Tobias Meyer, Maria Baibakova & Mark Fletcher (credit: Neil Rasmus/Billy Farrell Agency)
Ms. Baibakova is the daughter of Oleg Baibakov, an apparently successful real-estate developer in Russia. On her own, she is the founder of Baibakov art projects, a two-year-old organization devoted to helping Russia and its people understand global contemporary art. It is also devoted to strengthening the presence of Russian contemporary art in the rest of the world.
Ms. Baibakova’s projects are clearly quite important. It would explain why so many major art players were on hand to celebrate her 25 years on the planet at Villa Pacri, a barely opened, multi-tiered restaurant in the Meatpacking district in which Ms. Baibakova is an investor. We’re talking artist Jeff Koons. We’re talking Anne Pasternak, the president of Creative Time. We’re talking Tobias Meyer, the Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s.