Aspen ArtWeek is the Anti-Art Basel Miami Beach

Ask any veteran of Aspen ArtWeek what to expect when attending for the first time and, after a few sentences about the community’s philanthropic ideals and the caliber of collectors, you’re sure to be told about the nature. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the nature, the landscape” is a constant refrain, always said without cynicism or irony. It was no surprise then that, less than an hour after an expectedly turbulent flight on a model airplane from Denver, I was invited to a cold plunge early the following morning in the nearby Roaring Fork River with a group of art dealers.

That kind of invitation is characteristic of Aspen, which seems to be a through-the-looking-glass version of Miami’s art week in December. The wealth is the same, but you trade humid beach weather for mountain air and all-nighters, guest-lists, and exclusive clubs for hikes and yoga. Everyone is invited to everything, with the caveat that you have to make it there first. And whereas Miami centers around the spectacle of Art Basel, Aspen ArtWeek’s home base is the Aspen Art Museum, where every couple of hours is another event. There’s also artist talks and artist walks and tours of collector’s homes. But the overall atmosphere, even with the busy schedule, is relaxed, in no small part because the entire town of just over 7,000 is eminently walkable.

The quick plunge in the gentle river of “snow melt,” as I was told, is a pleasant if prickly jolt to the system (translation: f—king cold). After the short drive back to town, I was treated to a walk-through of Allison Katz’s extraordinary and expansive group show, “In the House of the Trembling Eye,” at the museum. The Aspen Art Museum has a history of artist-curated shows. In December, it staged an exhibition of John Chamberlain’s work, “The Tighter They’re Wound, The Harder They Unravel” curated by Urs Fischer, and in 2022-2023 the artist Monica Majoli organized a museum-wide survey exhibition of Andy Warhol called “Lifetimes.” 

The Katz show is special for a number of reasons. First, it marks the museum’s 45th anniversary and a decade in its current location. Second, the exhibition is made up of works from private collections from in and around Aspen, as well as Katz’s own work and ancient Pompeian fresco fragments, the first time such relics of antiquity have been juxtaposed with contemporary art in North America, according to the museum.

“It’s been quite an interesting challenge, an enjoyable one,” Stella Bottai, a senior curator at large who helped research and organize the exhibition, told me during the tour. “Allison wanted to take Pompeii and the domus (essentially an ancient Roman townhouse) as an inspiration and organizing principle for the show. The reason being that the moment you engage with domesticity and personal collections, and many of these works are lived with in private homes, something quite interesting happens in terms of how the boundaries between private and public overlap.”

The show consists of nine galleries, with over 100 works by 50 artists including Marlene Dumas, Lucio Fontana, Jeffrey Gibson, Ellsworth Kelly, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Joan Mitchell, Elizabeth Peyton, and Alice Neel. Interspersed throughout are ten strikingly fresh, almost modern segments of fresco. The exhibition starts as if you were placed on Pompeii’s main road, Via dell’Abbondanza, and moves through the “rooms” of the domus, with the architectural principles of the home providing the framework for the different galleries. The second room is striking—its trellised walls mimicking the domus’s atrium. In the center of the room is a round mixed media piece made of Burger King Crowns and lighters by Nancy Lupo which mimics the sunken basin built to collect rainwater from the domus’s skylight. 

Just above and behind is the show’s first fragment of fresco, depicting Narcissus, as ever gazing at his reflection. Flanking the relic is Katz’s Eternity (2023) and Amy Sillman’s 2008 picture I. Narcissus’s posture is cleverly shadowed in Eternity, which depicts two construction workers installing a skylight and looking into the room below, while the vivid blue of Sillman’s geometric abstraction handles the work of representing both the skylight and the “water” in the basin below it. Such little coincidences, and happy resonances spring up throughout the exhibition. For Katz, painting is a conversation, between narrative and time, shape and space. Each room is named after a section of the Pompeian domus, until the penultimate one, “Eruption,” where the ancient city’s demise is illustrated by violently red, energetic works by Karen Kilimnik, Jacob Issacszoon van Swanenburg, Jill Mulleady, and Lisa Yuskavage, among others.

Following the tour, Katz spoke with James Meyer, the writer, art historian and curator of modern art at Washington’s National Gallery in front of over nearly 100 people on the museum’s open air roof. Meyer read a harrowing description of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD by Pliny the Younger and then probed Katz’s long-held interest in Pompeii and architecture. 

Among the more talked about events during Aspen’s Art Week are the two fairs, Intersect Aspen, which returns to the mountain enclave for its 14th edition, and the inaugural Aspen Art Fair. While both are billed as art and design fairs, their locations, list of exhibitors, and general atmosphere are different enough that they seem to be staying far out of each other’s way. 

Intersect Aspen is heavy on photography, whimsically hung booths, animal figures, and a relaxed atmosphere. Stunning black and white photos by National Geographic photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen stand out at Hilton Contemporary’s booth, as do a pair of tapestries by Alexander Calder at Boccara Gallery. There’s a marked presence of local galleries as well. Aspen Collective has a wonderful series of works by Thomas Benton promoting Colorado transplant Hunter S. Thompson’s famed campaign for Sheriff of Aspen in 1970. Intersect is held at the Aspen Ice Rink, a short ten minute walk from the Aspen Art Museum (seven if you’re a New Yorker). 

The Aspen Art Fair, meanwhile, is staged at the historic Jerome Hotel, filling nearly the entirety of the hotel’s ground floor, excluding the all-important J Bar and Library Bar. Amongst the pleasantly-filled hotel room presentations, Denver’s K Contemporary, Praise Shadows, and Rusha & Co are definitely worth stopping by. Nearby, the ballroom has been built out with traditional white walls. There you can find stunning work at Southern Guild’s booth, including a few stunning works by Zanele Muholi, and very fun paintings by Vera Girivi at James Barron. Gmuyerzynska, Perrotin, and El Apartamento give an international flair. 

Too much has been made of a supposed rivalry between the fairs. That word wouldn’t cross the mind of anyone who’s been and both are worth visiting. If you’re the sort that salivates for conflict, take a stroll through each fair, pick your favorite works, and whichever has the most you can declare your favorite. Ultimately, the fairs are welcome additions to the week in which the Museum, its programming and its scheduled events are the primary attraction.

Following an afternoon booth strolling, it was back to the museum for a piano performance by Aspen Award for Art recipient, the artist and composer Jason Moran. A Steinway Grand Piano was brought in and Moran played for the better part of an hour. His music was percussive, melodic, funky, soulful, and abstract. Sometimes all at once. An aggressively staccato piece with an ever-present rumbling on the bass side on the keyboard turned into a Jelly Roll Morton-esque swing. A piece dedicated to his barbershop in Harlem was aggressively rhythmic and drew charged “yeah”’s and “Ooo’s” from the crowd. Towards the end he professed his admiration for the High Priest of Jazz, Thelonius Monk, and played a piece originally written for Joan Jonas.

“It’s a great use of space,” Bortolami director Evan Reiser told me after the performance as guests spread out on the patio. On the walls were works from the forthcoming ArtCrush benefit auction—there are pieces on every floor of the museum—and, before and after the performance, people would take in the works, then walk over to a booth to place a silent bid.

The evening ended with a garden party and dinner at the home of collectors Melony and Adam Lewis. Nearly everyone I’d seen throughout the day was there. Collectors swarmed Zanele Muholi, who was wearing all black and a fabulous bowler hat. Each one pulled out a phone and showed her a picture of her work hanging in their home in Aspen or Miami or New York. Debi Wechsler sat next to the sculptor and installation artist Kennedy Yanko, who just left New York City for Miami. The meal was as good as any restaurant in Aspen, simple and elegant: chicken piccata, roast beef, and a fresh local pear and mozzarella salad. By 10:30, people were moving toward the exit, ready to walk, cycle, or scooter back to their homes or hotels.

Another full day tomorrow and here, in Aspen, things start bright and early. That is, if you’re lucky enough to make it here.