George Rush, Tama Janowitz and
Arto Lindsay | 
Lauren Ezersky and
Michaela Martigniani | 
Olivia Georgia, Michèle Gerber Klein
and Joanna Molloy | 
Tony Gardner, Janis Cecil and
Charles Cecil | BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS
Carriage Trade Treks Down To
East Village To Tout Tropicalia Story by Roger Webster
Photos by Tara Todras-Whitehill/Patrick McMullan  ICHELE GERBER KLEIN hosted a wildly entertaining dinner party to announce Bronx Museum of the Arts’ upcoming Brazilian exhibition, Tropicália, curated by her co-host Carlos Basualdo, at the new East Village hot spot Chez es Saada.
This was a perfect choice as the restaurant is literally covered with art: on the walls, on the furniture, from the sound system and decidedly from the kitchen. They served caipirinhas, wickedly trendy South American drinks prepared with cachaça and fresh limes, Jerusalem bread, tuna tartar, thick delicious lamb chops, and knafeh for dessert.
Guests descended a stairway, strewn with rose petals, and found themselves in an exotic dining room decorated by Izar Patkin featuring his 1989 neoprene wall hangings depicting a Baroque cornucopia of foods, stars and gardens that were once a part of Holly Solomon’s legendary art collection. Guests included the designer Kaspar; the novelist Tama Janowitz and her husband Tim Hunt of the Warhol Foundation; Sotheby’s Royce Pinkwater; Michaela Martigniani, an art collector from Sag Harbor via Italy; The Daily News’ George Rush and Joanna Molloy; Charles Cecil and the Marlborough Gallery’s Janis Cecil with her father Tony Gardner; I-20 Gallery’s Alice and Paul Judelson. Also W Magazine’s James Reginato; Jeffry Klein; Quest Magazine’s Jennifer Ceaser; Mona Wyatt, art historian Gabriella De Ferrari; Behind the Velvet Ropes’ Lauren Ezersky; and Italian Architectural Digest writer Gracia d’Annunzio, the granddaughter of the famous poet and playwright Gabriele d'Annunzio. Bronx Museum of the Art’s director Olivia Georgia and curators Lydia Yee and Amy Martin spoke about the Brazilian exhibit, scheduled to open in May 2005. It will include music, sculpture, performance and paintings by artists such as musician Arto Lindsay, “experience” sculptor Ernesto Neto, and photographer Eli Sudbrack, who were all at the party. Alina Slonim, Chez es Saada’s attractive proprietress, brought her talent all the way from Israel to add to the international magic of New York. | 
