ASPEN, CO.- On Friday, August 5, 2016, the
Aspen Art Museum held its annual ArtCrush gala—raising over $2.5 million to benefit the museum's impressive educational and curatorial programming throughout the year. This year's ArtCrush 2016 was held at a new iconic location, Buttermilk Ski Area, internationally known as the marquee location for the annual ESPN Winter X Games and marking a continued collaboration with the AAM's long-time community business partner, Aspen Skiing Company. More than 600 of the world's most distinguished and influential art collectors, artists, gallerists, museum professionals, and business leaders gathered in Aspen to participate in the museum's signature multi-day series of events. The week culminated with Friday evening's ArtCrush Live and Silent Auction—followed by a night of music and dancing for AfterPartyCrush, held at Aspen's Belly Up nightclub.
This year's ArtCrush gala boasted a whimsical carnival theme, designed and executed by the architects Chris Stone and David Fox, principals of design firm Stonefox. Upon arrival at the Buttermilk Ski Area, guests were offered rides on the Dom Pérignon Ferris wheel, which became a highlight of the evening's festivities. The cocktail hour featured performances by the Manhattan-based burlesque troupe, Lewd Panic, who entertained attendees with risqué and artful vignettes.
Transitioning from cocktails to dinner, guests entered the red, blue, and gold Big Top tent with their Live Auction paddles in tow. Heidi Zuckerman, the Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director of the Aspen Art Museum, greeted the room with warm remarks about the museum's past, present, and future—taking a moment to remember the 2006 Aspen Award for Art recipient, Tony Feher, who passed away this year. Zuckerman proceeded to offer a few highlights about the museum, including the fact that the AAM has welcomed over 175,000 visitors to its new space since its opening in 2014—a striking statistic in light of Aspen's approximate 5,000 year-round residents. The museum also serves an average of 700 children per month through school, youth, and family programs, with over 6,300 children having already taken part in the AAM's programs within this fiscal year so far. Zuckerman forecasted the museum's future goals, including an expansion of the programming—for instance, the museum's Arte en Español initiative, which caters contemporary arts education to Spanish-speaking school-aged children hailing from the Roaring Fork Valley. The program will utilize an arts-based online radio show in Spanish and features complementary seasonal onsite museum events.
After graciously thanking the evening's hosts, sponsors, collaborators, and guests, Zuckerman turned to presenting the Aspen Award for Art to Gabriel Orozco. The museum just opened a solo exhibition by Orozco, curated by Zuckerman. She acknowledged her long-time hope to organize an exhibition of his work, indicating how momentous this show was. Upon receiving the award, Orozco commented: "We, as humans, connect in productive, sustainable, and meaningful ways with the universe and each other…. Here in Aspen, the houses are not locked, they are open… and the museum is a big family…. So Aspen is my casa, my house."
Following their remarks, for the fifth consecutive year, Oliver Barker, Sotheby's Senior International Specialist, Contemporary Art the evening's main-stage Live Auction.
The Live Auction culminated with Gabriel Orozco's untitled piece from 2016, a beautiful tonal tempera and oil painting, which prominently features Orozco's renowned concentric circles and was generously donated by the artist and kurimanzutto Gallery. The work sold to an enthusiastic bidder for a notable $260,000.
The Haas Brothers also caught the room's attention as bidding became heated for their tri-part sculptural designs, Herd it through the Grapevine (2015). The gavel came down on an astounding $170,000—an impressive figure for brothers Nikolai and Simon Haas.
In addition to the Silent Auction of sixty works held in partnership with auction partners Paddle8, the Live Auction included artworks by world-renowned artists Gabriel Orozco, Julian Schnabel, Diane Arbus, Liz Larner, Elmgreen & Dragset, Nir Hod, Adam McEwen, the Haas Brothers, and Carlos Rolón/Dzine, among others.
Each year, a three-day suite of ArtCrush benefit events takes place throughout the city, hosted by some of the museum's most important supporters and sponsors—this year, however, marked this first full-week production, commencing with an artist lecture with Julian Schnabel, who will be featured in a solo exhibition opening at the museum on November 4, 2016. ArtCrush 2016, presented by Sotheby's and sponsored by Dom Pérignon and Southern Wine and Spirits, began with WineCrush on Wednesday, August 3, generously hosted by ArtCrush Chair and AAM National Council member Amy Phelan and Board of Trustees Copresident John Phelan, in their Aspen home. The event, presented by Four Seasons Hotel, also featured vintage wines and food pairings, overseen by world-renowned sommeliers all led by Jay Fletcher, Executive Director of Fine Wine and Master Sommelier for Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits.
