental science. This exhibition features sculpture, as well as Lin’s work Pin River–Sandy, 2013, a massive geographical installation depicting the boundaries of Hurricane Sandy’s flood plain.

Marcia Dunn Sobel

Second Installation of the Permanent Collection (through October 26)
The Parrish Art Museum’s collection features nearly 3,000 works ranging from the nineteenth century to the present. The portion of the collection currently on view features some works that are being presented for the first time in the Museum’s 115-year history, ranging from masterworks by American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and post-war American realist Fairfield Porter, to work by prominent contemporary artists.

Liliana Cavandish and Ross Bleckner

Sandra Lee

The Parrish Art Museum shares, “We are grateful for the generous support of Presenting Sponsors Porsche Cars North America & Porsche of Southampton and Theory. Additional support has been received from Participating Sponsors Art Elliman by Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, HSBC, Rigby Asset Management, and Art Southampton.”

Randy Kemper, Linda Fargo, and Tony Ingrao

DiMondo

Jean Shafiroff

*** All photos by BFANYC