ASPEN, CO.- The second annual ArtAspen, Aspen’s international fine art fair for post-war and contemporary art took place Aug. 6 – 8, 2011 welcoming more than 2,500 art aficionados, about 20 percent more attendees than the inaugural 2011 event. Sales are expected to be in excess of $6 million, due to expected strong after show sales, as major purchases are pending.

“In spite of the economic news that came out just prior to opening, this sophisticated art-savvy crowd took advantage or our unique and high level art offerings and were still buying,” stated ArtAspen Executive Director Rick Friedman.

“I’m overwhelmed by how professional, exciting and amazing ArtAspen is. I travel to art fairs all around the world, and this fair is up to the caliber of all the shows that I’ve attended, including the Frieze in London and Art Basel in Switzerland and Miami,” said Aspen Art Museum Director and Chief Curator Heidi Zuckerman-Jacobson.” Added Nancy Hoffman from the eponymous gallery, “It’s been a fantastic weekend for us. There has been a very interesting and cultured crowd from all over the country. It is one place that we have been that most people know the art and know what they are looking at. We sold many pieces in our highest price range.”

Buyers selected from a spectacular selection of mid 20th to 21st century paintings, works on paper, photography, printed editions and sculpture by many of the world’s leading artists. Sales were from a cross section of big name post-war pop masters and contemporary stars including the following:

*Mary Corse ( ACE Gallery)
*Melissa Chandon and Doug Owen (Caldwell Snyder Gallery)
*James Surls (David Floria Gallery)
*David Gamble and Marc Sijan (Gerald Peters Gallery)
*Sarah Cain and Annie Lapin (Honor Fraser Gallery)
*Helen Frankenthaler and Wayne Thiebaud (Leslie Sacks Contemporary)
*Andy Warhol (Museum Works Galleries)
*Nicolas Africano, Don Eddy, Gregory Halili, Hung Lui, Joseph Raffael and Asya *Reznikov (Nancy Hoffman Gallery)
*Steve McCurry (Peter Fetterman Gallery)
*Robert Indiana (Rosenbaum Contemporary)
*Kim Joon (Sundaram Tagore gallery)
*Donald Baechler (William Shearburn Gallery)

Featuring 29 of the nation’s top galleries and displaying 2,000 works of art from 300 artists, ArtAspen was an overwhelming success for galleries, art collectors and enthusiasts. Most of the galleries have already said that they are planning to return in August 2012 for the Third Annual ArtAspen.

“It’s been really incredible,” said Alexander Strobel of the Richard Levy Gallery. “It’s great to have such a focused group and people that are interested in what they are seeing. We’ve done really well so far, and this is a fair that we’ll do in the future.”
“This was our second year at Art Aspen, and it was a better looking, more exciting show,” said Susan Snyder, president of Caldwell Snyder Gallery in San Francisco. “We met amazing collectors who are second homeowners in town, and we’ve been able to develop some relationships and follow-ups from last year. We’ve done very well.”

ArtAspen was conceived and created by veteran art fair organizer Rick Friedman, who also organizes the San Francisco Fine Art Fair, Houston Fine Art Fair and ArtHamptons, as a boutique fair whereby an elite group of art collectors could focus their attention on a limited number of carefully selected galleries with an engaging, interactive and comprehensive buying experience. Bucking the current art fair trend that bigger is better, ArtAspen again demonstrated that a small marketplace of elite buyers and sellers can produce substantial results.

Added Friedman, “With two increasingly successful years, we are well on our way to my goal to establish ArtAspen as the premier boutique art fair in America. We are a destination for globe-trotting art cognoscenti – many who already are attracted to Aspen for ArtCRUSH – as well as all the attractions of Aspen in summer.” ArtAspen again transformed the Aspen Ice Garden rink into an elegant museum-like setting. At the entrance, visual artist David Abir created a sound and light installation so that the arrival would prepare the visitor for the superb art inside.