By Meghan Edwards
Lane Twitchell, Peaceable Kingdom (Alter Eden), 2010–11 Oil, acrylic, enamel, and urethane on cut film and various papers in glass 21 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches Kindly donated by the artist and Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, LLC, New York VALUE: $15,000; Image: Noel Allum
For each of the past six years, more than 300 international art collectors, wine connoisseurs, artists, gallery owners, curators, and global business leaders have been flocking to Aspen, Colorado, for more than just fresh mountain air and flawless slopes. For art lovers, the resort town’s major summer attraction is the Aspen Art Museum’s annual ArtCrush Summer Benefit extravaganza. This year, the event runs from August 3 through 5, ending in style at the main gala event at Ice Hotel on August 5, the site of a part-live, part-silent auction hosted by Sotheby’s auctioneer Tobias Meyer, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and worldwide head of contemporary art. The auction spans 64 lots, including work by heavy hitters such as David Altmejd, Richard Avedon, Huma Bhaba, and Alex Prager. Following the event’s cocktails, silent auction, wine tasting, and seated dinner, the annual Aspen Award for Art will be presented to sculptor and photographer Roni Horn – just before his series of 32 C-prints Clowd and Cloun (Gray),valued at $450,000, hits the block during the evening’s live auction.
Roni Horn, Clowd and Cloun (Gray), 2000/01 32 c-prints, 132 x 288 inches installed, Edition of 6 Kindly donated by the artist and Hauser & Wirth VALUE: $450,000; Image: courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth
It all kicks off on August 3, when event chair and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Amy Phelan will host the annual WineCrush cocktail reception and dinner inside her contemporary Aspen home, granting guests rare access to her and her husband’s remarkable private art collection. The following day, the PreviewCrush cocktail reception at Baldwin Gallery offers the public a glimpse of the auction lots and is hosted by the gallery’s owner, Richard Edwards. Finally, for those with enough spunk left in their feet, AfterPartyCrush proposes one final spin at a dance party featuring celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson at Syzygy City on August 5.
Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Wading I (Blue), 2011 Mixed media oil on canvas, 35 x 35 inches Kindly donated by the artist, Baldwin Gallery, Haunch of Venison, John Berggruen Gallery, Galerie Klüser, and Wetterling Gallery VALUE: $35,000
August 3-5; main ArtCrush gala on Friday August 5; sponsored by Sotheby’s, Barclays Wealth, NetJets, Maybach, and Southern Wine and Spirits; for more information visit http://www.aspenartmuseum.org/artcrush.html.
