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CENTRAL PARK CONSERVATORY
Our Backyard Exhibit Celebrates
Central Park’s 150th Birthday
By
Edward T. Callaghan
Photos
by Rob Rich
 HANKS
to the efforts of Larry and
Denise Wohl and daughter Joselyn,
some 35 of the
world’s top fashion and lifestyle photographers contributed
their individual views of New York’s backyard, Central Park, for
a special exhibition and auction to benefit the Central Park
Conservancy.
The Park Avenue Arsenal, overlooking the
splendid park designs of Vaux
and Olmstead, was
the ideal setting for this 150th birthday celebration.
The crowd was as diverse as any you might see strolling through
the park on a Saturday afternoon – Park Avenue socialites,
downtown hipsters, sleek Europeans, Soho artists and students of
every ilk and stripe.
Sipping the Chambord spiked champagne in the
gallery were Arnie and Paola Rosenschein, John
and Andrea Stark with
daughter Ashley, Dennis Basso, Michael
Cominotto, Kelly Klein,
Pamela Morgan, Anne Easton, Tony Vargas,
Michael Swan, Deborah Kusnetz, Carole
and Michael Fromer, Sale
Johnson and, of course, the
Hilton Girls.
Dazed
and Confused, the hip London-based arts and style glossy, was
quite fittingly the sponsor.
I mean, who loves their parks and pets more than the
British? Accordingly,
there were lots of tiny dogs in opulent designer carry bags.
Bidding was strong for the pictures which
ranged from the serene to slightly bizarre – from Joselyn
Wohl’s dreamy off-focus black and white shots of her own
playground growing up in NYC to Alexei Hay’s portrait of the face of his friend, Dusty,
floating on the lake.
Rob
Rich, 15 Minutes
Magazine celebrity/society photographer, found himself in the
spotlight, as a passionate group, including restaurateur Jeffery
Chodorov, vied for Rich’s sepia-toned image of the gondolas
on Central Park Lake. We
may be prejudiced, but then so were the bidders, as Rich’s
picture commanded one of the highest prices of the evening.
Another out of town group provided cool
comfort for those who lost out on the auction.
Cold Stone Creamery of Tempe, Arizona, provided some 30
choices of their “made that very day” ice cream, manager Jason
Cuevas told us. The
savvy Southwesterners, who opened a stand on 42nd
Street, know that parks and ice cream are a pair made in heaven.
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