Brooke Shields, Padma Lakshmi Back NYAA’s Take Home a Nude Benefit
The evening also honored artist Salman Toor.
“This is an emergency,” Alan Cumming declared on Monday night. “This is an art emergency.”
The actor was tapping a gavel against the podium at Sotheby's, sounding the alarm for the crowd filtering into the ground floor auction hall. “All you people coming downstairs, hurry,” he called out to the stragglers. “Because we're here tonight to raise money for a very good cause.”
Cumming was one of the chairs for the New York Academy of Art's annual Take Home a Nude art auction and party, and was gamely riling up the crowd. “We're doing it because we love art and we want to nourish new artists and the education that they could get,” he continued, before passing the gavel to auctioneer Kimberly Pirtle. “So it's very important that we gather our thoughts, get our credit cards ready and shut the f--k up.”
The evening had kicked off more than two hours beforehand with a silent auction and cocktail party upstairs. Hopeful bidders huddled around each work displayed on the wall as stiltwalkers accompanied auction staff around the room closing each lot one-by-one.
“Before the party starts, I run around and do a speed shop and put bids on a ton of things that I'm interested in,” said NYAA president David Kratz. “I always tell people this is where art meets football: it's art as a contact sport. Because people are pushing each other and, you know, making sure they're in there.”
The pushing, of course, was metaphorical as bidders crowded each other out on the various bid sheets. “I have to say, I love this one,” remarked
NYAA trustee Brooke Shields as she walked by Sean Mellyn's snowman sketch “Hog Tied,” which proved to be a particularly popular piece; the bid sheet was practically full with backand-forth bidding well before its 8 p.m. close. Nearby, another woman lingering next to a jaguar print cheered when she was declared the winner.
Other guests included NYAA board member Eileen Guggenheim, who accompanied Padma Lakshmi in the front row during the auction; Victoria's Secret president Greg Unis; Sharon Jacob, Nicole Miller, Candace Bushnell and Debbie Bancroft, and artists Lynn Goldsmith, Justin Wadlington, Zachari Logan, Sante D'Orazio, Reisha Perlmutter and Indira Cesarine.
After the silent and live auctions, the crowd headed upstairs for a seated dinner.
“I suddenly realized this event is like a triathlon,” Kratz told the crowd as guests settled into their main course, doubling down on the sports comparisons. “It has three stages. It has a silent auction, a live auction and a dinner. And it's kind of an endurance test,” he added. “If you're in this room and you have a babysitter, and you're paying them extra, just send us a bill; we'll take it.”
In addition to raising funds for the school, the evening honored queer Pakistani artist Salman Toor, who was awarded an honorary doctorate during dinner. Kratz also announced the creation of a new scholarship in the artist's name.
Incoming Whitney Museum director Scott Rothkopf took the podium to laud Toor's work. The Whitney Museum exhibited Toor's paintings in 2020 — originally set for the spring and pushed back several months due to the pandemic.
“I remember feeling so incredibly lucky, Salman, and so honored that your work would be the work that would welcome people back to the Whitney,” said Rothkopf, addressing the artist. “The imagery in
[your] paintings of people at home, of people together, of people feeling comfort among their friends — sometimes alienation too, of course — would be this welcome, this greeting,” he added. “It became this kind of beacon and this transponder to so many people all around the world who felt that your work had something to give them that they deeply needed.”