Es Vedrà is a monumental rock formation in Ibiza said to radiate healing powers and a sense of tranquility. I visited the Spanish island retreat in July to attend an exhibition by the painter Eva Beresin who I discovered on Instagram three years ago, and who has enjoyed meteoric success since. The works, though contemporary in feeling, hark back to 19th century artists like Chaim Soutine and James Ensor—there’s historic European painterly sensibility imbued with an uncharacteristic sense of humor and unsettling angst. I love them.
Eva Beresin painting on view in Ibiza.
Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t at all the chill sea of calmness it’s chalked up to be. For starters, the official flower may as well be the fungi, psilocybin; otherwise known as magic mushrooms. Pretty much everyone is high, including every last one of the participants at a traditional Friday night dinner I attended, dubbed “Psychedelic Sabbath.” The daily arguments amongst the family I stayed with rivaled the amicus in the current US midterm elections. On a more pleasant note, the taxi driver that ferried me around for the weekend resembled a cast member of Baywatch. You don’t experience that in New York City terribly often.
Then there was the first iteration of a local international art fair I stopped by that only opened for business at 5 p.m., due to the late night, laid back atmosphere of the island. When I entered, there literally wasn’t a single representative of any of the participating galleries on the floor; they were all presumably recuperating from the resplendent potpourri of drugs and alcohol at hand. When some did finally show up, I was tapped on the shoulder and asked if the packet of marijuana on the floor beside me was mine. It wasn’t.
