Haute Living’s Domingo Zapata and Adrien Brody Vernissage

Pop artist Domingo Zapata and renaissance man Adrien Brody debuted their latest works Wednesday, December 2 in Wynwood’s Lulu Laboratorium. To celebrate, Haute Living, Love, Fashion, Art New York, Zacapa Rum and Hublot threw an opening party for the joint exhibition.

Domingo’s new series is titled “Wanted” and featured a western-style pop invite proclaiming that “Zapata is Innocent.”  It dovetailed nicely with Brody’s “Hot Dogs, Hamburgers and Handguns” theme, which included a scrawl on the wall proclaiming that “Brody is Guilty.”

The decision for Brody, a long-time painter, to exhibit his work came about last summer when the two friends were painting together in Spain, where Zapata was working on painting a series of bull fighters. “I’m from Spain, so it’s part of my heritage,” the artist explained. “It’s a bit of a tribute to the bull fighting culture and other artists that have represented it like Picasso, Goya and others.”

By contrast, Brody’s work featured a theme of Americana kitsch, exposing the dark undercurrent of today’s disposable, unhealthy culture of fast food and violence. Read more about Brody here on Haute Living’s cover story. 

The installation featured pop-style paintings of a camouflaged cow dripping blood onto the wall and into a meat slicer outfitted with raw meat, “the cow is camouflaged because when they sell you hamburgers, the packaging hides and distracts what’s really in it,” said the actor-painter.

Another work was of a shrine with candles commemorating a scene featuring a gang violence using stuffed teddy bears instead of teenage thugs. “It’s meant to portray kids that grow up without strong families and resort to joining gangs, and therefore, violence,” explained Brody, who was there for the opening.

Other guests included designer Catherine Malandrino, director Brett Ratner, hospitality guru Keith Menin and Haute Living publisher Kamal Hotchandani. The evening featured a full four-course seated dinner, as well as a “Haute Candy” display full of sweets if dessert wasn’t quite enough.

Following dinner, the venue opened up to more party-goers excited to see Zapata’s latest and Brody’s inaugural effort and had 1950s style gals on roller-skates to evoke the hamburger’s heyday.