Welcome to Wet Paint in the Wild, the freewheeling—and free!—spinoff of Artnet News Pro’s beloved Wet Paint gossip column, where we give art-world insiders a disposable camera to chronicle their lives on the circuit. To read the latest Wet Paint column, click here (members only).
It’s been about four years since collector Lonti Ebers opened her private foundation, Amant, out in Brooklyn and caused quite a splash. The venue recently opened a show of photographs by Dietmar Busse, shot over 10 years in New York, so I thought I’d hand the exhibition’s curator, Tobi Maier, a camera to show us how it all went down. Without further ado… —Annie Armstrong
September kicked off with the arrival of our new artists-in-residence at Amant. Ruth Angel Edwards and Chloée Maguile—seen here in our residency kitchen—joined Marcus Pal, Rhea Dillon, and Ana Pi, all of whom we’re excited to introduce to New York this fall with their public events.
On the exhibition front, we opened solo shows by Jenna Bliss, Dietmar Busse, and Loretta Fahrenholz. Jenna’s “Basic Cable” dives into the atmosphere of early 2000s New York, Dietmar’s “Fairytales 1991—1999” takes us through his incredible archive of ’90s Polaroids, and Loretta’s “A Coin from Thin Air” features her latest film Trash the Musical, a must-see. These exhibitions explore everything from fleeting fame to fractured identities in a world where art, egos, and strategies of representation are in a constant state of flux.
Here I am (caught in action!) reviewing the checklist for Dietmar’s show, which includes more than 150 photographs.
Bryant Arabian and Charlie DiMascio from Amant’s install team putting some finishing touches on an installation of mushroom-shaped lamps—part of Loretta Fahrenholz’s “A Coin from Thin Air.” Loretta pairs these with early AI text-to-image works for which she commanded the image generator to create images of plein air picnic scenes from several decades of the outgoing 20th century (the same period the lamps came into circulation).
Lonti Ebers, Amant’s CEO and founder, and Executive Director Nick Pilato preparing to make their grand entrance for the openings of Dietmar, Jenna, and Loretta’s exhibitions.
Some familiar faces from Dietmar Busse’s Polaroids showed up too—costume designer Ami Goodheart and model and therapist Jun Nakayama were there, along with artists Joel Handorff and Dan Romer. That’s Dietmar himself in black. A large portion of the Polaroids in his show were taken as he rode his bike around the city in the ’90s, and working on this show I’ve come to understand more about this process. He seems to attract fascinating people and clicks with new friends instantly.
Paris-based artist and DJ Pe Ferreira, aka DJ Working Class, flew in to check out Dietmar’s work and to catch a glimpse of New York’s queer art scene as captured in his Polaroids.
Dietmar busy chatting with Bulgarian artist Michael Michailov and Sicily-based publisher Michela Palermo in his exhibition during the opening for “Fairytales 1991-1999.”
Artists Francesco Vizzini and Norman Chernick-Zeitlin dropped by from their nearby studio on Scott Avenue. Amant is surrounded by artist studios and musician rehearsal spaces, so it’s easy for our friends to pop by.
Blank Forms founder and Creative Director Lawrence Kumpf and MoMA PS1 Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs Ruba Katrib spotted arriving at Amant.
Artist Chando Ao pictured next to a photograph Dietmar Busse took at a New York Cat Show in the early 1990s. (This is a staff favorite from Dietmar’s show.)
Artist Noah Barker, who recently opened an exquisite Ronald Jones exhibition at his Midtown project space Empire, came to visit Jenna Bliss’s “Basic Cable.”
Artist Giangiacomo Rossetti with Alina Bliumis posing in front of Dietmar Busse’s Lady Walking Her Dogs in Central Park (1995)—a timeless image indeed.
Writer and researcher Magnus Schaefer, who previously contributed an essay to Loretta Fahrenholz’s publication Trash the Musical, and Designer Emilie Baltz during the gallery openings at Amant.
Amant Associate Curator Patricia Hernández with performer Alicia McDaid, who stars in Loretta Fahrenholz’s film Trash the Musical (2023) and joined from Los Angeles for the film’s U.S. premiere at Amant.
Ellie Rines from 56 Henry Gallery with Sculpture Centre Director Sohrab Mohebbi Artist and composer Sergei Tcherepnin with Art Advisor Jacob King in Jenna Bliss’s exhibition “Basic Cable,” which features True Entertainment, a recent film that takes the style of a reality show set in an art fair booth, á la The Hills.
Critic, writer, and former Texte zur Kunst editor Christian Liclair arrived from Berlin in time to join the opening at Amant.
A bird’s-eye view of Isa Genzken’s Rose III (2016), permanently installed on Amant’s campus, which provided the backdrop for the evening. (You can’t miss it.)
Fridericianum Kassel director Moritz Wesseler snapping his own shot of Genzken’s Rose III. It’s always quite popular, and for good reason. Genzken is a known fan of New York’s architecture, and this work looks perfect in our semi-industrial neighborhood. 
We also had a visit from gallerist Daniel Buchholz, who checked out Anne Imhof’s permanent piece in our residency building after visiting Loretta Fahrenholz’s exhibition.
Finally, to cap the evening off, we enjoyed a lovely dinner on the terrace of SAA on Bushwick’s Scott Avenue, where we were joined by Ulrik gallery co-owner Anya Komar and Amant Associate Curator Ian Wallace.
Thanks for joining us on this journey. I hope you can make it to see these exhibitions. They’re up until February!
