Celebrating artists on both sides of the border

COS partners with Dia Art Foundation for the Dia:Beacon Spring Benefit, Beacon, N.Y.

In the spring of 2003, 100 kilometres north of New York in the darling town of Beacon, a former Nabisco box-printing factory reopened as Dia:Beacon, the Dia Art Foundation’s 160,000-square-foot permanent home for works predominantly from the 1960s and 1970s. Recently, during the foundation’s annual spring benefit luncheon on May 5, two new displays of remarkable works by Mary Corse, a pioneering member of the Light and Space art movement, and abstract artist Dorothea Rockburne were unveiled. Both women were in attendance. Rockburne was born in Montreal and her works, namely those which employ paper folding techniques, have inspired a new fashion collection by Swedish brand COS. The retailer’s creative director, Karin Gustafsson, served as a co-chair of the midday to-do alongside artist Carroll Dunham and philanthropic types Nathalie and Charles de Gunzburg, and Michael P. Schulhof. The afternoon kicked off with a reception given in the expansive gallery containing works by light artist Dan Flavin; later, lunch was served family-style in the gallery teeming with, and dedicated to, works by sculptor John Chamberlain. Outside, as festivities drew to a close, and patrons and artists including Carl Andre and Tracey Emin headed back to the city or nearby country retreats, Robert Irwin’s forecourt, was the site for a final afternoon toast. Proceeds from the lunch support Dia:Beacon’s exhibitions and programming.

McCord Museum Ball, Montreal

A few night’s earlier, in Montreal, on May 3, the McCord Museum hosted its most important annual fundraising ball, this year inspired by couturier Cristobal Balenciaga, whose work the museum will present come June 15 in Balenciaga, Master of Couture, the only North American stop for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s blockbuster exhibition. The evening put fashion first, underscoring the institution’s ongoing interest in presenting exhibitions focused on fashion, drawn mostly from its remarkable holding of dress and textiles, the largest Canadian fashion collection in this country. Projected on screens around the sweeping gallery where dinner was served were images of Balenciaga’s most famous works and flanking the podium where co-chairs Bita Cattelan and Nathalie Lévesque spoke, were cheeky balloon sculptures conceived by designer Denis Gagnon and inspired by iconic frocks made by the Spanish-born couturier. Arsenal Contemporary Art was the location for the sold-out event, which, coupled with a cocktail soirée held the following evening, raised an impressive $1,085,000, funds that support, among other ventures, the McCord Museum’s education programs focused on the history of Montreal.

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