ArtCrush Gala at Aspen Art Museum Raises $4M in Tribute to Glenn Ligon
The Aspen Art Museum’s 20th annual ArtCrush auction and gala, held on August 1, raised more than $4 million to support the museum’s exhibitions and educational programming and served as a grand finale to another action-packed Aspen Art Week. This year’s event honored Glenn Ligon, recipient of the 2025 Lewis Family Art Award and the subject of a forthcoming solo exhibition at the museum in November. Known for his incisive explorations of American history, literature, and society, Ligon’s work builds critically on the legacies of conceptual art and modern painting.
An unforgettable occasion under the theme Celestial Nights, the evening began with cocktails and a local sommelier-led wine tasting at Buttermilk Mountain before transitioning into a beautifully designed dinner tent produced by Eclectic Hive. Before the formal program began, a dynamic sizzle video showcased highlights from the Aspen Art Museum’s weeklong AIR festival, offering a powerful look at the artists, performances, and conversations that shaped the program. AIR is the museum’s new artist-driven initiative supporting site-specific commissions and research-based projects. Aspen Art Museum director Nicola Lees then took to the stage alongside ArtCrush co-chairs Sarah Arison, Jen Rubio, and Charlie Pohlad to honor Ligon.
The event brought together a star-studded group of artists, curators, collectors, museum leaders, and other art-world glitterati. Among the notable attendees were Thelma Golden, Mickalene Thomas, Alex Israel, Rashid Johnson, KAWS, Maya Lin, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Anne Imhof, Doug Aitken, Frida Escobedo, Michael Govan, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Roselee Goldberg, Lucy Raven, Hank Willis Thomas, Matthew Barney, and more.
Artworks were on view at the museum leading up to the gala, and the live auction was conducted by Christie’s for the second consecutive year, with Adrien Meyer serving as auctioneer. An online auction ran concurrently from July 22 to August 2 via The Auction Collective. This year, as in 2024, participating artists retained a percentage of the sale price in recognition of the museum’s artist-founded legacy.
The auction featured works donated by international artists including George Condo, Issy Wood, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Harold Ancart, Ugo Rondinone, Alia Ahmad, and Ligon. Additional contributions included pieces by Alex Katz and Francesco Clemente, who also offered experiential lots. Bidding levels ranged from under $2,000 to over $400,000 across categories spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper. A dedicated design section, organized by local architect and board member Sarah Broughton of Rowland+Broughton, featured works by Anni Albers, Michael Anastassiades, Jacopo Foggini, Martino Gamper, Max Lamb, and Michaela Yearwood-Dan. The display was conceived as a fictional collector’s dining room titled A Tableau Vivant.
“Our ArtCrush auction supports the dynamic programming and bold exhibitions that are core to our mission as a museum,” Lees said in a statement. “We’re grateful to our co-chairs for their partnership in shaping this year’s event and for helping to bolster our ongoing commitment to artists who are advancing the field.”
To see more photos of the event, click here.
By: Galerie EditorsI Galerie I August 7, 2025
Photo: Jason Sean Weiss & Zach Hilty/BFA.com