Byline: Mitchell Mulholland

Well, it seems to me that with all this talk about who or who will not be merging with MOCA, the question ought to be: When is New York City slicker Jeffrey Deitch getting the hell out of Dodge? Because judging by the all cowboys and cowgirls at Richard Prince’s Gagosian pre-Oscar bash, they were looking to lynch him right then and there. Talk about getting the cold shoulder… I saw people literally walk the other way when they saw him approach. After one woman ditched Deitch while he was in mid-sentence, Jeffrey resigned himself to hanging onto the coattails of Eli Broad, who seemed unfazed by the public shunning. Wild Westers included Pamela Anderson, Elton John, Vera Wang, Adrien Brody, mega-collector Peter Brant, Piero Golia, Doug Aitken, pervy Terry Richardson, Perry Rubenstein, Charlie James, Marlboro man Gavin Brown, André Balazs, Marina Abramovic, Rosson Crow and Cathy Opie, whose new show opened a few nights later.

The Regen Projects show had Opie back to her old tricks of photographing fauxmos and gender benders, but this time with a certain Renaissance richness. LGBTs and those who love them included fellow photog Greg Gorman, Lari Pittman, Roy Dowell, and John Waters, who had just been dubbed “the Brad Pitt of Baltimore” at the Independent Spirit Awards earlier that day. Diana Nyad was happily swimming with sharks like fashion designer Aliona Kononova (if Carlee Fernandez didn’t stuff it first). The Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy were inseparable, and MOCA’s Lyn Winter bravely made an appearance.

One of Opie’s gender-bending subjects, Math Bass, was the central figure in a performance piece presented by LAND at Human Resources. Ms. Bass, sitting on a ladder, read poetry and sang while Anna Sew Hoy and Claire Kohne rolled large balls of clay around the floor of the gallery picking up beads, buttons and coins thrown on the floor by the audience. Litterbugs included giant elf Fritz Haag, Scott Benzel, the Lady Eve Fowler, Leonardo Bravo, and international party girl Shamim Momin.

And speaking of balls (or the lack thereof), there was definitely more estrogen than testosterone at Mario Testino’s Prism Gallery opening on the Sunset Strip. PC Valmorbida played host to Naomi “blood diamonds” Campbell, Gisele Bundchen, Gia Coppola, Nina Clemente, Czech beauty Karolina Kurkova, Bee Wintour, Dree Hemingway and a dyked-up and toned-down Kim Kardashian. The after party was held at Fleur de Lys, the Bel Air mansion built by Texan billionaire David Saperstein, but now owned by ex-wife Suzanne Saperstein—whom he ditched for the childrens’ hot Swedish nanny. The legendary couture maven, glamazon, and competitive Latin dance diva had turned the ballroom into a disco complete with a lit-up dance floor. Fanny bumpers included homeless billionaire Nicolas Berggruen, Barry McGee, Zac Posen, Jeremy Scott, Liz Goldwyn, Miley Cyrus, actor Jared Leto and Demi Moore’s new boytoy Vito Schnabel. And at the end of the night, there was heroic, mysterious loner Larry Gagosian, riding off into the sunset, Sunset Boulevard, that is.

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