Wet Paint In The Wild: Anna Delvey Rings in the New Year With a House Party Attended by Artists, Models, and Heiresses (the Real Kind)

The con-artist-turned-artist invited us to her holiday fete.

Anna Delvey. Credit: Matt Weinberger.

Welcome to Wet Paint in the Wild, the freewheeling—and free!—spinoff of Artnet News Pro’s beloved Wet Paint gossip column, where we give art-world insiders a disposable camera to chronicle their lives on the circuit. To read the latest Wet Paint column, click here (members only).

Who is Anna Delvey, you ask? Great question! To some, she is a blue-chip con-artist who scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York City’s elite including Michael Xufu Huang, Aby Rosen, and Nadine Johnson, among others. To others, she is a case study on the psychological affects of late capitalism, the current state of the American Dream, and the unchecked excess of the super-wealthy. To a few, she is an emerging artist on the scene, hawking her pencil drawings for $30,000 a pop.

To me, she’s my new neighbor, who has been on house arrest in the East Village since last October and invited me to her New Year’s Eve party. Naturally, I brought along a few disposable cameras and plopped them in her hands, and here’s what she got back to me with. But first, a brief introduction from Ms. Delvey/Sorokin herself:

Being on house arrest can sometimes be boring—that’s why this holiday season I had no choice but to have people over at my East Village apartment while my immigration case is making its way through the system. [The] following images are a small glimpse into the brief time of the year when only die-hard New Yorkers remain in town. It was fun—no one got arrested, hospitalized or murdered—what more can I ask for? 

Without further ado…

East Village balcony. Credit Matt Weinberger

Emma Rogue and Anna Delvey. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Pre-Christmas party. Photo by Matthew Weinberger.

Pre-Christmas party. Photo by Matthew Weinberger.

Samara Bliss and Anna Delvey. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Anna Delvey, Alice Longyu Gao, Ivy Getty, and Blizzy McGuire. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Alice Longyu Gao, Angel Frost, Anna Delvey, and Lulu Frost. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Annie Armstrong and Anna Delvey.

Anna Delvey and Casey Grooms.

Charlie Yates, Amana Fontanella-Khan, Annie Armstrong, Julia McCaw, and Nate Kuo, New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Angel Frost, Alice Longyu Gao, and Matthew Donovan. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Ellie Rines and Anna Delvey.

Casey Kelbaugh and Anna Delvey.

Anna Delvey, Alice Longyu Gao, Ivy Getty, Gabrielle Richardson, and Lumia Nocito. Credit Lumia Nocito.

Ivy Getty and Anna Delvey. Credit Matthew Weinberger.

Marguerite Wibaux and Anna Delvey.

Matthew Weinberger and Anna Delvey.

Roberto Johnson, Anna Delvey, and Brandon Blackwell.

Zach Sokol and Anna Delvey.


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