Slacks for Ella Funt

E got a commission to do a big piece for the New Yorker Passport to the Arts benefit for the High Line. He had a little over a week to do it, but they wanted him to finish it at the cocktail party—sort of a live art thing. When they said that it would be 8 ft. by 8ft., neither of us really pictured how big that really was. It took up our entire living room floor after all the furniture was moved out. Luckily, it came in four 4 ft. x 4 ft. pieces, or it never would have made it up the stairs.
The event itself was fun. In the afternoon, there was a gallery walk. We each had little passport books and each gallery that was part of the event had a rubber stamp of a piece of art that they stamped in our books. I’d never explored the Chelsea galleries before, so it was a good way to look around. Some friends joined us for the cocktail party and E finished his painting in time to have a few drinks with us. It’s funny, all of these sponsored parties seem to be sponsored by some kind of alcohol that you’d never drink otherwise, generally because it’s not very good. This was sponsored by something called St. Germain, some variety of supersweet liqueur. Blech. I think I had a few sips of the St. Germain cocktail before swapping it for wine.
They auctioned off E’s piece in a silent auction, in four pieces. All four pieces sold, which was very exciting.