ASPEN, CO.- On Friday, August 1, 2014 the
Aspen Art Museum hosted its tenth annual ArtCrush summer benefit, raising $3 million to benefit the Museum’s exhibition and educational programming. The eleven-lot 2014 ArtCrush Live Auction of contemporary art plus the 93-lot Silent Auction raised over $2.3 million. The festivities preceded the opening of the new Shigeru Ban-designed, 33,000-square foot AAM, which had its official ribbon cutting ceremony and member’s reception on Saturday, August 2. The museum officially opens to the public with a 24-hour celebration from 5pm Saturday, August 9 to 5pm Sunday, August 10.
At ArtCrush, the AAM’s Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director, Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, presented the 2014 Aspen Award for Art to artist Ernesto Neto. The presentation comes during his exhibition, Gratitude, which includes a new site-specific installation spanning the upper and lower galleries of the AAM’s current facility, and on view through September 7, 2014—the final exhibition scheduled within the AAM’s current home.
Ernesto Neto’s artwork, gota love pedra stone mathmatenergyfingerdedos and rose quartz, sold for $75k during the ArtCrush Live Auction, which was presided over by Sotheby’s European Senior International Specialist of Contemporary Art Oliver Barker. Other highlights of the live auction included: Mickalene Thomas’s Clarivel #2 ($170k); Cai Guo-Qiang’s Red Fuse No. 4 ($100k); Sarah Lucas’s Tit Teddy Make Love ($95k); Rosemarie Trockel’s Untitled ($130k); Ryan Gander’s Tell My Mother Not to Worry (viii) ($190k); Ugo Rondinone’s The valiant ($95k); Gabriel Orozco’s Heráldico oro ($160k); Aaron Curry’s Untitled ($75k); and Wade Guyton’s Untitled ($26k).
The silent auction featured works by esteemed artists such as: Diane Arbus, Sanford Biggers, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Stefan Bruggemann, Anne Collier, Jose Davila, Gregory Gummersall, Nicholas Hlobo, Jim Hodges, Terence Koh, Friedrich Kunath, Brice Marden, Eddie Martinez, Takeshi Murata, Raymond Pettibon, Randy Polumbo, Ed Ruscha, Amy Sillman, Laurie Simmons, Kathrin Sonntag, Eduardo Terrazas, Mario García Torres, Jorinde Voigt, William Wegman, Ai Weiwei, Dustin Yellin, and more.
The gala on Friday night marked the culmination of the museum’s three-day benefit, which hosted approximately 600 of the world’s top art collectors, wine connoisseurs, artists, gallery owners, museum directors, curators, and global business leaders. ArtCrush 2014 attendees included such notables as AAM Board of Trustees Vice-President and fashion-world icon Domenico De Sole, AAM board member Lance Armstrong, renowned actress Mamie Gummer, actor Timothy Olyphant, and DJ duo The Dolls—who were the featured entertainment at AfterPartyCrush at Belly Up, Aspen, just following the main event.
Events preceding the ArtCrush gala began with WineCrush on July 30, hosted by ArtCrush Chair and AAM National Council member Amy Phelan and Museum Board of Trustees Co- President John Phelan in their contemporary Aspen home. The limited-attendance evening also featured rare wine vintages and food pairings, sponsored by Italian Wine Merchants and Antinori, and presented by master sommeliers led by Jay Fletcher, Executive Director of Fine Wine and Master Sommelier for Southern Wine and Spirits.
PreviewCrush, an annual cocktail reception held at Aspen’s Baldwin Gallery hosted by gallery owner Richard Edwards allowed guests to preview artworks included in the following evening’s ArtCrush live and silent auctions. It was augmented for the second consecutive year by a kickoff event at Aspen’s Casterline|Goodman Gallery location.
