Few art-world events are simultaneously as mythologized and dreaded as the gallery dinner. At a great one, you might observe deals being made, career trajectories fast-tracked, and maybe even the next great industry tryst ignited. At a bad one, you could be seated next to someone who has no idea who the artist is, or perhaps worse, isn’t aware that they are already dead. The speeches are interminable. There’s not nearly enough wine flowing to wash the whole ordeal down… You get the picture.
The gallery dinner is an antiquated exercise. Yet, as a contracting art market and the Covid pandemic have reshaped how the art world spends its time and money, this particular brand of gathering endures. To explore its strange staying power, we asked industry veterans to spill their best and worst memories, hot tips, and words of wisdom for those wondering what a seat at the table really gets you.
The Best and the Worst Dinners
“The worst is a dinner where there is a huge queue for food. I was at a dinner where the crowd was so massive that I didn’t eat. To make it worse, there were ‘VIPs’ who were served at their tables, while other guests weren’t. It’s very bad form to have two levels of guests.”– Meryl Rose, collector
“I went to one for a close friend’s show where the gallery director only invited his random bros. No press, not even any collectors. I thought, Damn, my friend really needs a new gallery.” – Janelle Zara, writer
“I was recently at a dinner that Jose Martos and his wife, Servane Mary, hosted at their beautiful apartment for Michel Auder’s show. That was really great—an intimate, intergenerational mix of smart and funny people drinking too much wine and smoking cigarettes.”- Tif Sigfrids, partner at Canada Gallery
“The worst are always the ones that feel corporate or obligatory, when the conversation dies and no one remembers why they came except to be seen or feel like slaves to money.” – Arden Wohl, poet and philanthropist
“There was a White Cube dinner in an embassy. Stunning setting, candlelight, a great assortment of loose-lipped guests who were well-acquainted with the royals. It was also one of the worst, as I was seated across from a collector who had flipped multiple pieces of mine at auction. They didn’t recognize me and kept trying to make small talk.” – Natalie Frank, artist
“The best gallery dinner is for a close friend at a restaurant where you can’t score a reservation. The worst gallery dinners are all the same: an endlessly long table, where the food lands at a brutally late hour, while the guests get overly buzzed from an open pour and trade endless art world travel itineraries.” – Helen Molesworth, curator
“The most fun one I ever went to was for Douglas Gordon on Halloween in the mid aughts, maybe 2007? Someone’s giant townhouse on the upper east side was turned into a haunted house and in my memory there was an open bar in every single room.” – Sarah Hoover, writer
Strategic Seating
“If there is an artist on each side of me, it’s heaven! The worst is to be seated next to an obnoxious collector who insists on showing pictures of their collection.” – Meryl Rose
“Seated dinners are stressful for everyone—from the hosts to the guests. Someone should publish a book of select seating plans from historical gallery dinners; it would provide a fascinating insight into how the art world functioned at different times.” – Matthew Higgs, artist, chief curator and director of White Columns
“People think the end of the table is exile, but it’s where the best conversations happen, usually with someone who’s a guest of a guest and doesn’t care about the art-world hierarchy.” – Christina Ine-Kimba Boyle, founder of Gladwell Projects
“The best seat? Beside Sharon Stone—no contest. The worst? Beside an art dealer without hosting privileges.” – Alex Israel, artist
“I would like to be seated next to Joan Jonas and her dog. Or L.J. Roberts and their dogs. Or Dominique Fung and her dog. Or Timothy Lai and his dog. Or maybe just their dogs.” – Pamela Hornik, collector
“The best is not to be seated.”- Michael Nevin, co-founder of the Journal Gallery
“I would most like to be seated very cozily between Jerry [Saltz] and Roberta [Smith], across from Laurie Simmons, while I’m eating a beautifully prepared steak. No one judges that I ordered a Diet Coke with my martini. Dessert involves ice cream. We’re all incensed about something, and no one is holding back.” – Sarah Hoover
Location is Everything
“The best location is a home… or Mr. Chow.” – Casey Fremont, executive director of the Art Production Fund
“Somewhere terribly chic, possibly with a bit of faded glory or something pastoral and garden-like—so, the Chateau Marmont.” – Helen Molesworth
“The best location is a private home you’ve always wanted to see, and when you get there the host says, ‘Yeah go ahead, take a look in my closet. Raid my pill cabinet. Drink whatever wine you think has the prettiest label.’” – Sarah Hoover, writer
“Anywhere but behind a velvet rope, where I literally sat once at a friend’s dinner.” – Arden Wohl
“Just because Hudson Yards is close to Chelsea does not mean it’s a good place to host a dinner.” – Sarah Goulet, publicist
“The best location is Gasthaus zum Hirschen, a tavern and hotel run by a third-generation family about 30 minutes by car outside of Basel. Galerie Max Mayer has its Art Basel dinner there.” – Paul Leong, collector
“The best location is definitely in the middle of a gallery surrounded by an artist’s work. At a James Cohan dinner for their first Byron Kim exhibit, Byron’s seven-and-a-half-foot-tall night sky paintings were installed all around us. Each one revealed itself as dinner went on, very similar to the experience I once had at an Ad Reinhardt David Zwirner opening. As I sat in the middle of the gallery talking with the artist’s daughter, Anna, all 13 of those black paintings started to come alive as my eyes adjusted to every nuance.” – Mihail Lari, collector
Watch Out For These Faux Pas
“Not knowing who the artist is, and not having seen the show.” – Natalie Frank
“Texting during the remarks.” – Paul Leong
“Over-ordering. The horrible last ‘meat course’ when no one is hungry anymore, the shame of being witness to so much waste.” – Helen Molesworth
“Confirming a seated dinner and not showing up. Or showing up and leaving an empty seat halfway through dinner.” – Michael Nevin
“Rearranging the place cards.” – Alex Israel
“Trashing the venue or the food at the table—or worse, being rude to staff. I’ve seen it, and it’s the kind of thing that lingers. The art world never forgets bad behavior at the table.” – Christina Ine-Kimba Boyle
“Treating spouses as less important… and seating them next to people who couldn’t be bothered to talk about or care about the art.” – Mihail Lari
“If it’s an open kitchen, people feel like it is okay to come and just pick off the plates. It’s so weird, yet it happens every single dinner. People see food in front of them, and something primal kicks in.” – Mina Stone, chef and author
“Only talking to the people you already know is rude, and also extremely boring.” – Janelle Zara
No One Comes For the Food, Or Do They?
“I don’t care about the food as long as it’s served by 9 p.m. and there is dessert.” – Benjamin Godsill, art adivsor
“Andy Warhol said it best.” – Michael Nevin
“Great food is a connector as well as good wine. When the company is not up to the test, it helps you survive terribly dull conversations.” – Valeria Napoleone, collector
“Good food is a plus. Good company is a must.” – Tif Sigfrids
“Dinners are supposed to start ‘promptly’ after the opening, but they never do. I’m usually starving by the time the food arrives.” – Paul Leong
“I was always trained for there to be an open bar and wine on the tables, and I do think it really feels convivial, more European, and more fun. I remember being at an art event where they poured the wine, and at some point, it got so exhausting because they never came around … The wine should be good, but that does not mean it has to be expensive. I serve more white than red, but there should be both.” – Mina Stone
“Cocktail hour is called that for a reason. You get one hour, then people need to be fed something on a large plate.” – Sarah Hoover
Notable Sightings
“The weirdest thing I ever witnessed at a gallery dinner was Sylvester Stallone getting handsy with my friend who was interviewing him.” – Natalie Frank
“Once, I witnessed a dealer and a collector quietly arrange an entire loan for a major exhibition between courses. It felt like a
piece of art history was being drafted in real time at the table—a reminder that these dinners can be as consequential as they are convivial.” – Arden Wohl
“Mid-conversation, a gallery director came up to us and started eating off of my friend’s plate. Yes, we were all a little tipsy. No, none of us were tipsy enough for that.” – Janelle Zara
“The weirdest was a dinner in a castle in Venice for an artist who had quietly passed away, although no one knew it at the time. The night ended with an EDM DJ set that lasted until 4 a.m. I woke up to the news a few hours later. In hindsight, I think the dinner was technically a ‘celebration of life’ thing.” – Christina Ine-Kimba Boyle
“A rambling speech by an Italian curator who was not involved in the show the dinner was for.” – Benjamin Godsill
What Happens at the Gallery Dinner…
“A girlfriend and I wanted to remain cool and mysterious by not eating from the buffet, and instead snacked on too many pot brownies.” – Casey Fremont
“At a Sprüth Magers dinner many years ago, the person across from me abruptly stopped speaking to me. They still give me the cold shoulder to this day. Was it something I said? We’ll never know.” – Janelle Zara
“It’s always fun when the dinner’s at someone’s home. I’ll never forget one such evening at the former residence of my friend, the LA collector Rosette Delug. The night ended in her palatial bathroom, the entire party queued up for B12 shots in the tush—administered, naturally, by our fearless hostess herself.” – Alex Israel
“I sat next to Jeffrey Gibson at a gallery dinner, and he took a selfie of us on his disposable camera. I’m still waiting for a copy of that photo.” – Pamela Hornik
“I met my husband [Tom Sachs] on my first day of work in a gallery on the phone, but we met in person a few weeks later at an opening dinner celebrating a group show—the dinner was at a BBQ restaurant Uptown that was, at the time, owned by Justin Timberlake. Our love was partially forged over fried pickles and buckets of wings, as all true love should be.” – Sarah Hoover
A Word of Advice
“I think museum directors and curators should publicly reveal which gallery dinners they attend, just like British politicians have to declare any ‘gifts’ that they receive. This would be useful information!” – Matthew Higgs
“Seating charts are minor masterpieces of diplomacy—trust the system, and make the most of whoever lands next to you.” – Sarah Goulet
“Thank the people that served you. Just to go up to the catering team and say, ‘It was really good. Thank you for this evening.’ Even a wave from the door. Anything to feel like the service portion was acknowledged is really nice. It’s never annoying.” – Mina Stone
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