East Hampton Meets Instagram Star @DonaldDrawbertson And His Colorful Artwork At #HighFunctioningADD

by Dena Silver
Donald Robertson

Thanks to the saturation of seersucker stripes and summer whites, the Hamptons scene could use a hit of bright hues. This weekend, it arrived at Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton, via #HighFunctioningADD, which was artist Donald “Drawbertson” Robertson‘s premiere solo showin the U.S. There was a hefty amount of color to take in. Robertson covered the gallery with his works, which included a series of hand painted grocery bags, countless pairs of Warhol-esque lips, and faux luggage decorated with Louis Vuitton insignia. Most of which was created simply out of cardboard, gaffer tape and paint by the Instagram-famous artist. Not to mention, his grand opening drew the likes of Dylan Lauren, Whitney Fairchild, Lisa Marie Fernandez, Anh Duong, Kelly Klein, and Kelly Bensimon.

Before his art career kicked off, Robertson was one of MAC Cosmetics’ three founders, where he aided in the launch of VivaGlam. He then went on to launch Marie Claire and redesign Glamour, before getting back into the beauty business. Now, he spends his days as the head of creative development at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and the rest of the time he spends raising his five kids with his wife, Kim Gieske. Those remaining few moments are consumed with creating art (and Instagramming it, of course). So how did he pick his medium of choice? “Half the reason I like gaffer tape is because it’s F-A-S-T.  It depends on the piece I’m working on, but for example, painting a cereal box takes two days.” And while cereal boxes might not fit the bill as an average canvas, it’s business as usual for this artist. “The strangest thing I’ve turned into art is a toilet paper roll,” he told us.

However, the most impressive piece in the show was donned by Lisa Perry, who co-hosted the event along with Carlos Souza and Gieske. She explained to The Daily: “My dress was inspired by my favorite vintage dress in the whole world which was made from the marriage of Yves Saint Laurent and Mondrian in the ’60s. I’ve never been able to acquire one of the original dresses, so Donald applied his artistic sense and gaffer tape to an existing Lisa Perry dress, and voilà! Perfection.” Her daughter, Samantha Perry, was also dressed in a Robertson design: “Her outfit was hand painted by Donald about two hours before she put  it on. Sam was thrilled to be in a Donald original, wet paint and all!” But don’t expect this to be the last time Perry and Robertson join forces: “We have a secret exciting collab launching at the end of the year, and I’m actually off to a meeting with my design team to discuss,” Perry told us this morning. Stay tuned…

You may also like

Leave a Comment