Hotels with high-quality curated art collections are nothing new. There’s the Four Seasons Madrid, with its art collection curated by Paloma Fernández-Iriondo. The aptly named Art Hotel in Denver. The Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach with its collection of works by famed photographer Terry O’Neill. The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad has a collection that includes works by artists like Ross Bleckner, Donald Baechler, Pat Steir, Johan Creten and Janaina Tschäpe. And the Loren at Pink Beach in Bermuda has a contemporary art collection curated by advisor Penny Aaron for hotelier Stephen King.
Aaron is actually the curator and art advisor for all Loren properties, and when King expanded The Loren into Austin in 2022, she found herself with a unique opportunity. Tour The Loren Austin, and it’s immediately apparent that art played a pivotal role in the hotel’s design. Focusing on themes of science, architecture and nature, there are sculptures by Sarah Braman and artworks by Matthew Ritchie and Michael Joo in the lobby and photographs of plants by Karl Blossfeldt in guest rooms. In the restaurant, Olafur Eliasson’s color wheels allude to Austin’s well-known Ellsworth Kelly Chapel, while a large NFT by Chris Dorland is a nod to Austin’s tech scene.
“It’s a serious collection,” Aaron tells Observer. “Collectors who live in Austin will recognize those artists.” The same can be said of collectors outside of the city. Christie’s hosted a pop-up last fall in The Loren’s top-floor meeting spaces, where the auction house highlighted twenty pieces of art, bringing movers and shakers in the art world to the hotel in the process.
The opportunity teased above was The Loren opening a standalone art gallery in a separate building just steps away from the property. When King bought the land for The Loren Austin, the sale came with one stipulation—he had to keep and maintain Paggi House, a one-story brick home built by Italian entrepreneur Michael Paggi prior to the Civil War that’s an Austin Historic Landmark, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. Previously used as a restaurant, it closed in 2014, and the building, for all its historical importance, stood empty for a decade.
King restored the house by removing non-historic elements, creating walkways for accessibility, covering a historic well for protection and enclosing the courtyard to create an outdoor event and exhibition space. “It’s brilliant—the synergy of having this historic architectural piece next to this gorgeous modern piece of architecture is like a dream come true,” says Aaron. Since opening Paggi House as an art gallery in April, Aaron has curated four shows with works by artists including Rodney Mcmillian, Xylor Jane, Simon Denny, Luke Murphy, Holly Mazar-Fox and Ruth Noack: “Explorers,” “Floating Through the Metaverse” and “Daydream in Memories of Youth,” along with a Susan Scafati solo show, “Flower.” Currently on is “SUSSURI,” which showcases works by Mary Ellen Carroll, Andy Coolquitt and Phoebe Lickwar.
“The very first show in April was all borrowed art loosely related to the solar eclipse because that was happening in Texas when it opened,” says Aaron. “For each show, I’ve asked the artists to really consider the actual structure of Paggi House and how to have a dialogue with the house, with the architecture.”
Every exhibition in Paggi House has featured at least one local Austin artist. When asked if this will always be the case, Aaron answers in the affirmative. “There are a lot of great artists I’ve bought for my other clients that I’ve found in the galleries in Austin. But I think it’s important to mix it with artists from outside of the city. Exposing new pieces, artists and ideas within a space is important.”
Given that The Loren is a collecting property, it will come as no surprise that the Paggi House gallery shows have bolstered the hotel’s already beefy collection. “We try to buy something from each of the exhibitions,” Aaron says. Local collectors are among the gallery’s buyers, as are guests. The exhibitions have also attracted community attention. Two of the artists who exhibited at Paggi House were asked to give a lecture at UT’s art and art history department, according to Aaron, and the property partnered with The Contemporary Austin, where The Loren Austin sponsored a new mural by Manik Raj Nakra at The Jones Center and then exhibited Nakra’s work in the Café at The Loren.
But one of the most exciting things about the relaunch of Paggi House as an art gallery has been the shift in perspective Aaron and King experienced regarding how art can contribute to the Loren properties. “What’s happened in Austin has made us look back at Bermuda and how we can be more involved in the art scene in Bermuda because there is an art scene; it’s just quite different,” Aaron says. “We’re not looking to change the hotel dynamic, but I think it does show that hotel art can be good art, and a hotel can create places artists want to be a part of.”
Thanks in part to the success Paggi House, The Loren at Pink Beach now hosts art pop-ups twice a year. Moving forward, what happens here will almost certainly influence how art is incorporated into The Loren’s third property in Turks and Caicos, set to open in 2026.
Later this year, after “SUSSURI” closes on February 23, Paggi House will host three exhibitions, with the first centering on music—logical for a gallery in Austin, a city known as the Live Music Capital of the World. Aaron hopes that Paggi House will eventually become well-known as an art exhibition space, separate from The Loren Austin and known for the caliber of work on display.
