“Famously Naked, Publicly Shameless”: Inside the Whitney Art Party With Martine Gutierrez

MONDAY 6:40 PM JANUARY 27, 2026 CHELSEA

Walking to the annual Whitney Art Party last night in blistering cold, I realized I didn’t know what a co-chair was. “How do you co-chair a party? Or even just chair it?” I wondered while being pummeled by arctic gusts. Does anyone know, or are we all just pretending? I’m pretending. At the museum, my body is still acclimating to indoor temperature when I meet Martine Gutierrez, the blindingly gorgeous artist who happens to be co-chairing the party, the first event I can remember putting The Dare, Martha Stewart, and Dorinda Medley all in the same room. Crawling around on the floor of a gallery that shoots off from the main hall, Gutierrez and I got into some important stuff: Louboutins, America’s Next Top Model, setting-spray, performance art. As for her duties as co-chair, we both drew a blank. “I have no idea,” she told me. “I’m looking for the chair.”

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SANDSTROM: How cold are you right now?

GUTIERREZ: Frozen. 

SANDSTROM: Me too. What does a co-chair actually do? Do you know? I don’t know.

GUTIERREZ: I have no idea. I’m looking for the chair. I came in and I didn’t see a chair. 

SANDSTROM: And now we’re on the ground.

GUTIERREZ: I guess that’s what happens when no one’s prepared.

SANDSTROM: Are you excited to be here?

GUTIERREZ: I’m excited to see friends who are in the arts. It’s been so bleak.

SANDSTROM: Like winter or…?

GUTIERREZ: Just looking out into the ether of the world, the news, the political indigestion. It’s worse than that. It’s like vomit.

SANDSTROM: It’s really bad. 

GUTIERREZ: We’re a mess.

SANDSTROM: How do you feel?

GUTIERREZ: I don’t feel like a mess, but that’s only because of my friends.

SANDSTROM: That’s nice.

GUTIERREZ: That’s why I look like this tonight.

SANDSTROM: Can you tell me about your beautiful outfit? And your makeup?

GUTIERREZ: Yes. My friend did my makeup, Jake [Dupont] and another friend did my hair, Sonny [Molina]. And I got dressed all on my own, like a big girl.

SANDSTROM: Cute. Where’s the dress from? 

GUTIERREZ: This I’ve had forever. I wore it actually in a magazine that I made years ago in 2018. Did you clock the dress? I have a giant bundle of sticks on my head in the picture.

SANDSTROM: You have that dress on in the cover picture, right?

GUTIERREZ: No, but it is close to the cover.

SANDSTROM: I was looking at that cover image again today and I was like, “Oh, it’s so Richard Bernstein,” like the early Interview covers, which I know was intentional right?

GUTIERREZ: Yeah. I’m a big fan. 

SANDSTROM: Tell me more about your relationship to the magazine?

GUTIERREZ: I have a few old copies that probably should be in an archive somewhere. They’re just in these plastic pH-safe slips, corroding away. You can see the acidity in the paper kind of breaking down. I don’t know if I should scan them or if I should donate them. I just don’t touch them.

SANDSTROM: Keep them away from light in a bag, I think?

GUTIERREZ: Yeah, they’re literally shut in a closet. It’s almost like I don’t own them at all.

SANDSTROM: That imagery–the early covers, the brightness, what does that do for you? 

GUTIERREZ: It makes me want to draw. There’s something very tactile about them. I mean, I went to school for printmaking, so I’m looking at them from a technical vantage point.

SANDSTROM: The theme tonight is maximalism. What are you hoping to see tonight? Sorry, we’re just doing a quick interview in here, but we’ll be done in two seconds. 

SECURITY: What time are you going to be done?

SANDSTROM: Like, five more minutes.

SECURITY: Oh.

SANDSTROM: Thank you.

GUTIERREZ: Thank you. For the record, security tried to ask us to leave.

SANDSTROM: But we’re never leaving. We’re going to crawl around in here. 

GUTIERREZ: No one recognizes me. I look too good.

SANDSTROM: What are you hoping to see tonight?

GUTIERREZ: Martha Stewart. And what was the theme?

SANDSTROM: Maximalism.

GUTIERREZ: I didn’t know that. I mean, it’s too late now. There’s no turning back. The last time I was in here, I was wearing a dress made of toilet paper.

SANDSTROM: Was that for Supremacy?

GUTIERREZ: Yeah. I made this gown and it fell apart everywhere. So by the end of the night—I felt so bad—there was toilet paper everywhere. You could see it stuck to people’s feet. It was being tracked places I had never even been in the building.

SANDSTROM: That’s really funny.

GUTIERREZ: There’s a picture somewhere.

SANDSTROM: In the Supremacy show, America’s Next Top Model is referenced in the press release. Did you see there’s a Netflix documentary coming out about the show?

GUTIERREZ: Sunny literally just told me about this.

SANDSTROM: I want to know what your top ANTM moments are. Or you can say your favorite judge or favorite winner?

GUTIERREZ: Oh my god. It’s too hard to summarize. And I hate pitting my girls against each other. But I will say that the show taught me everything I know now. That show is the reason I stand before you now with two girls in my hands.

SANDSTROM: Now you’re the two girls.

GUTIERREZ: Yeah, depending on the night.

SANDSTROM: What does the art world need more of?

GUTIERREZ: Money.

SANDSTROM: You said in Cultured that you want people to ask you stupider questions. What is the stupidest question you have been asked this week so far?

GUTIERREZ: Oh, I don’t remember. It was so stupid.

SANDSTROM: What was the dumbest question that you asked this week?

GUTIERREZ: “What’s a co-chair?”

SANDSTROM: That was the dumbest question I asked this week, too. Okay, it’s 2026. Should we still believe in institutions?

GUTIERREZ: I mean, do you believe in magic?

SANDSTROM: Yes.

GUTIERREZ: So if you can believe in magic, you can probably believe in anything.

SANDSTROM: What do you believe in?

GUTIERREZ: Fire horse.

SANDSTROM: What are you done with?

GUTIERREZ: I dare not say, for becoming some kind of political symbol any more than I have. I want this to be a fashion interview.

SANDSTROM: Okay, your amazing Louboutins. Are they d’Orsay pumps?

GUTIERREZ: They are. Look, never been worn. This is their moment.

SANDSTROM: They’re so silky.

GUTIERREZ: They’re actually kind of impossible to wear. There’s something quite bridal about them.

SANDSTROM: They are very bridal. Does it annoy you when people try to politicize you and your art?

GUTIERREZ: I understand that I have made a spectacle of myself. I think I’m becoming The Naked Girl. Famously naked, publicly shameless. And these are the repercussions.

SANDSTROM: Well, we love it. I have one art question and then one question about your makeup. Which one do you want first?

GUTIERREZ: I didn’t realize I was in control. I’ve been trying to surrender control.

SANDSTROM: What do you want to see more of at the Whitney?

GUTIERREZ: I can’t wait to see all the new young children, the young crop of artists that are going to be in the Biennial.

SANDSTROM: And you’re going to be in the Biennial too, right?

GUTIERREZ: Yes and no.

SANDSTROM: What does that mean?

GUTIERREZ: I technically am, but physically will not. I’m doing a performance.

SANDSTROM: Oh, nice.

GUTIERREZ: It’s not happening here, but it’s very close. But the Whitney, it was all their idea. They said, “We’d love to have you.” And I said, “Yay.” It’s going to be on Little Island.

SANDSTROM: I’m curious about that space. It’s … What is that word? Biophilic?

GUTIERREZ: Mm-hmm.

SANDSTROM: What do you want to see from the kids at the Biennial?

GUTIERREZ: I just want to see them feeding the world.

SANDSTROM: Lovely. How do you keep your makeup on? Hairspray, setting spray? Tell me your secrets.

GUTIERREZ: I keep it on because I’m kissing no one. Nothing’s touching my lips today.

SANDSTROM: When you get dressed to leave the house, do you ever double-check yourself?

GUTIERREZ: You mean check myself in the mirror and say, “Tonight, you are going to be a good girl, Martine. Tonight, you’re not going to make waves. You’re going to be a lady. You’re going to cross your legs at the ankle.”

SANDSTROM: [Laughs] No, like, do you ever doubt yourself?

GUTIERREZ: No. Never.