Auction Paddles, Ping Pong Paddles and Play: Inside Public Art Fund’s 2025 Party

The artists brought the work, the crowd brought the capital and table tennis brought them together.

The atmosphere at the organization’s largest fundraiser of the year was decidedly playful. Olivia LiCalzi/BFA.com

Another day, another spring fling! Last week was awash in art parties, and that busy lineup included the 2025 Public Art Fund Party at the Metropolitan Pavilion. The celebration of the artists who turn New York’s skyline, sidewalks and subway stations into something worth looking up for marked the official kickoff of Public Art Fund’s spring and summer programming, which includes exhibitions by Paul Anthony Smith, Torkwase Dyson, Thaddeus Mosley, Monira Al Qadiri and the group of artists whose work will appear in “Between Tides,” which brings sculptural ping-pong tables by emerging and mid-career artists to Rockaway Beach.

Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter

By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

See all of our newsletters

In a nod to that particular exhibition, the party leaned into play with ping pong tables stocked with artist-designed keepsake paddles by Carlos H. Matos, Ilana Harris-Babou, Las Hermanas Iglesias, Moko Fukuyama and Amalia Pica. Cocktails flowed (with a Ghia twist for the teetotaling set), and Carmen Winant invited guests to become part of a living, breathing portrait installation as the night progressed from meet-and-greet to a 300-person sit-down dinner with decor by Smith. A silent auction featuring work by forty-one contemporary artists kept patrons and collectors busy until the afterparty, where DJs MeLo-X and Juliana Huxtable supplied the beats and Chef Malcolm Livingston II, formerly head pastry chef at wd-50 and Noma, Copenhagen, supplied the ice cream bar.

Rae Specht. Liz Ligon

Spotted among the crowd were artists and creatives Kambui Olujimi, Karyn Olivier, Adrienne Elise Tarver, Baseera Khan, Sophie Elgort (recently profiled in Observer), Janelle Lynch, Yvette Mayorga, Hayal Pozanti, Edra Soto and Grimanesa Amorós, plus philanthropists Patricia E. Harris, Nancy Alderman, Ziggy Alderman, Jessica Ogilvie and Therese Lundqvist.

Art world insiders including Richard Armstrong, Marcela Guerrero, Jean Cooney, Solana Chehtman, Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, Suhaly Bautista Carolina and Natasha Logan mingled with gallerists Ylinka Barotto, Anna Blum, David Lewis, Devan Owens, Claire O’Neill and Haley Shaw, as tastemakers including Nimay Ndolo (@nimayndolo) and Kira Lokhmatova (@theartrevival_) documented every moment. And while actor Paul Rudd and producer Julie Yaeger weren’t there in person, they were listed among the evening’s ‘party champions.’

Susan Lee and Lisa Iglesias

Susan Lee and Lisa Iglesias at the photo activation by artist Carmen Winant. Liz Ligon

Barbara Briones, Jessica Ogilvie, Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman, Jennifer Nyp and Alexandra Frankel

Barbara Briones, Jessica Ogilvie, Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman, Jennifer Nyp and Alexandra Frankel. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Susan Freedman, Nicholas Baume and Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman

Susan Freedman, Nicholas Baume and Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Kambui Olujimi and Karyn Olivier

Kambui Olujimi and Karyn Olivier. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Nimay Ndolo and Esther Onema

Nimay Ndolo and Esther Onema. Olivia LiCalzi/BFA.com

Baseera Khan

Baseera Khan. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Seth Unger and Susan Freedman

Seth Unger and Susan Freedman. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

David Kress, Louise Kress and Melanie Kress

David Kress, Louise Kress and Melanie Kress. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Frederique Sullivan, Gabrielle Brussel, Alan Sullivan and Susan Freedman

Frederique Sullivan, Gabrielle Brussel, Alan Sullivan and Susan Freedman. Liz Ligon

Adrienne Elise Tarver and Jason Karolak

Adrienne Elise Tarver and Jason Karolak. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Moko Fukuyama

Moko Fukuyama. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Grimanesa Amoros and Rasika Reddy

Grimanesa Amoros and Rasika Reddy. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Lydia Fenet and Therese Lundqvist

Lydia Fenet and Therese Lundqvist. Olivia LiCalzi/BFA.com

Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman and Jennifer Allan Soros

Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman and Jennifer Allan Soros. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Nelson Harmon and Hayal Pozanti

Nelson Harmon and Hayal Pozanti. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Valerie Tommasello and Sophie Elgort

Valerie Tommasello and Sophie Elgort. Olivia LiCalzi/BFA.com

Paul Anthony Smith

Paul Anthony Smith. Bre Johnson/BFA.com

Auction Paddles, Ping Pong Paddles and Play: Inside Public Art Fund’s 2025 Party