COURTESY MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY
Last May, Marianne Boesky closed her space on the Lower East Side, which she had dubbed Boesky East, and expanded her Chelsea gallery by taking over the former 303 Gallery space next door. Because the new space is technically on the east side of the original gallery, it became the new Boesky East even though it’s, you know, next door.
And now we have a Boesky West—but not on the west side of the Chelsea space. It’s actually in the American West.
In a release today, Boesky announced that it would open a gallery in Aspen, Colorado, the tony ski town that acts as home base (or second home base) for many of the world’s top collectors. It will stage exhibitions during peak seasons, and in the off-season offer a residency program.
“I have long been inspired by Aspen’s extreme landscape and the creativity that it has fueled among artists, musicians, writers, and so many other individuals of diverse background and interests,” Boesky said in a statement. “With the evolution of my vision for the New York-based locations, now seemed the right moment to launch a new platform to inspire further engagement with this vibrant landscape.”
The space is in a 19th-century cabin at 100 South Spring Street—right down from the Aspen Art Museum—that has been spruced up by Selldorf Architects alongside the local firm David Johnston Architects. It will open with a show of new and recent work by Frank Stella and Larry Bell on March 8, with a public reception that evening. Not a bad après-ski activity.
Aspen has been a longtime haven for artists and the collectors who fill their vacation homes with their works. Perhaps due to its status as a summer-and-winter town, however, it has never developed a robust gallery scene. In any case, the setting marks a change for a New York–based outfit. A white cube set at an elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level will have, as the release puts it, “a distinctly different viewing atmosphere to that of Chelsea.”