Russell Simmons had to cordon off his art collection after a guest during a party packed with Victoria’s Secret models erased part of a $100,000 chalk drawing by Gary Simmons (no relation to Russell). A rep for the hip-hop impresario told us, “One woman, who shall not be named, rubbed up against a chalk drawing. She didn’t realize it had been intentionally smudged by the artist, so she took a cloth to wipe it, rubbing off a part of the artwork.” The destruction took place at Russell Simmons’ downtown apartment May 26 during a charity bash hosted by Selita Ebanks. On Wednesday night, when Simmons hosted an event for the Eagle Academy for Young Men, ropes and stanchions were set up to protect his collection, which includes pieces by Warhol and Shepard Fairey. Guests, including Gov. Paterson, sports stars Allan Houston and Curtis Martin, models Chanel Iman and Heidi Allende, were warned to tread carefully.
Art rubbed the wrong way at Russell Simmons’ party
