Photos by Zack Whitford/BFA
The Maybourne Beverly Hills kicked off Frieze Los Angeles week on Monday, Feb.13 with an al fresco soiree celebrating an inspiring new installation on the hotel's rooftop by contemporary artist Joel Mesler titled "Hopes & Dreams." Guests from the art and entertainment worlds including Lake Bell, Alex Israel and Scott Campbell enjoyed a candelit dinner with cocktails and menu by Dante Beverly Hills — the West Coast branch of the famed New York City restaurant and aperitivo bar run by Linden Pride and Nathalie Hudson, which will be opening at The Maybourne this spring. Dante NYC's resident musician Louis B. Middleton played piano tunes while guests sampled Italian- and Mediterranean-inspired dishes such as burrata with slow-roasted heirloom tomato and snake river ribeye with salsa verde. Mesler's paintings explore universal themes through his signature humor, self-deprecation and compositional juxtapositions.
Lake Bell, Robert Russell, Lisa Edelstein and Dinos Chapman
Xan Sarafin and Joel Mesler
On Wednesday, Feb. 15, Ardor at The West Hollywood EDITION held an intimate dinner for Palestinian/Jordanian artist and filmmaker Sarah Bahbah, who just released her first fine art photography book, Dear Love. Bahbah, who was raised in Australia and now lives in Los Angeles, noted that the book — filled with over 600 photographs — took her 10 years, and is a memoir of her life. Bahbah's worked with brands such as Gucci, Condé Nast, Capitol Records, Sony Music and GQ, and directed three music videos for music producer Kygo. Over 25 art fairs and galleries, from Saatchi Gallery London to Scope Art Basel, exhibited her work before she left to become an independent artist.
Sarah Bahbah; Photos by Loamis Media
"I'm going to give you a little preview: The beginning is Sarah telling you something about life and love and loss and trauma and pain," said curator Afrodet Zuri, who gathered her friends from the art world to celebrate the occasion. "The rest are all these incredible series divided into chapters that speak to every one of us — whether you have been loved and lost, or not loved or not lost. And I think that you're going to look back at this moment and realize that sitting in front of you today is one of the greatest contemporary artists of our times."
Afrodet Zuri, Sarah Bahbah and Gigi Hamdan
Guests from the art, literary and entertainment worlds — including Jarry Lee, Gigi Hamdan, Christopher Rivas and Gaïa Jacquet-Matisse — dined on signature Ardor dishes from chef John Fraser, such as milk bread, cleaver octopus and the gooseberry phyllo pizza dessert. Beverage director Amy Racine created special mezcal-based cocktails and non-alcoholic options to complement the dishes, which Zuri named after the chapters in Dear Love, from "The Wild Ones" to "Summer Without a Pool" and “Bonjour Bitches.” To accompany the book, this week Bahbah also released her official short film Untangled created in partnership with Valentino Beauty. She hinted a network project and more filmmaking is to come.
After curating an Andy Warhol exhibit this time last year for Dorchester Collection's Hotel-Bel Air, art collector and the hotel brand's new L.A. curator of the arts Jim R. Hedges, IV curated an exhibit on famed photographer Jean Pigozzi for The Beverly Hills Hotel — which the hotel celebrated with the photographer and some of his starry subjects, like Lorne Michaels, on Thursday, Feb. 16. Paris-born photographer Jean Pigozzi found it difficult to read his own handwriting due to his dyslexia, so he began taking photos as a way to document his life. Known for candidly capturing the elite, he included himself in his photos — which no one had done at the time. The 6'4" photographer credited his height: "The reason I invented the selfie is because I have very long arms," he's said.
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When asked which was his favorite piece of the 39 Pigozzi shot over the last five decades — most of which feature luminaries from the fashion and entertainment worlds — Hedges picked this one, of the Rolls-Royce cars parked outside The Beverly Hills Hotel, taken in 1974 by the photographer who'd lived there. Also on display are Pigozzi's candid photos of notables including Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Quincy Jones, Tom Ford and more, all of which are for sale and will remain on view in the hotel's lobby.
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