laughter

"Laughter is the celebration of incongruity." - Brennan Manning, Souvenirs of Solitude

last night was a most interesting experience dining at pearl's home (palace, i should say). there were many moments i wanted to bust out laughing at the absurdity of it all, but discreetly held my guffaws in check out of propriety. it was larger than life - everything from her gallery to her loft (which was pretty much another gallery) to the 52-foot dining table decorated with porcelain dragons and red plumage to the guests who were all involved in the art world in some way and made sure you knew it. the very fact they all took themselves so seriously made it tempting not to take them seriously.

upon arrival, my date and i were ushered by the doorman to her gallery, located on an entire floor of the building. we were welcomed by servers with glasses of champagne staggered among the clusters of guests decked out in black and white chic. dinner was then announced, and we were directed to take the elevators up to her residence. entering her apartment was like entering a museum/temple - a giant statue of buddha sat demurely in the foyer. the dining table was amazing - a cornucopia for the senses. tall vases filled with feathers and flowers towered above porcelain dragon candlesticks; red and gold chandeliers fashioned from chinese brocade clasps hung heavy in the dim light. at each seat, a pair of porcelain hands extended from a small plate, holding the name card of the guest. the hands were designed specifically as place settings, and the jade dishware fit perfectly on the immaculately white palms. beneath the porcelain place settings were place mats sewn from peacock feathers. it was like dining in wonderland.

servers in matching white, stylish mao jackets served each course quietly and quickly. the courses were simple - sweet and sour pork ribs, chinese spinach, beef and carrot soup, a heavenly fish with ginger and scallions that flaked nicely with the fork. dessert was a dish of almond soup. and free flow of wine and champagne - my glass never reached empty.

conversations were nothing short of interesting - i sat between a former general manager of kempinski hotels and a former sotheby's employee who started his own art consulting company. our hostess has the habit of playing musical chairs during meals, jumping up and down and grabbing guests by the hand to swap their seats. she is the epitome of a networker. so by the end of the evening, everyone was switched around and you had the opportunity to meet a fair number of guests. other guests i talked with included a young chinese-british shoe designer who is positioned as the "jimmy choo" of china, and lorenz h., indubitably THE most successful gallery owner and art dealer in china.

i finally did meet our illustrious hostess towards the end of the evening and found out that she remembered me from a mutual friend who had introduced us via email, which is why i think i ended up on the invite list. it's all still very strange to me. she was genuinely friendly and curious about our gallery and what we do, and she was much easier to talk with than i'd imagined.

i really wanted to take pictures of the apartment, but didn't do so for fear of appearing gauche. many of the guests were dinner veterans, and i didn't want to be the gawking spectator snapping away with my iphone camera.

what struck me the most about pearl's decor was the fantastical whimsy of it all. the art world can be oh-so-serious, and though there was more than a touch of that among the guests last night, the ambiance of her place was more playful than pretentious. even the bathrooms were secretly tucked away behind wall panels, and you had to know just where to look for the doorknob. 

the randomness of last night makes me laugh. the randomness of life makes me laugh. reading manning's souvenirs of soltitude today, i reflected on the immense power of God and how He makes light what we make heavy. He who has conquered Death lifts the very burdens that wear us down. yet most of us continue to live as if we are merely trying to survive - drudgery instead of joy, despair instead of hope. i love this passage where manning talks about the naming of isaac:

In seminary I was taught that Isaac (Yishaq in Hebrew) means "laughter." Abraham and his wife, Sarah, gave up on God's promise of a child. When Sarah was told that she would soon be pregnant, she laughed in disbelief. But God had the last laugh. A son was born to them in their old age, and the human laughter of despair turned into the Father's laughter of love. They named their son Isaac - laughter - for he was a sign of the triumph of God's levity over man's gravity.

"The triumph of God's levity over man's gravity." well put.

may i never forget the triumph of His levity, and how that very levity frees me to laugh and marvel at the works of His hands with endless awe.

cups of coffee: 1 coffee-ish drink

mood:  excited