New York, January 21 – There wasn’t a sip of wine or even a pretzel, but an art opening on frigid Friday night was so packed that guests had to wait for others to leave before they could enter. What kind of art exhibition draws a crowd requiring velvet ropes? Why, photographer Sante D’Orazio’s photographs of Pamela Anderson in the nude, of course.

The crowd at Stellan Holm Gallery was typical: artists, socialites, hipsters, lots of European accents. With the arctic weather and everybody covered with so many layers of clothing, it was hard to recognize rock princess Debbie Harry, architect Richard Meier, John McEnroe, artist Julian Schnabel and his daughters Lola and Stella, legendary gallerist Tony Shafrazi, and actors Julianna Margulies and Fisher Stevens. Fashion designer Cynthia Rowley exposed her due-any-minute child to Pam au naturel.

As the party was waning, with most guests already gone, Robert Downey, Jr. and fiancée Susan Levin slipped in unnoticed. Downey wore tight leather pants; she seemed shy – or maybe she was unnerved being surrounded by images of a naked Pamela Anderson.

At 8:20 p.m. they were turning the gallery’s lights off when an SUV pulled up, and the blonde who emerged turned out to be Ashley Olsen. She was immediately invited in, but hesitated once inside, when she saw that everyone was gone. So Ashley, her black coat covered with what looked like cat hair, took a quick look around, and then left.

You can see all of Pamela Anderson’s bits (but probably not Ashley) through March 5, 2005, at Stellan Holm Gallery, 524 West 24th Street, NYC. 212-627-7444.