The Aspen Art Museum celebrated its annual fundraising gala Art Crush last week and raised $2.5 million for the organization. The three-day celebration started on Wednesday with Wine Crush, sponsored by Sotheby’s and held at renowned art collectors Amy and John Phelan’s Aspen home. This intimate gathering of collectors, artists, and gallerists got a chance to admire the couple’s contemporary art collection along with wine tastings and dinner.
The next event, Preview Crush, was hosted at Baldwin Gallery and Casterline|Goodman Gallery on Thursday night. The night offered a first-look at works in the live and silent auctions at the main event on Friday evening. The auction items were generously donated by galleries and artists like Allora & Calzadilla, Cicily Brown, and Dan Flavin. Stonefox Architects (the designers behind the interiors of the ArtCrush gala) presented a series of custom mirrors, inspired by the “art-selfie” phenomenon. The mirrors invited patrons to post their “art-selfies” to social media.
Photo Credits: David X Prutting/BFA.com
Finally it was time for the ArtCrush gala on Friday. Sotheby’s Oliver Barker conducted both auctions. Guests enjoyed wine tastings, cocktails, small bites, and a seated dinner where artist Lorna Simpson was awarded this year’s Aspen Award for Art. Previous winners of the award have been artists Ernesto Saboia de Albuquerque Neto, Teresita Fernández, and Tom Sachs.
