Whitewall

Your Room-by-Room Guide to the Best of the Aspen Art Fair at Hotel Jerome

The 2025 edition of the Aspen Art Fair is open to the public at Hotel Jerome through tomorrow. For its second iteration, the presentation brings together 44 global exhibitors from 15 countries and a swath of special projects, art prizes, and more. Co-founded by fair director Becca Hoffman and Bob Chase of Aspen's Hexton Gallery, the fair electrifies downtown Aspen with a dedication to creative nuance and dichotomy-from local culture and global art-making techniques to the environment, storytelling, and tech innovation. The resulting presentation is striking, filled with landscape paintings, fiberglass sculptures, innovative lighting, woven textiles, portrait photographs, and more. 

 

"The 2025 edition of the Aspen Art Fair marked a significant evolution, doubling in size while maintaining the curated, high-caliber experience that defines our vision," said Hoffman. "We are deeply grateful to our partners, whose support has been instrumental in allowing us to champion emerging and established artists alike, while growing the fair in thoughtful and meaningful ways. Their collaboration is essential to shaping Aspen into a vital destination on the global art calendar."

 

Inside the 2025 Aspen Art Fair

 

Whitewall was in Aspen to explore the fair, and from the start, was mystified by the two-prong layout. Tucked into the back ballroom of Hotel Jerome was a fork-in-the-road layout with the right side dedicated to a quintessential art fair format-white-box mazes stationed for ideal art-viewing-and the left side leading to Hotel Jerome guest rooms reimagined by the galleries. To kick things off, we went the traditional route and explored the classic configuration first. 

 

Unforgettable Artworks at the Aspen Art Fair

 

Past the champagne and the Taschen library, we quenched our thirst with a blue painting of a faux Coca-Cola vending machine by Nick Doyle, a large-scale painting of a bear in its natural habitat by Emma Webster, and tape-deck installation by Gregor Hildebrandt, at Perrotin; paintings and works on paper by Rashid Johnson, Julian Opie, Yinka Shonibare, and David Shrigley at Galerie Maximillian; beautiful faceless portrait paintings by Gideon Rubin at Ryan Lee Gallery; Cheick Diallo's leather and steel chair and two pieces from Jozua Gerrard's "cocoon" series at Southern Guild; a lesser-seen felt banner from 1971 by Tom Wesselmann, Brown Nude Banner, shown by Galerie Gmurzynska; a booth of glowing natural landscape paintings, reminiscent of those right around us, by Tom Uttech at Alexandre Gallery; and Elizabeth VI-a bright red apple made of fiberglass, resin, flashe, and wood-by Math Bass at Vielmetter Los Angeles.

 
A few rows in at Sean Kelly, we couldn't look away from the swaying fabric strays of Ana González's ZUE I (PALMA) piece-a sublimation printing on roughened tarp-or Wu Chi-Tsung's cyanotype photo Cyano-Collage 238, which led us to powerful paintings by chef-artist Roscoe Hall and Guy Yanai at James Barron Art. At Palo Gallery, we were immersed in the outdoors again through paintings by Charlie Roberts and Xanthe Burdett, as well as an oil painting by Sara Berman named Fold; at El Apartamento, we loved Ariamna Contino's hand-cut paper piece; in Secci's booth, we enjoyed another Wesselmann piece-this time a drawing of a foot on rag paper; and in Tristan Hoare's presentation, we were intrigued by the watercolor collage and accompanying silk and wool tapestry by Sussy Cazalet. We also loved catching familiar faces-like Sanford Biggers, the Haas Brothers, Allison Janae Hamilton, and Sarah Meyohas-at Marianne Boesky Gallery.
 
Hotel Jerome's Gallery Suites
 
Then, it was time to explore the other side of the fair, floating in and out of Hotel Jerome guest rooms for unique presentations of works spread across beds and side tables, stationed in showers and sinks, and more. In La Loma's room, we loved canvas works by Paul Davies and Peter Mohall, as well as stoneware vessels in the bathroom by Jasmine Little. Down the hall, at Cromwell Art, we were immersed in the storyline of a Miranda July book come to life in a hotel room through quilts by Meg Callahan, rubber furniture by Luam Melake, a dreamy Bed painting by Rob Davis, vinyl and polyfil objects by Al Freeman, a four-part ceramic and glass mirror by Karin Gulbran, bronze everyday objects-like a toothbrush and a lighter-by Nancy Pearce, ceramic sculptures by Meegan Barnes, and a cedar wood dining set by Dan John Anderson. We also couldn't overlook iconic floral paintings by Marc Dennis at Harper's Gallery, Thandiwe Muriu's photographs at 193 Gallery, and cheeky ceramics by Krzysztof Strzelecki at Anat Ebgi Gallery.
 
Galleri Urbane's room was like a cozy hug, enveloping you in paintings, ceramics, and felted wool pieces by Marlon Wobst, Cristina Ayala, and Sabrina Piersol; IRL Gallery's presentation was a breath of fresh air, filled with a plethora of materials and installations-including Nicholas Devlin's castle-like wall mirrors, Laura Garcia Karras's oil paintings, Olga Titus's digital sequins on fleece piece, Stephen Morrison's food sculptures, and Esther Ruiz's neon works; and in K Contemporary's room, we couldn't look away from Anne von Freyburg's Smile Like You Mean It (After Boucher) textile painting-a unique hanging canvas work made of materials like acrylic ink, spray-paint, fabric, sequins, and hand-dyed tassel fringes.
 
Art Prizes at the Aspen Art Fair
 

Special for this year's presentation are also a handful of prizes awarded to artists by institutions including Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Buckhorn Public Arts / Dance Aspen, The Pardon Collection, and Mack Art Foundation. Reinforcing its commitment to supporting artists and their practices, the awards have recognized five visionary artists with prestigious prizes for their contributions to contemporary art. Bethany Collins from PATRON and Ana González from Sean Kelly have each been awarded the 2025 Anderson Ranch Arts Center Visiting Artist Prize; Piper Bangs from Megan Mulrooney received the 2026 Artist-in-Residency Prize from the Mack Art Foundation; Caroline Kent from PATRON was honored with the 2025 Pardon Prize from the Pardon Collection; and James Surls was named the recipient of the Buckhorn Public Arts / DanceAspen Set Design Award.

 
"We established the Art Prize Program to recognize outstanding artistic talent and support creators who are pushing boundaries in their practice," said Chase. "This initiative provides artists with meaningful opportunities to develop new work in immersive settings while engaging with leading arts organizations. We're proud to partner with Anderson Ranch Arts Center, The Pardon Collection, and Mack Art Foundation to help foster the next wave of innovation and dialogue in contemporary art."
August 2, 2025