Phillips After 5: White Party

by NIKKI BOGOPOLSKAYA · August 27, 2010

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    We love summer, art and wine, and Thursday night's Phillips After 5 White Party couldn’t have done a better job bringing the three together. For this iteration of Phillips After 5 at the Phillips Collection this summer, the gallery partnered with the Pink Line Project and decided to celebrate by inviting guests to don their favorite white linens and silks and enjoy the museum's "White Collection."

    The evening's features included "Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White Paintings," and "Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisations," as well as a dance performance by Glade Dance Collective and several interactive art installations that were partygoers (who, as visions in white, were almost art pieces in themselves) enjoyed.

    Guests sipped on wine and beer and snacked on Caribbean style tapas and appetizers in the sculpture garden, the gallery's several rooms, and the main hall. Brothers Ryan and Hays Holladay, of the eclectic minimalist DJ duo BLUEBRAIN, provided the tunes. With a blue and white projector background, BLUEBRAIN couldn't have looked or sounded any cooler, and we also enjoyed a live performance by a talented and energetic set of live drummers.

    We were impressed with the museum's sophisticated and cool collection of white art, as well as the interactive "paintings" (for example, a version of Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party" that displayed visitors' text messages as thought bubbles above the characters' heads. Highlights: "Nice rack" and "I'm freakin' hungry), but what we loved the most was the crowd. Young and old, the (almost-fully) white-clad audience impressed us with the fashion sense, passion for art, and intelligent banter.