Martin Amis, the enfant terrible of British novelists, recently came to Manhattan to read from his new book, The Pregnant Widow. During the summer of 1970, the novel’s protagonist and several other privileged 20-somethings frolic in a castle outside of Rome, reveling in the newfound sexual liberties of their time. Amis could have chosen to read a [...]

In the art world, Larry Rivers is praised as one of the grandfather’s of the Pop Art movement. But in his daughter’s eyes, Larry Rivers is also a pervert who began filming her nude when she was eleven — and continued to document her and her sister’s development through puberty over the next five years [...]

At the ripe old age of 98, the famous French artist Louise Bourgeois died this week. She didn’t become a contemporary art celebrity until she reached her 70s, so it’s lucky she was vigorous enough to enjoy a few decades of her glory years.
Bourgeois is best known as a sculptor who created giant spiders, many-breasted [...]

Five masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani, and Léger were stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris last week, estimated at a value of 123 million dollars. The culprit was caught on tape, masked, dangerous, and sneaking through a window. He or she took the time to remove the paintings out of their [...]

I was recently living it up in Rome when I found myself at the Villa Aurelia overlooking the moonlit city. The party was sponsored by the fancy schmancy American Academy, which pays distinguished scholars to come chill in Rome and write esoteric books.
Since I don’t speak Italian, and I don’t know anyone in the Roman [...]

Park Avenue has never seen so much dirty clothing: a new art installation at the Armory involves a five-story crane randomly picking up and releasing garments from a 25-foot-high tower of used clothes. “No Man’s Land” is the work of the famous French artist, Christian Boltanski. I saw the Parisian version, “Personnes,” at the Grand Palais [...]

On a recent girl’s night out on the town, I found myself in a palatial hôtel particulier off Paris’ fashionable Avenue Montaigne. The place was swarming with well-dressed older men just jonesing for their next Russian girlfriend. I was happy because the bar flowed with pink champagne and there were pimped out neon lights making [...]

Celebrity performance artist, Marina Abramovic, is having her big naked moment of glory at the MoMA, where a retrospective of her 40 years of work is on display. While Abramovic sits (fully clothed) at a table and visitors are allowed to sit across from her and meet her stare, the artist employed 38 naked mignons [...]

I had the mixed fortune of being invited to the garret apartment of a middle-aged Parisian fashion photographer. He lives at the site of the famous Lolita-esque Marlon Brando film, Last Tango In Paris.
He offered me fresh strawberries and told me that he had had a rich life, peppered with exciting encounters with Carla Bruni (before [...]

I made a pilgrimage to Brussels all to see the exhibition of Frida Kahlo paintings at the Bozar museum. As a teenager, Frida was in a serious bus accident that led to her life as a semi-invalid, undergoing 32 surgeries in 30 years. Forced to wear plaster corsets and remain in bed for months on end, [...]