The Art of the Mayoment, a Hellman's Mayonnaise Event

 

Quite possibly the most unique art exhibition experience I’ve had to date, this pop-up event on the evening of July 9, 2025, in a Lower East Side gallery in NYC, brought together a well-known comedian/actor/media entrepreneur, Kareem Rahma (heard of his “Subway Takes” interviews?), five very different artists (including me), a couple of performance artists, and a pallet of 300 mayonnaise jars.

The exhibition’s concept was to display unfinished artwork; the artist having been interrupted by a “mayoment” of mayonnaise-induced distraction. Apparently 300 artists applied to participate!! I thought “what the heck, sounds like it could be fun” and sure enough it turned out to be not only fun, but instructive in how much marketing to a younger audience depends on social media (bad news for me, since I’m actually thinking of getting away from it all together!!).

An image from the Hellmann’s campaign about the event.

The first couple of hours were closed for publicity activities: influencers, journalists, and photography/videography by the publicists (to be used afterwards). Then the real action started at 6 pm, when I learned there was a line out the door, which lasted until almost 7:30 pm (the event ended at 8 pm). Dark-suited security staff managed the front door, while other staff went down the line making sure everybody signed a waiver agreeing that it was OK for their images to be used later.

The line just before 6 pm opening to the public!

Catering staff passed glasses of chilled champagne, sparkling water, and delicious hot sliders. There were photographers with Polaroid cameras capturing guests having their own “mayoment” - i.e. a photo of themselves with a jar of mayonnaise or taking a bite of a slider slathered in mayonnaise!

The big colorful, abstract pieces were better placed for immediate viewing, but I was happy enough to be a part of this mayo-stravaganza!

Me with my two unfinished paintings. Note the cute labels!!

By 8 pm, it was all over, the swarms of people taking photos and videos, eating and drinking, left us to disassemble the gallery and bask in all the attention we got. And, possibly will continue to get online…. if you are curious, take a look at Hellman’s Instagram account and/or use the hashtag #mayoment for upcoming (for at least 6 weeks after the event was what I agreed to in the contract!!) posts from that bonkers event. Let me know if you were there!