Hilton Contemporary Returns to Intersect Aspen Art + Design Fair

CHICAGO – Hilton Contemporary is pleased to announce its return to Intersect Aspen for the gallery’s eighth consecutive year. On view at the fair will be a curated presentation of works by Carole Feuerman, Cristina Mittermeier, Paul Nicklen, and Jacob Gils—four internationally recognized artists whose practices engage beauty, memory, the natural world, and the emotional resonance of image-making.

This year’s presentation brings together sculpture and photography in a dynamic dialogue around presence, transformation, and our relationship to the world around us. Spanning meditative figurative sculpture, immersive landscapes, and visually arresting photographic works, Hilton Contemporary’s booth reflects the gallery’s continued commitment to exhibiting artists whose practices are both technically masterful and deeply evocative.

A highlight of the presentation is work by Carole Feuerman, whose hyperrealist sculptures have become iconic for their extraordinary craftsmanship and emotional stillness. Often depicting swimmers in moments of pause and introspection, Feuerman’s work explores themes of resilience, serenity, and the body as a site of strength and contemplation. Her sculptures bring a striking physical presence to the booth, offering a powerful counterpoint to the photographic works on view.

Carole Feuerman’s work is currently the subject of a major public presentation along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, where her monumental sculptures animate one of the city’s most iconic commercial corridors. Sponsored by Hilton Contemporary, her artworks are installed across prominent sites on and around Michigan Avenue, the presentation brings Feuerman’s hyperrealist figures into direct dialogue with the urban landscape, transforming familiar public spaces into moments of reflection, beauty, and pause.

Also featured are works by Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen, two of the most influential voices in contemporary environmental photography. Through their distinct yet deeply complementary practices, Mittermeier and Nicklen document the fragile beauty of the natural world while calling attention to the urgency of conservation. Their images—at once intimate, majestic, and deeply moving—invite viewers into ecosystems and moments that feel both wondrous and vulnerable, underscoring the interconnectedness between humanity and the planet.

Cristina Mittermeier’s Marks on Memory series expands the artist’s celebrated photographic practice through a new body of mixed-media collage works that explore the layered relationship between memory, place, and the natural world. Combining photography with hand-worked surfaces, fragments, and tactile interventions, the series reflects on the ways personal and collective memory are formed, altered, and preserved over time. Rooted in Mittermeier’s decades-long commitment to documenting vulnerable ecosystems and humanity’s connection to them, these works introduce a more intimate and materially driven mode of storytelling.

Paul Nicklen’s photographs offer an intimate and awe-inspiring view of the natural world, shaped by a career spent documenting some of the planet’s most remote and vulnerable environments. Working at the intersection of art, storytelling, and conservation, Nicklen creates images that reveal both the majesty and fragility of life on Earth—from vast polar landscapes to close encounters with marine wildlife. His practice is rooted in a profound respect for the ecosystems he photographs, and his work invites viewers to experience these environments not as distant spectacles, but as living worlds deeply connected to our own. At once visually arresting and emotionally urgent, Nicklen’s photographs underscore the beauty worth protecting while bearing witness to the environmental changes reshaping the planet.

Completing the presentation are works by Jacob Gils, whose photography pushes beyond documentation into a more atmospheric and painterly realm. Known for his ability to transform urban and natural environments into luminous, layered compositions, Gils captures fleeting moments of light, movement, and reflection with a cinematic sensitivity. His work introduces a sense of rhythm and abstraction to the booth, expanding the conversation between image, memory, and perception.

“We’re thrilled to return to Aspen for our eighth year at Intersect Aspen and to present a group of artists whose work feels especially resonant right now,” said the gallery. “Together, Feuerman, Mittermeier, Nicklen, and Gils each offer a distinct way of seeing—whether through sculpture or photography—and invite us to slow down, look closely, and consider our connection to one another and to the world we inhabit.” — Arica Hilton, CEO

Hilton Contemporary’s presentation at Intersect Aspen reflects the gallery’s broader program, which champions leading contemporary artists working across photography, sculpture, and mixed media. The gallery looks forward to welcoming collectors, curators, and fair visitors to the booth this summer.

VIP Opening Preview and Reception (By Invitation Only)
Tuesday, July 28, 2 – 5 pm VIP/All Access Pass Only

General Admission
Tuesday, July 28 | 5 – 7 pm
Wednesday, July 29 | 11 am – 6 pm
Thursday, July 30 | 11 am – 6 pm
Friday, August 1 | 11 am – 5 pm

For complimentary VIP passes please contact us!

From ice diving with leopard seals, studying the horizon with lions in Africa, and battling the sub-zero temperatures of the arctic, Canadian born Paul Nicklen has spent the last 20 years documenting both the beauty and the plight of our planet. As one of the world’s most prominent nature photographers, TED Talks favorite (with almost 2.5 million views), Nicklen has used his art to spotlight endangered ecosystems and ignite a global awareness of climate change.

After a 20-year career of photographing for prestigious publications including numerous cover images for National Geographic, Nicklen revisited his archives for the true gems to fulfill his lifelong dream of releasing them to the art world. Nicklen has garnered more than 30 of the highest accolades given to any photographer in his field, earning a global following of prominent individuals, conservationists, and fans. He has published more than 20 stories for National Geographic and has been the recipient of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award and the prestigious World Press Photo award for photojournalism.

Hailed as one of the most influential conservation photographers of our time, Cristina Mittermeier has dedicated her life to protecting the world’s oceans, our largest ecosystem – inspiring millions of people to do the same. Using the direct language of photography, Mittermeier opens a portal to help people become aware of the fragility of our ecosystem.

Her photographs remind us that human beings are not isolated creatures, but members of an interconnected society. Using our planet’s limited resources wisely is imperative for our future. We need to understand that the health of the oceans has a direct impact on our climate, the air we breathe and the food we eat. Every community on Earth is part of the global ecosystem and the choices we make today can collectively shape the future of our planet.

Mittermeier’s latest book, “HOPE”, with an introduction written by Robert Redford, “is a manifesto of human interrelationship with Nature and gives a gentle and optimistic perspective on the environmental issues.” — PhotoVogue Magazine

Carole A. Feuerman (born 1945) is an American sculptor and author working in Hyperrealism. She is one of the three artists credited with starting the movement in the late 1970s. She is best known for her iconic figurative works of swimmers and dancers. She is the only artist to make realistically painted outdoor sculptures and the only woman to sculpt in this style.

Feuerman’s public works have been displayed in: Central Park and SoHo, New York, the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; l’ Avenue George V and Saint Tropez, France: Hung Tai Museum in Changzhou, CHN and Harbor City in Hong Kong: the Arsenale in the Venice Biennale, Giardino della Marinaressa, Palazzo Strozzi Palace, and Palazzo Reale, IT, New Bond Street and Canary Wharf, UK: and Osthaus Museum, Museumsplatz 1, Hagen, DEU.

In 2011, she founded the Carole A. Feuerman Sculpture Foundation. She has four full color monographs. Her works are in the permanent collections of thirty-one museums and owned by the cities of Sunnyvale CA and Peekskill NY, the State Hermitage, El Paso Museum, and privately owned by Steven A. Cohen, Former President Clinton, The Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Mr. Joop van Caldenborgh, Dr. Henry Kissinger, and Malcolm Forbes.

Jacob Gils was born in Gentofte, Denmark, into an artist family. His mother is the painter Merete Hansen, and his father was the painter Ove Gils. He graduated from the Copenhagen School of Photography in 1989, where he assisted the Danish photographer Leif Schiller.

In his early career, Gils worked as an advertising photographer and founded the renowned photo studio Gils Photography. In 2001, he shifted to an art practice and began experimenting with various photographic techniques and forms of expression. His work has since been exhibited internationally and is represented in major museum and private collections.

His works are held in the collections of Fotografiska – The Museum of Photography in Stockholm; the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá; the National Museum of Photography at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen; the National Museum of Photography in Oslo; the Ning Zhou Museum of Photography in Los Angeles; the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing; and the Nanjing Institute of Visual Arts in China.

His work is also included in notable public and private collections, including Their Royal Highnesses King Frederik X and Queen Mary’s collection at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen; Their Royal Highnesses Prince Joachim and Princess Marie’s collection; the Danish Cultural Institute in Beijing; Boston Properties in New York; the Thomas Shao Collection in Shanghai; LEGO A/S; Maersk A/S; and the Confederation of Danish Industry.