Ski-In, Ski-Out Exhibition by Contemporary Artist Alex Israel Will Debut at Aspen Mountain

Aspen One has partnered with the Aspen Art Museum to present Heaven by Los Angeles-based artist Alex Israel. The multifaceted project marks the twentieth anniversary of Art in Unexpected Places, a program that has brought the work of Takashi Murakami, Rashid Johnson and many other contemporary artists to the Aspen ski resorts.

Israel’s designs appear on this season’s lift tickets and passes, on-mountain signage, activations and merchandise. And on Saturday, February 15, a first-of-its-kind, ski-in, ski-out art exhibition will debut in Ruthie’s cabin on Aspen Mountain.

Situated at the bottom of Ruthie’s Run on Aspen Mountain, this building once operated as a restaurant but shuttered in 2001. “It was Daniel who thought of bringing Heaven up the mountain,” Israel says, referring to Daniel Merritt, the chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum. “He identified Ruthie’s and saw its untapped potential as an art exhibition venue.”

Merritt and museum director Nicola Lees initially approached Israel about illustrating the lift pass. But when visiting his space within the LA-based Warner Bros. Design Studio, they realized the synergy between Heaven and Ruthie’s.

Similar to the way the exhibition revives the venue, Heaven resurrects thirty celebrities through life-sized, hyper-realistic portraits, each painted on an aluminum structure that mimics a cardboard cutout. All of these celebrities passed away after the launch of Instagram on October 6, 2010.

“Each subject is depicted as I remember them, and that memory has been informed by how they were memorialized on Instagram in the days following their passing,” says Israel, citing the way that social media feeds become flooded with the same recycled photos. “The portraits are painted sometimes from a single image, and sometimes from a composite of multiple images.”

Heaven is an “exploration of how we generate, store and access memories of a shared culture,” offers Merritt. Though Israel does not divulge which stars are featured in the collection, he affirms that all inspired him and impacted his life in some way.

“Together, they also represent a kind of creative community of the past – but they live on in their legacies and through their work, in our imaginations and in heaven. I like to imagine that they’re all up there hanging out together, having fun, exchanging ideas and continuing the dialogue,” Israel says.

“I don’t want to reveal too much, but I’ll say this: Imagine Queen Elizabeth II, Prince and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia comparing their royal duties as the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin jaunts up to weigh in,” he continues. “I’d love to overhear that conversation.”

Israel’s hint may reveal at least four featured icons; the individuals he names all departed in the years following Instagram’s inception. But while an artist’s statement may help viewers further appreciate the exhibit at Ruthie’s, this season’s lift pass design is more forthright.

Longtime Los Angeles locals and lovers of ’80s pop culture may recognize its dynamic red font, which commemorates the logo of Heaven, a novelty store formerly housed within the original Century City Mall on Santa Monica Boulevard. Celebrities including Freddie Mercury, Brooke Shields and Andy Warhol have been seen wearing its graphic merchandise.

“My memory of the Heaven store is quite vague, as I was just a kid during its heyday,” says Israel, who was born in 1982. “What really attracted me to the store as a touchstone for my exhibition was an article that I discovered a few years ago by my now-friend Alison Martino, which memorialized the store so beautifully.” Through that relationship, he notes, he’s become friends with Brad Benedict, the founder of Heaven and creator of its initial logo.

“I love that the store was so much more than a place to buy T-shirts, greeting cards and, eventually, burgers and milkshakes,” Israel adds. “It was almost a creative community center that inspired so many people who came of age in West L.A. in the ’80s.”

Why Aspen for such a regionally-inspired concept? Aside from the fact that the mountain town’s art museum made the first move, Israel has an affinity for the destination. “It’s where I learned to ski, but it’s also become my haven in recent years,” he says. Given its natural beauty and elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, he adds, “Aspen is basically heaven.”

Those with a lift ticket and the ability to ski intermediate terrain can view Heaven at Ruthie’s between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from February 15-23, as well as March 7-16.