{"id":2446412,"date":"2019-07-16T22:08:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T04:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sean-beckwith-the-long-shadow-of-aspens-beauty\/"},"modified":"2019-07-16T22:08:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T04:08:00","slug":"sean-beckwith-the-long-shadow-of-aspens-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sean-beckwith-the-long-shadow-of-aspens-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Beckwith: The long shadow of Aspen\u2019s beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If life imitates art, what does that mean for Aspen? If you walk around town and peek in the various galleries you see beautiful landscapes, colorful pop pieces and other works that would look great hung in $15 million homes. The Aspen Art Museum, Anderson Ranch and other institutes do a great job of bringing in international artists to explore global issues.<\/p>\n

However, with the area\u2019s well-documented mental-health issues, where are the works exploring local problems in plain sight? I have yet to see a painting of the drab, dull and gray days of the offseason. You have large portions of the workforce giving up their holidays to make tourists happy. Can we get a production of that story, or are we going to run back \u201cThe Nutcracker\u201d?<\/p>\n

Authors write books about ski patrollers who solve crimes and murder mysteries. Music school students play classical songs on street corners and Belly Up books musicians best experienced on Molly.<\/p>\n

If life imitates art, Aspen\u2019s job of covering up life\u2019s nuisances with extravagance and pretty pictures is spot on.<\/p>\n

For every mountain-scape, there should be a black-and-white of a room in a detox center. For every photo of a skier slashing powder on a bluebird day, there should be a collage of those taken too soon. For every collection of Aspen-inspired writing, there should be a chapter of locals sharing their inconsolable grief about any of the countless recreation-related tragedies. For every family portrait, there should be a candid of restaurant staff shoving their faces full of family meal.<\/p>\n

No one wants to be reminded of the ugly aspects of life while on vacation, but living in \u201cparadise\u201d comes with the caveat that aesthetics equals happiness.<\/p>\n

Look at the way Hunter S. Thompson is treated in the valley. His ability to write groundbreaking works of literature and his drug abuse overshadow how his life ended.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s absolutely insane how much he\u2019s celebrated and how much his suicide is ignored. The most popular artist in the history of Aspen and one of the best writers of the 20th century killed himself and people are like, \u201cLook at all the drugs he did. What an amazing person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen holds forums and summits and conventions about solving these massive problems but what are the preconceived notions that persevere? Aspen is for the elite and extremely wealthy. Aspen has as much cocaine as it does actual snow.<\/p>\n

The top minds of the world pat themselves on the back after a meta discussion about civil rights but meanwhile half of Aspen\u2019s workforce is bused in from downvalley and beyond. It\u2019s an exercise so rooted in superficiality that to describe it as a farce is an understatement.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying the city needs an early \u201990s Seattle overhaul and should embrace depression, but we should do a better job of acknowledging the problems teeming below the serene sunsets and snow days.<\/p>\n

If Aspen wants to be this mecca of arts and enlightenment, it needs a dose of unpleasantness. Everything cannot be solved with a Champagne campaign.<\/p>\n

My favorite music is dungy, grimey, dirty hip-hop because you can feel the emotion. Listen to Wu-tang\u2019s \u201cC.R.E.A.M.,\u201d Nas\u2019 \u201cOne Love\u201d or 2Pac\u2019s \u201cBury Me a G\u201d and list the feelings they evoke.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a hip-hop fan, play Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m a Fool to Want You\u201d and tell me it\u2019s not one of the most moving songs in his catalog. Art is not always objectively beautiful because life isn\u2019t unicorns and flamingos.<\/p>\n

Pain, loss, desperation and sadness are normal feelings. And like anything, too much can be unhealthy. If I walked around with a perma-smile, even though a bear is biting my arm off, it would be unsettling.<\/p>\n

The presence of elegance in the Roaring Fork Valley is undeniable, but that doesn\u2019t mean people aren\u2019t struggling. They may not be going through situations as intense as migrants crossing the Mediterranean, but if a person is contemplating taking their own life, they need help that a float down North Star can\u2019t provide.<\/p>\n

If you look hard enough, there are places in the valley working to improve mental health. Don\u2019t let excuses about this alleged utopia prevent you from reaching out before it\u2019s too late. Acknowledging something is wrong is extremely hard to do when you\u2019re surrounded by delusionally happy tourists, so don\u2019t be ashamed. And conversely, if a friend seems off or aloof, ask if they\u2019re OK.<\/p>\n

We may not get an appropriate representation of what it\u2019s like to be the sad clown at the circus soon, but it\u2019s a lot more feasible than solving the affordable-housing situation.<\/p>\n

In Aspen, life does not imitate art. I open my blinds to the sight of Aspen Mountain every morning but I still watch my step for dog s\u2014 on the walk to the bus.<\/p>\n

Sean Beckwith is a copy editor at The Aspen Times. Reach him at sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If life imitates art, what does that mean for Aspen? If you walk around town and peek in the various galleries you see beautiful landscapes, colorful pop pieces and other works that would look great hung in $15 million homes. The Aspen Art Museum, Anderson Ranch and other institutes do a great job of bringing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2446412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 10:34:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}