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By late July, Aspen’s social calendar was running while speeding high. Food and wine classics are over. The Aspen Thought Festival revolves around the spreading influence of geopolitics, economics and artificial intelligence. Then, with little warning, the art world arrives (strategy, dealers, artists and consultants), armed with printed dresses, cowboy hats and more Alo Gear than a healthy resort in California. Of course, there is a lot of art.
Second Edition Aspen Art Fair Opened Tuesday with more than 40 exhibitors from more than 15 countries. The fair has more than twice the exhibitors last year on the ground floor of the historic hotel in Jerome, which is an ambitious leap, somehow appropriate. In another town, it sounds like a logistical headache – more galleries, more people, more programming – in Aspen, it’s simply how summer works.
The Aspen Art Fair is just one of three main paintings this Art Week. besides Intersect Aspen Art and Designnow it is the 15th edition, Sky Festival– The $20 million, decade-long initiative from the Aspen Art Museum aims to inject thoughtful festival styles and dialogue into the art world. However, this is still the art world. The most stable thing about dealers and consultants on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is that there are too many fairs. So why do so many galleries choose to add another gallery to the calendar and in a small Colorado town that is not easy to reach?
“There is no doubt that there are too many fairs and the result is that you have to choose wisely.” Paul Hankelthe founder of Palo Gallery in Manhattan, told Artnews. “Aspen is good because it’s focused. It’s not a huge, huge fair. Yes, you have smaller people, but the vast majority of them are serious collectors.”
Henkel, a first-time attendee of the year, responds to a sentiment that has attracted attention in recent years: as Hankel says, a newer regional fair may be better, and more “targeted” is to meet serious collectors rather than what Hankel says, which is usually “people can only look around.”
Rumor has it that some of the biggest art fairs are slowing down and showing off exhibitors, and models who are “too big rather than failure” will soon be replaced by “small enough success.”
There is a direct correlation between size, intention and the ability to establish relationships. according to Christian Gundin El Aptaramento, a gallery located in Havana and Madrid.
“Last year, I met a lot of collectors here, and I’ve never seen them at other fairs.” Artnews. “With fair size, you have more time to study art, connect with locals and visiting collectors, so the connection is stronger and longer lasting.”
Palo and El Aptaramento are both young galleries with strong plans to stand with a more mature name this year. In El Aptaramento, the fantasy work of Spanish painter Miki Leal (in acrylic and watercolor) is next to the patchwork portrait of Cuban artist Roberto Diago, blurring the boundaries between abstract and image. In Palo, Monrovia-born artist Lewinale Haveette’s paintings attract their narrative intensity while maintaining a subtle texture.
Sean Kelly and Marianne Boesky It is one of the blue chip galleries that seized the opportunity in Aspen this year, citing both the mountain institutional weight and dedicated collectors.
Of course, Boesky has a long history in Aspen. She has a permanent space in town from 2017 to 2021 and has since been staged in summer pop-up galleries every year. This year, she was unable to find the right space and she chose the fair as a way to embed the community. Her speeches include works by Sanford Biggers, Ghada Amer and Sarah Meyohas, ranging from $25,000 to $325,000.
“This is not money,” she told her. Artnews During the opening hours of the expo on Tuesday. “I grew up here and it’s a great way to get involved and stay in part of the town structure.”
For Kelly, joining the Aspen Art Fair is a show of respect for collectors. “We have a lot of clients living here and come to us most of the year in Basel or New York. It’s a way to come find them,” he said. “Also, this fair is slow in one era of the year. So if we can get financial bumps in July, then what isn’t it love?”
Kelly brought works by Anagonzález, Sam Moyer and Hugo McCloud, priced between $22,000 and $85,000, which is the best choice for Aspen. “People are most active under $150,000, but of course, it’s all about doing good work,” he added.
There seems to be a mixed strategy at the stalls, and most galleries prepare some pieces while ensuring a lot of things are preserved. The Southern Guild, which operates in Cape Town and Los Angeles, sells seven works, including paintings by Mmmangaliso Nzuza and photos by Zanele Muholi, all of which are sold for $30,000 and below.
Jerome is a Michelin Key Hotel, and during peak season, Jerome is a Michelin Key Hotel and booked for events, weddings and meetings. Several dealers said the installation was rough-borderline crazy-the art handlers and gallery hand-working the day before opening.
“Everyone’s work, when you boil, solve the problem. Bob Chase Tell Artnews. “But I know that when I wake up at 5 a.m. after three hours of sleep, at 11 a.m., the top collectors in this town will be here- they will be surprised.”
He added that Jerome was part of the expo DNA. Its asspen-Chic, the domestic environment is one of the reasons why fairness works. But this is not a conference center – you can’t just pull with heavy machinery and prefabricated walls.
No matter what installation is, they are not visible during VIP preview. About 1,000 guests attended Tuesday’s opening ceremony, enough to raise the closure from 5pm to 6pm, the fairness coordinator said
Art consultant Wendy Cromwell, a art consultant, proposed in collaboration with 74 Arts, is the “(hotel) room” of art consultant Wendy Cromwell, the nomadic cultural enterprise founded by Fair Cofounder Becca Hoffman. The project was inspired by Miranda’s July 2024 novel All fourwhich is praised for its mean and subversive female desires.
Cromwell, Megan Melrooney, Praise Shadow, Contemporary and Ronchini have all reported multiple sales ranging from $17,000 to $95,000. Total sales for the day hovered around $2 million, fair organizers said.
If last year was a proof of concept, this year (with its expanded programming, knowledge boards, collector hiking and screening), as long as it is set correctly, curiosity and engagement can coexist with the art market, it is a kind of verification.
