Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Imagine a surfer’s party on the beach: wavy blond hair, to-die-for physiques, Hawaii T-shirts. Now add the darlings of the party scene in the Meatpacking District, not to mention the surfers who’ve grown up to earn fortunes in office buildings, and you have some idea of the scene Saturday night at the Surfrider Foundation’s art auction.
There was world champion Shaun Tomson; the daughter of the 1960s surfing icon Paul Strauch, Summer, named after her father’s famous surfing film “The Endless Summer,” and the co-founder of the world’s first artificial surf park, in Orlando, Fla., Jamie Meiselman.
The fashionistas didn’t exactly blend in: the editor in chief of Flare, Suzanne Boyd, who wore Nina Ricci and Chanel; designers Cynthia Rowley and Jamison Ernest; the editor at large of Suede, Ian Hylton, and models Lydia Hearst and Bridget Hall.
And from the music industry: Damon Dash, Todd Moscowitz, and the chairman of Warner Music Group, Lyor Cohen.
The party started with a preview of the surfboards. Their creators, most of them surfers themselves, included video artist Melinda Morey, sports photographer Walter Iooss, and draftsman Alex Kopps.
The director of “Super Size Me,” Morgan Spurlock, didn’t bid enough to win the purple themed board by filmmaker Gus Van Sant. Mr. Spurlock said he’s excited about an irreverent pilot for a television series he just finished.
The big spender of the night was Mr. Ernest, who paid $75,000 for Julian Schnabel’s board, a black 12-foot full gun sporting the phrase “Blind Girl Surf Club.”
Bronze sculptor and surfer Peter Harper, of Santa Barbara, Calif., aimed for “an organic feel” with his design, created by painting air-dried porcelain to resemble wood and carving out portions of the board to resemble a wind-swept beach. The man who bought Mr. Harper’s board, Richard Jaffe, didn’t know of the artist’s famous relation – his brother Ben is the musician who won a Grammy last year for his collaboration with the Blind Boys of Alabama.
Art collector and real estate financier Lawrence Benenson bought Ashley Bickerton’s board for $4,000, which he thought was a steal.Yet he won’t be able to ride a wave with it. The design includes dozens of holes bored straight through the board.
Fashion designer Tracy Feith, who works on 26th Street and surfs in Far Rockaway, didn’t sacrifice functionality with his design, an ornate fabric board cover with an untouched board included.
The auction raised more than $300,000 for the Surfrider Foundation, an international membership organization that works to protect the coastline. New York chapter leaders Joel Benslaben and Victor Sinansky helped establish a designated surfing area at Rockaway Beach.
“We have funding from the Ford Foundation and the Packard Foundation, but we’ve never really done major private fundraising. This is the beginning,” the executive director of Surfrider Foundation, Jim Moriarty, said.
Surfrider Foundation board members helping in this arena include Lance Anderson and Michael Orbach.
After the auction, Clarence Greenwood performed “Bullet and a Target” – recently heard on “Entourage” – and other songs from his band Citizen Cope’s first album, “The Clarence Greenwood Recordings.”
The actress Mena Suvari sat down in the front row, entranced by the pony tailed singer (who’ll be at Mercury Lounge and the Knitting Factory in November).
Others sipped contentedly from water bottles shaped like flasks. The flasks, from an outfit called SEI Global, were the beverage of choice at the party – for both the healthy glow surfers and the hardened party girls.
