Marshall McLuhan once wrote, “The medium is the message.” For Galerie Maximillian owner Albert Sanford, his medium is art. Since 1997, he has consistently shown some of the finest works on paper by some of the world’s most renowned modern and contemporary artists at his gallery in downtown Aspen.
On Friday, Galerie Maximillian will host a Valentine’s Day reception from 5-8 p.m. showcasing “Contemporary Conceptual Obstruction,” a new exhibit featuring the works of contemporary American and British artists Stanley Whitney, McArthur Binion, Charles Gaines, Idris Khan and Samuel Levi Jones.
Even as he presents the work of a world-class slate of artists, Sanford maintains that it is not the medium of the art that makes his gallery so special, but it is the context in which people experience the art that tells the complete tale. And the context is Aspen itself.
“The real story is you can ski in a lot of places all over the United States and Canada,” Sanford said in an interview. “But why should somebody come to Aspen as opposed to Vail or Breckenridge, or Whistler or any other place? It’s just undeniably the nightlife, the restaurants, the shopping and the culture that makes Aspen so far superior to any other ski resort. That’s the story that Aspen has been telling for the last 50 or 60 years and continues to this day.”
To Sanford’s point, if you spent the last week in Aspen, you could have seen Alvin Ailey’s iconic ballet “Revelations” and Cirque Kalabante’s “Afrique en Cirque” at the Wheeler Opera House, enjoyed fine dining and skied 9 inches of fresh powder on a bluebird Sunday. This weekend, there are five different art openings in Aspen. There’s burlesque at the Snow Lodge Saturday, DanceAspen’s winter performance at The Wheeler Opera House happens Sunday, Norah Jones plays Belly Up Monday, there is not a table to be had in all of Aspen’s restaurants, and more snow is on the way.
Back to the medium and the message. The most important message Sanford hopes to communicate about the art he features at Galerie Maximillian is that he is a collector first and an art dealer second.
“We take a very big position in the art that we sell,” Sanford said. “We actually own almost all of the art we sell. It’s not on consignment; it’s not on spec. It’s artists and artwork that we invest in. It’s very rare. We’ve always done that. We’ve always felt that that kind of personal, passionate approach made the gallery different. It made it more profound.”
In thinking about a show for this winter, Sanford turned to three artists whose work he has a significant position in — Gaines, Binion and Whitney (Idris Khan and Samuel Levi Jones have a smaller presence in the show).
All three artists are currently in their 70s. They are abstract conceptual contemporary artists who happen to be black.
“The work is not an African American abstraction,” Sanford said. “If you walk into the gallery and you see this artwork, you wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, that is a Black artist.’ You wouldn’t think of it in terms of race. You would just look at it and think, ‘this is art that is part of a bigger story of abstraction or conceptual art.’ All three artists’ work were not really accepted because in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s the world was not focusing on Black artists.”
Sanford specializes in presenting exceptional group shows. He felt the work of Gaines, Binion and Whitney would work well to display together. “We’ve become very noted for group shows that are often featuring four to seven different artists at a time,” Sanford said. “I was buying the work close to two years ago mostly because I liked it. I wanted it. I knew it would be something to show in the gallery and then when we were planning our winter season I realized there was a connection between these artists and that they would just hang really nicely together in the gallery.”
British artist Idris Khan is also an abstract artist. Sanford is displaying his piece “The Four Seasons” which is based on the Vivaldi score of the same name. Samuel Levi Jones piece “Deeper” in which he connects historic legal and medical text books together rounds out the show.
Sanford said his ultimate goal is to present artwork for collectors that is museum quality accredited work by artists who are a part of a specific narrative of art history. “Contemporary Conceptual Obstruction” falls neatly into this purview. Galerie Maximilain is presenting the respected work of Black abstract conceptual artists whose work has been overlooked for decades but in the last 20 years has begun to receive the recognition it deserves.
“We think it’s a great show and look forward to people making their own connections,” Sanford said. “We’re hoping people will stop by Friday before their Valentine’s Day dinner, have a glass of champagne, have a chocolate covered strawberry, and look at some great art.”
Other Articles
No Comment! Be the first one.