Ricardo Tisci with Rooney Mara at the 2013 Met Gala on May 6, 2013 in New York City.
Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci has had a rather busy week. On Monday, he co-chaired the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, which took on a punk theme this year, and a bevy of celebrities—including Rooney Mara, Madonna, Beyoncé, and a pregnant Kim Kardashian—showed up wearing his designs. On Tuesday, Curbed reported that Tisci had laid down a cool $3.06 million for the Soho townhouse of his close friend Marina Abramovic, known as the grandmother of performance art.
Abramovic originally purchased the two-family townhouse to share with Tisci, who is not only a longtime friend but a creative collaborator. While Tisci occupied the top two floors, Abramovic lived on the three lower floors, which open onto a Japanese rock garden and the house’s crowning glory, a lap pool. Tisci and Abramovic are birds of a feather, as she tells it. “When Riccardo and I met, I felt like we had the same tastes. I really love fashion, and he really loves art,” she told Harper’s. “For me, having Riccardo is like finding your identity.”
The two have found ways to merge their passions beyond sharing a living space, too. Not only was Abramovic featured in Givenchy’s Spring 2013 campaign along with Kate Moss, but in a 2011 photograph from Visionaire magazine that represents Abramovic’s opinion between fashion and art—and plays to Tisci’s fascination with religious iconography—he is seen suckling at her breast.
In 2011, the asking price for the 4,600-square-foot, Federal-era townhouse was $5.79 million, according to Streeteasy, but the price may have dropped because it’s currently configured as a two-family home. The townhouse is located on 54 King Street between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, on the border of Soho and Tribeca. As Douglas Elliman notes, the two halves of the house are very different:
“This 21′ wide property features a modern and minimalist-inspired lower half with high ceilings and loft-like rooms facing the back garden complete with a full-sized heated swimming pool and rare Japanese landscaping details. Limestone floors, a sleek kitchen and exquisite bathrooms are complemented by the floor to ceiling south-facing glass windows allowing for streaming natural light. The upper unit is comprised of living/dining/kitchen on one level, and bedrooms with a large private terrace on the other.”
This is not the self-flagellating performance artist’s first foray into real estate. Last summer, Abramovic sold an expansive loft on Grand Street for $3.2 million, and just last month she bought a $2.65 million, 2.5-bedroom condo in Soho’s Urban Glass House.