From left, clockwise: Artist Korakrit Arunanondchai and director Alex Gvojic (in collaboration with Tosh Basco), Together, performed August 4, 2022, in the Mountain Meadow at T-Lazy-7 Ranch, Aspen, Colorado. Photo by Adrianna Glaviano. Jeffrey Gibson, THE SPIRITS ARE LAUGHING, performed August 3, 2022, at Anderson Park Meadow at the Aspen Institute, Aspen, Colorado. Photo by Adrianna Glaviano. Gary Simmons accepts the 2022 Aspen Award for Art at the ArtCrush gala, Aspen, Colorado. Photo by Owen Kolasinski/BFA.com. Precious Okoyomon reads poetry during Aspen ArtWeek Welcome Party, August 2, 2022, on the Aspen Art Museum rooftop, Aspen, Colorado. Photo by Jason Sean Weiss/BFA.com.
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ASPEN, COLORADO – On Friday, August 5, the Aspen Art Museum celebrated Aspen ArtWeek by hosting its 17th annual ArtCrush Gala honoring Gary Simmons with the 2022 Aspen Award for Art and welcoming nearly 500 guests at the base of Buttermilk Mountain. The accompanying ArtCrush Auction, presented by Sotheby’s, featured more than 60 donated works of art raising over $4.3 million for the Museum’s year-round curatorial and educational programming, setting a record total for the annual event. The longstanding ArtCrush gala and auction was the capstone of the Aspen Art Museum’s second annual Aspen ArtWeek which ran from August 1-6 and featured a robust series of programs led by artists Korakrit Arunanondchai, Jeffrey Gibson, Precious Okoyomon, Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, and Gary Simmons. Nicola Lees, Nancy and Bob Magoon Director of Aspen Art Museum, said, “Aspen ArtWeek and the ArtCrush Gala bring us together as a community and an institution. As a community, we are drawn together by our conviction that culture has an important and meaningful impact on people’s lives. As an institution, we are dedicated to celebrating artists and cultivating their visions, as the core of what it truly means to be a contemporary art museum. This convergence is a catalyst for the Aspen Art Museum that moves us into a future where the friction of ideas and dialogue can be the seed for tremendous possibilities. The results of this week’s programming and conversations are only a starting point for what we can achieve together. I am deeply grateful to be engaged with the many artists and supporters who have made this possible and have enthusiastically contributed to this journey of discovery.” Aspen ArtWeek Programming Highlights A cornerstone of the contemporary art world calendar, Aspen ArtWeek’s slate of programming featured artists’ projects, discussions, performances, and community eventshonoring those whose creativity and vision have greatly impacted the field of contemporary art. Programming highlights included: · A poetry reading by Precious Okoyomon and a musical performance by Standing on the Corner art ensemble at the Aspen ArtWeek Welcome Opening Party co-hosted by Prada on August 2 on the Aspen Art Museum rooftop.
· Artist Talks, anchored by Gary Simmons, the recipient of the 2022 Aspen Award for Art, in a conversation with Frieze contributor Travis Diehl. The pair discussed Simmons’s evolution as an artist, expanding on his multifaceted practice that renders “history’s hard lines as porous, transitory, and futureward.” Additionally, artist Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio was in conversation with art historian and critic Suzanne Hudson. · A performance by artist Jeffrey Gibson titled THE SPIRITS ARE LAUGHING, an ambitious flag spinning and spoken word performance with concepts rooted in Indigenous kinship philosophies, which took place on August 3 at Anderson Park Meadow at the Aspen Institute. A video iteration of the live performance, filmed on multiple sites throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, will be featured as part of Gibson’s exhibition of the same name on the museum’s Rooftop and Lower Level from November 4, 2022, through summer 2023. Jeffrey Gibson is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and is half Cherokee. · Artist Korakrit Arunanondchai and director Alex Gvojic presented Together a “ghost cinema” performance on the evening of August 4 in the Mountain Meadow at T-Lazy-7 Ranch. The artist, with members of the local community, performed an Itinerant Cinema event inspired by the animistic cinematic practices of rural communities in Northeast Thailand. Aspen Art Museum Special Exhibitions As part of its special exhibition program, the museum unveiled the second part of Gaetano Pesce: My Dear Mountains, the artist’s first façade intervention specially designed for the museum and inspired by the local landscape and in response to the museum building’s architecture. Ongoing exhibitions on view include, Mountain / Time, an exhibition of time-based media drawn from the Rosenkranz Collection and the Whitney Museum of American Art and the final seasonal rotation of Precious Okoyomon’s garden installation Every Earthly Morning the Sky’s Light touches Ur Life is Unprecedented in its Beauty on the Aspen Art Museum Rooftop. All exhibitions at the Aspen Art Museum are free and open to the public. ArtCrush Gala and Auction Results The 2022 ArtCrush Gala honored artist Gary Simmons with this year’s Aspen Award for Art. Following the presentation of the award, Sotheby’s Europe EVP and Chairman Oliver Barker conducted the live auction, which included bidding on nine artworks byAmoako Boafo, Katherine Bernhardt, DRIFT, Jeffrey Gibson, Joel Mesler, Paola Pivi, Gary Simmons, Ryan Sullivan, and Mungo Thomson. The online auction featured an additional 63 lots ranging from under $5,000 to over $200,000 and included painting, sculpture, ceramics, fabric work, work on paper, and design art. All had been donated for auction by a group of incredibly generous artists and galleries to support the museum’s artistic and educational programs. Funds raised support the Aspen Art Museum’s year-round curatorial and educational programming. The ArtCrush Gala was co-chaired by Chandra Johnson, Jamie Tisch, and Sara Zilkha, presented by Sotheby’s and sponsored by Prada with additional support from Tactical Fleet, JP Morgan Private Bank, UOVO, Woody Creek Distillers, LALO Tequila, and Doña Vega. The evening began with a cocktail hour and DJ set by SAGG Napoli. The evening’s formal program included remarks by Nicola Lees, Director of the Aspen Art Museum, the Gala Co-Chairs, and Gary Simmons. |
