Water Mill - It could be called the art of the scent or the scent of art, in either case this year's Watermill Center Benefit has brought fragrance to a new level at the extraordinary galleries that make up this formidable center for creativity in the Hamptons.

American eclectic artistic icon and founder of the Watermill Center Robert Wilson.

Fragrances from Ralph Lauren to Donna Karan to Chanel have graced the gift bags of the Hamptons' toniest art galas over the years but this, to our knowledge, is the first time a fragrance has been created specifically for any art event in the East End. This year's event has been dubbed "Paradiso" and there was an air of Paradise dancing through the rare atmosphere of the Watermill Center.

This fragrance was not only created for the event, but included as an essential element of the artistic expression of an event that inherently incorporates in its very conception art as the centerpiece of the gala. Yes, this is a living, breathing art installation that gathers dozens of artists from around the globe in a venue that not only allows free expression of new artistic ideas in numerous mediums, but creates a womb to nurture the birth of original expression and unbridled passion for all that is possible from the creative soul.

The realized dream in 1992 of one of the world's most eclectic and unique multi-medium artists, Robert Wilson, the Watermill Center is an incubation tank for young artists to find their path and established artists to venture beyond the perimeters of their accepted boundaries. As Wilson told me, "One of the strengths of this center is diversity. I don't want to have a 'Robert Wilson School of Way of Doing Things.'"

Indonesian performance artist Abdikarya creating his signature contribution to the perfume bottle collection to be auctioned at this year's Watermill Center Benefit.

Wilson further elaborated, "I try to accept people from different cultural, different economic, different religious backgrounds with different esthetics."

No better proved out than by his choice in the fragrance artist given the responsibility of creating the first defining scent of the Watermill Center appropriately called "WM."

Vietnamese born perfumer Loc Dong was raised by an herbalist grandfather after his family's exodus after the fall of Vietnam. Eventually immigrating to America he studied chemistry as a college undergraduate in New Jersey, but his unique nose for nature's bounty instilled by his grandfather drew him to the art of fragrance, crafting his art in France and Germany prior to his present position as the Senior Perfumer at International Flavors & Fragrances.

Renowned IFF perfumer Loc Dong surrounded by the tools of his craft on the floor of a Watermill Center gallery.

Whereas Dong normally takes up to two years to create a fragrance, he was given but a few weeks to create "WM." The creation process was more than gaining an understanding of the Watermill Center, but an understanding of the art and particularly the artists that define it.

Dong articulated the effect of the Watermill Center on him during his commission to create the fragrance for this year's gala. He visited the center prior to the arrival of the summer's artists but noted, "My understanding of this place was very different before the artists came. It changed when they arrived."

Seeing the art was one thing, but seeing the artists with their art and each other was an obviously enlightening experience for Dong as he now describes his fragrance as, "A scent that connects human beings. I am not inspired by an artist, but the connection between all the artists." Dong interacted with all the artists in the creation of his fragrance.

Years in the world of commercial, albeit admittedly artistic, creation of scents for the likes of Calvin Klein, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs, Dong reveled in the unrestrained artistic paradise that is the Watermill Center, "There was no budget; I was given the freedom to create."

Bottles of scents spread across a gallery floor in his makeshift laboratory, Dong was still tweaking his creation days before the event and told me, "I have created the windows, now I am creating the curtains."

Robert Wilson and Loc Dong in Wilson's Watermill Center apartment.

Beyond the scent is the vessel of that scent, 100 hand-painted individual bottles that are themselves works of art. Unique and never to be duplicated, many of the 70 international artists that are participating in this summer's creative petre dish that is the Watermill Center have created the art that contains the art. Wilson himself is creating 12 of the bottles and they will undoubtedly be the most coveted of the lot.

These beautiful bottles will be auctioned as part of the numerous pieces of art that will be offered in support of this vital, unique and nurturing center of artistic expression. The Watermill Center helps illuminate and define not only the cultural and artistic historical impact of both American and International artists, but engages and nurtures the creativity of future artists that may literally define the artistic culture of mankind for generations to come.

Yes, at this year's Watermill Center Benefit there is art in the air and one simply needs to breathe it in.

For more information go to www.watermillcenter.org.