The crowd at the Waterkeeper Alliance’s Art for Water Party was waiting for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the environmental activist who’d brought the crowd together and under whose auspices all the art on the wall was up for sale in a silent auction. When Mr. Kennedy entered, he had on his arm Cheryl Hines, the Curb Your Enthusiasm actress with whom he’s been inseparable since last year. Mr. Kennedy pulled Ms. Hines, in a bandage-style black dress, to speak to John McEnroe, who’d previously told us he was only staying at the party briefly–as he was planning to commentate the Roger Federer-Andy Roddick friendly match tonight.

We caught up with Mr. Kennedy and asked him in which pieces he was most interested. “There are so many great ones!,” he said, citing the work of Peter Sarkisian. “I’ve had an interest in art since I was a kid. We were raised grounded in art. My father [Robert F. Kennedy] used to tell us societies were not remembered from their wars or their politicians but from their poets.” He cited Aeschylus and Aristotle, then was pulled away by someone who worked for Mr. Sarkisian, then took a picture cuddled up next to Ms. Hines next to the tennis star Mr. McEnroe.

Chuck Close arrived in his high-rise motorized wheelchair and his dashiki, and shared with us his thoughts on the current Whitney Biennial. “When I was in the Whitney Biennial, they would have 150 artists instead of 50. It’s much better to have it bigger,” the photographer told us, clutching a cocktail. “When I was young, I hung between De Kooning and Johns at the Biennial. And when I was 29, that was one of the great thrills of my life. The emerging artist ghetto really hurts young artists.”

We asked Jeff Koons whom he was excited to see at the party. “I always like to talk and interact with people,” he told us. Okay!

We spoke to Dorothy Lichtenstein, widow of famed artist Roy, about the cause that brought all the guests to Art for Water. “Some people are dying from lack of water,” she told us, “and some people are dying from too much water in the wrong place–like in Bangladesh! It’s an important issue that needs to be dealt with today.” We asked Ms. Lichtenstein if she was planning on bidding on any of the art at the silent auction. “I’m only bidding at auctions!,” she told us. “I like to collect all of my art at benefits.”

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