Serra, 30 and shaggy haired, had shown his first splash piece a year earlier, in a group show at the Castelli Warehouse, a storage space on West 108th Street.

Nic Lewis: There was a very odd fellow, as Naomi described him, an odd character that kept wandering in and outta the room, he was this brown haired, very thin guy.

Kelly’s beloved dog, an elderly, Pomeranian-long haired Chihuahua mix named Annie Oakley, bounded down the carpeted staircase and wriggled across the linoleum kitchen floor, wagging her tail for attention.

In the hallway, a curly haired girl whispered in her ear, and they both giggled.

“You are too big, too jeweled, too haired … I think you look French.”