In the entryway of the St. Regis Aspen’s Paradis Suite, two of artist Andrew Gray’s signature works―Pearl (2021) and A Blue November (2020)―signal an artistic declaration on Black life. The two paintings, fusing collage and paint into layered, almost tactile compositions, add color and texture to the rarefied terrain of alpine luxury, where during winter skiers slice through snow drifts painted into presence. The paintings depict a Black skier and bike rider in the alpine mountains of Colorado––a fitting depiction for a community famous for being a year-round playground for adventure enthusiasts, offering world-class skiing and snowboarding in the winter and transforming into a hub for hiking, mountain biking, and white-water rafting during the summer months. Gray’s ski‑scapes are quiet provocations, whispering of belonging and insisting on visibility. In the hands of collectors like Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, Gray’s art travels from studio to collection to resort in a continuum.
The Paradis Suite where the paintings hang was the recent hotel stay of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, stewards of the private Dean Collection. In April, the Dean family vacationed in the alpine resort town, staying at the St. Regis Aspen and offering the Gray paintings on loan for the suite where they stayed. In the Dean Collection, Andrew Gray’s work sits in apt company, finding home in the same collection featured in the Brooklyn Museum’s acclaimed Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. That exhibition—featuring mid-career and emerging figures alongside masters like Amy Sherald and Gordon Parks—represents a commitment to Black as a cultural legacy. The Deans’ ethos of “artists supporting artists,” centering multigenerational Black creatives, has repositioned private collecting as a public and political act in the art world.
The Dean Collection’s philosophy of circulation—allowing artworks to inhabit diverse spaces and reach varied audiences—finds expression in the intimate setting of the Paradis Suite, where guests encounter these works in moments of personal retreat and reflection.
Gray’s artistic voice fuses collage and paint into layered, almost tactile compositions—floating cut‑outs of Black figures skiing amid abstracted winter panoramas. These are neither idyllic nor exotic; they are precise, asserting Black mobility in spaces historically coded as exclusionary. In Pearl, the white of the slopes is fractured by patterns and skin tones. In A Blue November, shifting blues recast the mountaintops into an affirmation of presence—not absence. That these works are on loan to the St. Regis Aspen—a venue associated with high-altitude luxury, recreation, and exclusivity—marks a powerful inversion.
“As a kid,” Gray reflects, “I spent much of my time outside, riding bikes and having fun with neighborhood kids until dusk. A Blue November is part of my ongoing narrative—capturing people who look like me in their everyday moments and activities. I’m fascinated by people’s passions and interests; they make us unique. Using thick, textured fields of paint, I create these narratives so viewers not only see my vision but also experience the process behind it.” Gray’s emphasis on everyday beauty and individuality finds a fitting home in a space designed to celebrate craftsmanship and sensory richness.
The paintings are part of a cohesive artistic direction in the St. Regis’ Paradis Suite. Named after Hennessy Paradis, one of the Maison’s most refined cognac expressions, the Paradis Suite is a bespoke, multi-sensory environment that pays homage to the values of artistry, refinement, and timelessness. Every detail—from the richness of the textiles to the sculptural lighting and curated artwork—has been selected to evoke the same depth and harmony found in a glass of Paradis.
The technical mastery evident in both Pearl and A Blue November aligns with the Paradis Suite’s celebration of craftsmanship. Gray’s mixed-media approach—combining painting, collage, and textural elements—creates works that reward close inspection, much like the carefully considered details throughout the suite. The paintings’ materiality echoes the space’s emphasis on tactile luxury, from hand-selected fabrics to artisanal furnishings.
The collaboration between the Dean Collection and the Paradis Suite represents a cultural shift where luxury spaces actively engage with contemporary artistic discourse. The suite’s guests encounter Gray’s work within the lived experience of alpine leisure—a context that amplifies the artist’s message about Black presence in recreational spaces. The loan arrangement transforms the traditional hotel art program, moving beyond generic landscapes to meaningful cultural exchange.
In the rarified air of Aspen, Gray’s visions of Black joy and mobility find new contexts for contemplation, ensuring that conversations about representation and belonging continue beyond the gallery’s walls.
The presence of Pearl and A Blue November in the Paradis Suite ultimately transforms both the artworks and their setting. Gray’s figures claim their place among Aspen’s peaks, while the luxury suite gains depth through engagement with contemporary artistic practice. This convergence of high-end hospitality and meaningful cultural content suggests a future where luxury experiences are enriched by substantive artistic dialogue—where the beautiful and the significant need not exist in opposition, but can instead create spaces of both comfort and consciousness.Andrew Gray does not shy away from this dialogue.
He explains, “I just hope I get better with my delivery. I want to be more precise and consistent. I know what I want my art to feel and look like, and getting better at hitting that mark is what really matters to me. Everything else will follow. I’ve seen my art have its highs and lows in the market, and what I’ve realized is: just keep working and stay true to why you’re painting. I just see me hitting my mark more consistently as it moves toward these higher circuits. Toyin Odutola hits her mark, Amy Sherald hits her mark, Derrick Adams hits his mark—they’re all there because of their consistency, in my opinion.”
