Hexton director in her own show in Carbondale 

The name Agustina Mistretta is synonymous with Hexton Gallery Aspen. The gallery’s influence reaches far beyond its ostensible standing and offering as a gallery: Hexton is an integral institution in this town. It’s major, and it’s here where Mistretta, managing director of Hexton, has done much in this regard.   

For years, she offered artists advice about their shows in the gallery that she and Bob Chase manage, but now her disposition to advise others is at work for her own artistic endeavor. She is now reaching far beyond her own standing at Hexton.  

Mistretta’s first U.S. solo show, “That Which Remains,” opens 5-7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 22, and runs through Sept. 23 at Carbondale Arts on 76 S 4^th Street.   

Mistretta and Chase have been leading the vision of Hexton together since 2022. After meeting Chase in 2020, they realized their shared dedication to contributing to the city’s cultural vitality.   

From that seed grew Mistretta’s involvement with Hexton by 2022, joining forces with Chase to execute their shared artistic vision.

“What we have in common is our strong interests in nature, our beliefs about how art can change your perception of the world, and our love of Aspen community’s cultural value,” Mistretta said, adding, ”Being able to contribute to Aspen’s cultural element is something we both deeply care about.”   

Years of collaborative efforts later, and Mistretta, who signs her works of art as Agus, is stepping into her own artistic vision. After applying to Carbondale Arts’ annual open call, she happily accepted the opportunity.

“I’m very grateful, and they’ve been great to work with, and the opportunity they give to artists to show their work and share it with the community is amazing,” she said.  

The result of her working through her accumulation of a substantial archive of more than 20,000 images is an ambitious show — it’s all there and ready to finally see the light of day.

“It took me years to let myself own that identity of an artist, and what I care about,” Mistretta said. “It’s much easier to give advice to other people on what they should do, rather than yourself.”  

For years, she’s been working on her art, and since 2012, she has been drawing inspiration from her presence in Aspen, initially arriving here as a ski instructor. Travel abroad followed, and after solo and group shows in Argentina and Spain, she returned to Aspen.  

Mistretta, 37, grew up in Patagonia, Argentina, before studying photography under master photojournalist Luis Bonich in her hometown. She learned through experience, and her family history factors heavily into her process. All of this gave her the ideas which form the basis of her exploration in her show.   

“My grandfather did a lot of films of my dad when he was little, and my dad would record me, my sister, and my mother playing together whenever we would go on month-long camping trips, and those moments really made me who I am,” she said. 

As part of the process for developing this show, she traveled back home to transfer her home VHS tapes and Super-8 films to the digital medium, which became a video component of the show.  

Along with family footage and pieces from her personal archive, photography of various perspectives of mountains, and found material from unknown photographers, “That Which Remains” has the first artist proof of her first photography book, which is handmade and handbound, supported by a grant made by the city of Aspen.  

The majority of her personal archive features a variety of photographs of the mountains.

“That’s kind of my thing, and the thing that will remain when we’re gone, and the thing that was before us,” she said, adding that, “the ability of the mountain to surpass across time fascinates me.”  

There are other photographs here beyond her own. Mistretta’s show also features found material from unknown photographs from the ’70s and ’80s in an exploration of authorship and ownership of the most photographed vantage points of the most well-known mountains that locals will recognize.

“When I’m looking at a mountain, I have this one perspective of what it looks like from my vantage point. But then, you climb it and get to the top, you get a completely different perspective,” she said, reflecting that, “It’s a grounding and steady force that I’ve always felt at home and safe in knowing that was what was going to remain, and that became a source of inspiration for my work.”  

In her photography, you see a fervent mind at work, and somehow you see Mistretta through her images. You see her preoccupations.

“I go to Maroon Bells, and I stand at a specific viewpoint and it’s the same view as the postcard created in the beginning of last century. There’s something about vantage point that creates a very similar image that makes me question whether I own an image by pushing a button,” she said.  “I’m very grateful for the opportunity, and excited to share this with the world.”