HEXTON | modern & contemporary
Above from left to right
Kim McDonald, Dick Carter & Tania Dibbs
The Solace of Open Spaces takes its title from Gretel Ehrlich’s seminal book on the Mountain West, referencing both the physical and emotional qualities of life among the jagged landscapes and endless wilderness of the region. Ehrlich writes of the northern territory as “the doing of a mad architect – tumbled and twisted, ribboned with faded, deathbed colors, thrust up and pulled down as if the place had been startled out of a deep sleep and thrown into pure light.”
The two artists exhibited in our debut collective, Tania Dibbs and Dick Carter, both take great inspiration from the landscape around them. Each artist has lived and worked in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley for over 30 years. Their deep exploration of the valley via painting and drawing parallels that of Ehrlich’s sentiment, at once highlighting the physical and emotional spirit of the region.
Hexton Gallery was founded by Robert Chase in 1995 and expanded upon the Chase family’s long-standing role in gallery development, artist representation, and extensive work in 20th century master prints and figurative sculpture. The gallery originated at 78th and Madison on New York’s Upper East Side, and relocated to Chicago several years later. The gallery’s archive, art production, and marketing teams reside in Chicago, while the main gallery now operates at its Cooper Avenue location in Aspen, Colorado.
Hexton’s contemporary program includes a select range of paintings, drawings, and sculpture from today’s leading mid-career and established contemporary talent. The gallery also publishes and represents artists and institutional projects in the areas of editioned printmaking, sculpture, and artist books. The Aspen location mounts eight exhibitions per year, including its Colorado Collective series, the gallery’s local arts development program.
Hexton has produced over two hundred exhibitions internationally in the last twenty-five years, both solo and in collaboration with other gallery partners. Hexton also develops and supports institutional exhibitions for its artists, having recently provided sponsorship for Eric Fischl’s If Art Could Talk at the Dallas Contemporary, Carlos Rolon’s Inside Out at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and Scott Avett’s Invisible at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The gallery continues to participate extensively in domestic and international art fairs in support of its mid-career and established artists.
Hexton’s Private Sales and Auction Services assist collectors in both the acquisition and sale of major secondary market paintings and sculpture. The gallery mounts historic exhibitions in connection with these activities, such as 2021’s Gravity’s Pull, featuring paintings and drawings from Philip Guston, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, John Baldessari and other 20th century luminaries.
Hexton Gallery, Aspen
447 E Cooper Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
Thank you Artist Dick Carter and Tania Dibbs for the wonderful exhibition of, “The Solace of Open Spaces.” I highly recommend checking out the gallery if you’re n Aspen, Colorado. I loved reconnecting with old friends and meeting new people involved in the art world here in Aspen. - Kim
The joy of creating these pieces is giving me great freedom to work on line quality, glowing colors, related palettes, and organic shapes that speak to one another.
A whole new creative process in which I am simplifying shapes and coming up with abstract forms that relate to each other within the positive and negative space. The patterns are influenced by Matisse and the color sensibility is inspired by Mark Rothko.
