Without a doubt, the person who got the most out of Thursday night's Takashi Murakami retrospective opening at the Brooklyn Museum of Art was Jamie Markowitz, the wife of Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz. She grabbed eight of the limited-addition Murakami technicolor fiberglass place mats that were being given out as gifts to party-goers—mats that fetched up to $1,000 on eBay after similar events. And she was wasn't about to give even one of them up.
Hundreds of wealthy Manhattanites braved the light drizzle by taking hired towncars out to the Brooklyn art museum for the multi-tiered extravaganza. Some were there in honor of bulldozing developer
Bruce Ratner, who was being given an award by the museum for donating lots of monies. (The gaggle outside protesting his Atlantic Yards project probably disagree with the museum's selection.) Some were there for the opening of the gigantic Murakami exhibit, which also includs a full-service Louis Vuitton store (Murakami-designed "Monogramouflage" handbags are $1,500 and up). Some were there to see Kanye West perform and check out Marc Jacobs' "performance art" installation, in which Jacobs sought to bring attention "to the serious issue of counterfeiting" by setting up a fake Canal Street stall. Still others were there to eat food catered by Nobu, drink a lot of wine, and hoard swag.
Markowitz was in the last category.