CULTURE

Photos: Diplomatic Dash

by W Magazine

James Costos and Michael Smith

Ambassador James Costos and his partner, White House decorator Michael Smith, are zhushing up the U.S. Embassy in Madrid with visionary art and rocking parties.

1

James Costos and Michael Smith, with their dog, Greco, and Josef Albers’s Study for Homage to the Square, 1963, and Homage to the Square: Fall Finale, 1962.

2

Antoni Tàpies’s R I Ala, 2005, in the living room.

3

The entry hall.

4

Walton Ford’s Thurneysser’s Demon, 2008, in the library.

5

Theaster Gates’s Time With Tar and Horizontality, 2013, in the dining room.

6

The music room with Gene Davis’s Royal Canoe, 1977.

7

Ed Ruscha’s Screaming in Spanish, 2013, in the entry hall.

8

The band Dvicio performing in front of Glenn Ligon’s Double America, 2012, for the celebration of Costos’s first year as ambassador, September 2014.

9

The pool doubled as an outdoor party area for the event.

10

An exterior view of the residence.