Walter Niedermayr -- The Aspen Series
The Aspen Series is by Walter Niedermayr. The following quote is from this page: https://www.aspensnowmass.com/we-are-different/art-in-unexpected-places/walter-niedermayr-the-aspen-series
"Featured at venues and locations throughout Aspen Snowmass, a multi-site exhibition of internationally renowned artist, Walter Niedermayr, entitled The Aspen Series is displayed with large-scale photographs and banners. Paula and Jim Crown, partners of Aspen Skiing Company, commissioned The Aspen Series by artist Walter Niedermayr in 2009 as a demonstration of their passion for both art and the natural surroundings of the mountainous areas and towns in Aspen Snowmass. Guests and local citizens can visit the exhibit locations on foot, snowshoes, skis or snowboard. Walter Niedermayr has worked in alpine regions around the world since the late 1980s, using his camera to explore the issues surrounding the presence and interference of people in sensitive landscapes. These are the first works produced in the U.S. by the internationally acclaimed artist. The Aspen Series depicts the winter landscape of the iconic ski resort in the Rocky Mountains, on which a highly ambitious kind of tourism has taken a heavy toll. Aspen Skiing Company in conjunction with Jim and Paula Crown, released the book The Aspen Series by Walter Niedermayr in March 2013 (ISBN 978-3-7757-3212-3 -- see photo of the book below). This illustrative book vividly explores the commission and exhibition of Niedermayr's 42 photographic compositions, the video "Downhill" and a digital pattern, representing landscape scenes of specific locales across the four mountains that make up Aspen Snowmass. The Aspen Series continues the tradition of mind, body and spirit, and establishes Aspen Snowmass as a unique cultural and recreational destination. Combing nature and tourism in alpine landscapes from a new and exciting perspective, this innovative slopeside exhibition is another one of the many reasons to visit Aspen Snowmass. The exhibition is spread across the resort including installations on Aspen Mountain, the City of Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass."
This is the video "Downhill" which is mentioned above: https://vimeo.com/148115113 and the following is a quote from that page:
"ASPEN SKIING COMPANY'S RESORT WIDE EXHIBIT: THE ASPEN SERIES Featured at venues and locations throughout Aspen/Snowmass, a multi-site exhibition of internationally renowned artist, Walter Niedermayr, entitled The Aspen Series is displayed with large-scale photographs and banners. Paula and Jim Crown, partners of Aspen Skiing Company, commissioned The Aspen Series by artist Walter Niedermayr in 2009 as a demonstration of their passion for both art and the natural surroundings of the mountainous areas and towns in Aspen/Snowmass. Guests and local citizens can visit the exhibit locations on foot, snowshoes, skis or snowboard. The tour includes a map brochure as a guide, a website link and a book, featuring observations by the artist and comments from the worlds of snow sports and fine arts.
The combination of Neidermayr’s photography and the epic mountain scenery is a visual tour de force. Even long time Aspenites remarked that they ‘saw the mountains anew’ through Niedermayr’s work. The Aspen Skiing Company and the Crown Family are mission-driven to provide the best skiing, snowboarding and overall experience for guests. Since its founding in 1947, The Aspen Skiing Company has committed to the renewal of the mind, body and spirit, and an appreciation of our place in the natural world.
The series includes a video entitled “Downhill 2009” as well as digital murals and banners created by the artist specifically for the project. Each of the vast alpine landscapes was shot from different vantage points and aerial locations. The permanent exhibition sites include the restaurant at the Sundeck atop Aspen Mountain, the Aspen Mountain Ticket Office, the Snowmass Gondola Ticket Office, The Treehouse Kids' Adventure Center at Snowmass Base Village, the Buttermilk Ticket Office, The Cliffhouse restaurant atop Buttermilk, Bumps restaurant at the base of Buttermilk, Merry Go Round restaurant mid mountain Aspen Highlands and the lobbies of The Limelight Hotel and The Little Nell Hotel in Aspen.
Walter Niedermayr has worked in alpine regions around the world since the late 1980s, using his camera to explore the issues surrounding the presence and interference of people in sensitive landscapes. These are the first works produced in the U.S. by the internationally acclaimed artist. The Aspen Series depicts the winter landscape of the iconic ski resort in the Rocky Mountains, on which a highly ambitious kind of tourism has taken a heavy toll. In his masterful cycle of photographs, Niedermayr remains a precise, critical observer of the way the landscape has been transformed by the ‘homo touristicus.’ The combination of Neidermayr’s photography and the epic mountain scenery is a visual tour de force. Even long- time Aspenites remark that they “see the mountains anew” through Niedermayr’s work.
Niedermayr surveys the interaction between man and nature with a cool, objective eye, presenting an updated take on a sublime landscape that now features ski lifts, gondolas and snow scored by the paths of skiers and brightly colored clothing—these lines graphically crisscross the surface of the photographs. His unique visual devices within the compositions expose the expansive nature of alpine scenes combined with the presence of human beings, as they appear tiny and scattered, as accents of bright color against vast stretches of white snow."
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