By Drew Grant 7/12/12 5:41pm

art openings

Julio Gaggia begins his week-long performance at BoConcepts in Chelsea (Patrick McMullan)

He Lives His Life In Public: Artist Will Spend One Week Inhabiting BoConcept Chelsea Storefront

“I am very inspired by Marina Abramovic,” 26-year-old Venenezualan artist Julio Gaggia told The Observer yesterday as he prepared for his life in the fishbowl of Chelsea’s BoConcept store. The young man would be slightly tweaking the “live-in” performances of Ms. Abramovic, including “The Artist is Present” (where she spent 730 hours in a chair at the MoMa, letting people sit facing her and stare into her face), or the much more grueling “Balkan Baroque” for the 1997 Venice Biennale, wherein she spent four days in a broiling basement, cleaning cow bones and weeping.

“Oh shit, someone is drinking my rosé!” He suddenly exclaimed, as friends and gawkers mingled around his new “living” room. He quickly ran to get a glass before it ran out. Read More

By Drew Grant 7/11/12 12:15pm

Celebrity Relationships

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig at "Shut Up And Play The Hits" (Patrick McMullan)

Update: Relationship Milestone: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach Pose for Paparazzi

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Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach are indie Hollywood’s worst kept secret. The duo have been “quietly dating” since September–only one year after his divorce from Jennifer Jason Leigh–but their names rarely appear together in gossip columns.

On several occasions–most noticeably at the Cinema Society screening of Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress–we’ve actually witnessed Mr. Baumbach sliding out of pictures when photographers try to shoot the Greenberg director with his star.

But no longer! They’ve finally been photographed together–at a Peggy Siegal event, no less!– with Mr. Baumbach’s hand on Ms. Gerwig’s neck. Read More

By Ted Gushue 5/08/12 12:00pm

As Seen in SCENE

Priyantha De Silva

Crash and Burn

If you haven’t met Priyantha De Silva, there’s still a good chance you’ve encountered him, perhaps when he was pretending to be someone else: cherubic cocktail chaser, uncredited Academy Award-winning producer, conspicuous Condé Nast editor, philandering philanthropist, ICM agent or the creator of the Kardashians. Some say that if you put your ear to a martini, you can almost hear his overdone debonair voice: “What do you mean I’m not on the list? Don’t you know who I am?” Priyantha De Silva was that really, really sweaty guy of Sri Lankan descent who successfully crowbarred his way into progressively higher social circles, ultimately crashing down into of Manhattan’s most closely guarded venues: Rikers Island. Read More

By Drew Grant 3/28/12 12:34pm

Events

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Who Works Harder, Jon Hamm or Kim Kardashian? : Patrick McMullan, Ben Widdicombe, and Tastemakers Discuss ‘Cult of Celebrity’

(Ben Widdicombe, Glenn Johnson, Patrick McMullan)

Last night the Soho House hosted the Roundtable Creative Media Group‘s monthly salon of industry trends. Five experts from diverse backgrounds spoke to an audience on how exactly celebrities are marketed and branded for today’s magazine and television audience.

What could have turned out to be a snooze-worthy event for anyone not in the branding/PR industry turned out to be a lively, insightful discussion, moderation by Glenn Johnson, Vice President of Evins Communication. Famed photog Patrick McMullan joined Gilt City’s EIC (ex-TMZ editor and tattoo hater) Ben Widdicombe, Slate PR’s Bianca Bianconi, VH1 executive producer Warren Cohen, and Budweiser Entertainment’s Brand Ambassador Colin Gorman to debate everything from Ryan Seacrest‘s deal with Colgate to Andy Warhol, Mob Wives, and Greek gods. (And no, not Chris Hemingsworth as Thor.) Read More

By Drew Grant 3/13/12 9:10am

Menace to Society

Patrick McMullan, Drew Grant

Menace to Society: Lensy Legend Patrick McMullan Helps the Kid Stay in the Picture

I’ll never forget the first piece of advice ever given to me by Patrick McMullan. “Don’t get photographed while doing high-kicks on a stripper pole,” he admonished while snapping pics of me doing my best impression of a “sexy lady,” a la Liz Lemon.

“But I’m having fun!” I whined as I made another one-legged hop around the pole at The Box. Besides, I was having my photo taken by New York’s premier nightlife photographer, so I must have finally been doing something right. I’ve even been considering handing over my Bat Mitzvah photos for Mr. McMullan to slap up on his site, since as everyone knows, the number of images of a person on Patrickmcmullan.com precisely reflects their social status, emotional well-being and innate value as a member of the human race. (I had 3.) Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 3/02/12 10:59am

Atmospheric Disturbances

5 Photos

Atmosphere 5

Last Night’s Best Atmosphere

We combed through the Patrick McMullan photos from last night’s parties to dig up the most simply atmospheric photos that conveyed last night’s atmosphere. They were all captioned “atmosphere” and show you all the fun you were missing–without any distracting boldface names to get in the way! Read More