Biography
Aaron Zulpo, originally from Illinois, is a Brooklyn based painter with a BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design. His work is story-based, and for exhibitions, he usually works around one theme or one story. His recent A Ski Series depicts the complex juxtaposition between the natural and the artificial through using bright colors and patterns. Inspired by films and books, he hopes his work to be both spatially elegant and visually intriguing. Aaron has had solo exhibitions at 1969 Gallery in New York and Visions West Contemporary in Denver. He also has exhibited at the fairs Volta, NY and Pulse Miami Beach with Project: ARTspace. Select group exhibitions include Danese Corey, Patel Gallery, and Freight and Volume.
Artist Statement
For the last four years, I’ve wanted to make large studio landscape paintings. The idea started after thinking about the rich history of American landscape painting and viewing pieces by Albert Beirdstadt and Thomas Cole. The tradition of being an explorer painter is very enticing. You get to travel to new sites and be outside, and more importantly, you are surrounded by your subject matter. Most artists paint what is relatively close to them or self-assembled. Landscape painting, on the other hand, requires you to travel miles or in the case of early American landscape painters across a continent to find a muse. Once they did their studies, they traveled back to their studio to interpret what they experienced. I wanted to have the same experience of being outside, immersed in the subject, and then bringing those studies back into the studio to re-imagine.
For A Ski Series, my muse was skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I picked the activity of skiing because of its familiarity. It was an activity I did often growing up and this allowed me to create a story to drive all the paintings. Stories help me compose the paintings and connect them together. I picked Jackson Hole for its landscapes. The scenery is breathtaking and dramatic with mountains that seem to shoot out of the earth as the National Park surrounds them. For me, there are few places as beautiful as Jackson Hole.
I was in Wyoming during the winter and painted outside, both on and off the ski slopes. I brought the studies back to my studio in Brooklyn, New York where I created landscape paintings with a metaphysical and exuberant feeling that combined the narrative of a family vacation. I worked to create a world where things buzzed and vibrated. Snow became wavy paint lines to capture its ever-changing hues. Sun and stars are shown with such intensity you can see their visible rays. The crispness and brightness of a snow color day are blinding. Trees became my strong shapes that help to divide the picture plane. In all, I created 14 paintings to capture the joyous feeling of being outside and on the slopes.
CV
Aaron Zulpo
Born in 1985 in Illinois
Education
2008 BFA, Rhode Island School of Design
Solo Exhibitions
2024 California Deserts, 1969 Gallery, New York
2023 Joshua Tree, Taymour Grahne, London
2019 A Ski Series, Visions West Contemporary, Denver
2018 Up and Up, 1969 Gallery, New York
2017 Tales of American Adventures, Visions West Contemporary, Denver
2016 VOLTANY, Project: ARTspace, New York
2012 Project: ARTspace, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 GAP: Yellowstone, Visions West Contemporary, Livingston, Montana
2024 contemporary domesticity II, Taymour Grahne, London
2023 Untitled Miami Beach, 1969 Gallery
2023 Beach, Nino Mier Gallery, New York
2023 Room With A View, Hashimoto Gallery, New York
2023 Dallas Art Fair, 1969 Gallery, Dallas
2022 Untitled Miami Beach, 1969 Gallery, Miami
2022 To Die For, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, Ohio
2021 Scenic Route, 1969 Gallery, New York
2021 Winter in the Valley, The Valley, Taos, New Mexico
2020 Interiors: hello from the living room, 1969 Gallery, New York
2019 SPF 32, New York
2019 I ❤️Paint, Patel, Toronto
2019 Personal Spaces, Danese / Corey, New York
2018 Summer of Love, Freight + Volume, New York
2018 Private Practice, Underdonk, Brooklyn
2018 Group Show, Serving the People and Milk Studios, New York
2017 PULSE Miami Beach, Project: ARTspace, Miami
2017 September: How Was Your Summer, Gallery 1969, New York
2017 Best Kept Secret, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
2016 PULSE Miami Beach, Project: ARTspace, Miami
2016 Thanksgiving, Muse Art LTD, Hong Kong
2016 FADA: House of Madness, 23rd Annual Watermill Center Arts Benefit & Auction, Watermill
2014 Surburbanites and Urbanites, Hooloon Gallery, Philadelphia
Awards + Residencies
2021 Armory Off-Site Project, Guild of Adventure Painting (creator)
2020 Shandaken Paint School, Fellowship
2019 Visions West Contemporary Residency, Bozeman MT and Jackson Hole Wyoming
2018 Greenwich West Development Project
2018 South West America Bullet, The South West, Residency
2018 Macedonia Institute, Residency
2016 Perez Art Museum Pick, Pulse Miami Beach 2016
2016 Ace Hotel Artist in Residence, New York
Bibliography
Hyperallergic “Adventure Painters of the Southwest”. By Susannah Abbey
https://hyperallergic.com/771271/adventure-painters-of-the-southwest/
Whitehot Magazine “Interiors at 1969 Gallery” by Alfred Rosenbluth
https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/interiors-at-1969-gallery/4779
Jackson Hole News “Brooklyn artist paints a ski trip series” by Julie Kukral
https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/scene/arts/article_0e006a9a-75e8-518f-af4b-e3419e2b016b.html
Painters on Paintings “Sam McKinniss on Aaron Zulpo” by Sam McKinniss
https://paintersonpaintings.com/sam-mckinniss-aaron-zulpo
Greenpointers “Thursday Spotlight: Aaron Zulpo Painter of Narratives” by Madeline Ehrlich,
https://greenpointers.com/2017/08/03/thursday-spotlight-aaron-zulpo-painter-narratives
Hyperallergic “Dreamscapes for the 21st Century at the Volta Art Fair” by Daniel Larkin
http://hyperallergic.com/280703/dreamscapes-for-the-21st-century-at-the-volta-art-fair
The Art Blog “Suburbanities and Urbanites at Hooloon Art” by Irena Frumkin,
http://www.theartblog.org/2014/08/suburbanites-and-urbanites-at-hooloon-art
Aaron Zulpo, originally from Illinois, is a Brooklyn based painter with a BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design. His work is story-based, and for exhibitions, he usually works around one theme or one story. His recent A Ski Series depicts the complex juxtaposition between the natural and the artificial through using bright colors and patterns. Inspired by films and books, he hopes his work to be both spatially elegant and visually intriguing. Aaron has had solo exhibitions at 1969 Gallery in New York and Visions West Contemporary in Denver. He also has exhibited at the fairs Volta, NY and Pulse Miami Beach with Project: ARTspace. Select group exhibitions include Danese Corey, Patel Gallery, and Freight and Volume.
Artist Statement
For the last four years, I’ve wanted to make large studio landscape paintings. The idea started after thinking about the rich history of American landscape painting and viewing pieces by Albert Beirdstadt and Thomas Cole. The tradition of being an explorer painter is very enticing. You get to travel to new sites and be outside, and more importantly, you are surrounded by your subject matter. Most artists paint what is relatively close to them or self-assembled. Landscape painting, on the other hand, requires you to travel miles or in the case of early American landscape painters across a continent to find a muse. Once they did their studies, they traveled back to their studio to interpret what they experienced. I wanted to have the same experience of being outside, immersed in the subject, and then bringing those studies back into the studio to re-imagine.
For A Ski Series, my muse was skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I picked the activity of skiing because of its familiarity. It was an activity I did often growing up and this allowed me to create a story to drive all the paintings. Stories help me compose the paintings and connect them together. I picked Jackson Hole for its landscapes. The scenery is breathtaking and dramatic with mountains that seem to shoot out of the earth as the National Park surrounds them. For me, there are few places as beautiful as Jackson Hole.
I was in Wyoming during the winter and painted outside, both on and off the ski slopes. I brought the studies back to my studio in Brooklyn, New York where I created landscape paintings with a metaphysical and exuberant feeling that combined the narrative of a family vacation. I worked to create a world where things buzzed and vibrated. Snow became wavy paint lines to capture its ever-changing hues. Sun and stars are shown with such intensity you can see their visible rays. The crispness and brightness of a snow color day are blinding. Trees became my strong shapes that help to divide the picture plane. In all, I created 14 paintings to capture the joyous feeling of being outside and on the slopes.
CV
Aaron Zulpo
Born in 1985 in Illinois
Education
2008 BFA, Rhode Island School of Design
Solo Exhibitions
2024 California Deserts, 1969 Gallery, New York
2023 Joshua Tree, Taymour Grahne, London
2019 A Ski Series, Visions West Contemporary, Denver
2018 Up and Up, 1969 Gallery, New York
2017 Tales of American Adventures, Visions West Contemporary, Denver
2016 VOLTANY, Project: ARTspace, New York
2012 Project: ARTspace, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 GAP: Yellowstone, Visions West Contemporary, Livingston, Montana
2024 contemporary domesticity II, Taymour Grahne, London
2023 Untitled Miami Beach, 1969 Gallery
2023 Beach, Nino Mier Gallery, New York
2023 Room With A View, Hashimoto Gallery, New York
2023 Dallas Art Fair, 1969 Gallery, Dallas
2022 Untitled Miami Beach, 1969 Gallery, Miami
2022 To Die For, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, Ohio
2021 Scenic Route, 1969 Gallery, New York
2021 Winter in the Valley, The Valley, Taos, New Mexico
2020 Interiors: hello from the living room, 1969 Gallery, New York
2019 SPF 32, New York
2019 I ❤️Paint, Patel, Toronto
2019 Personal Spaces, Danese / Corey, New York
2018 Summer of Love, Freight + Volume, New York
2018 Private Practice, Underdonk, Brooklyn
2018 Group Show, Serving the People and Milk Studios, New York
2017 PULSE Miami Beach, Project: ARTspace, Miami
2017 September: How Was Your Summer, Gallery 1969, New York
2017 Best Kept Secret, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
2016 PULSE Miami Beach, Project: ARTspace, Miami
2016 Thanksgiving, Muse Art LTD, Hong Kong
2016 FADA: House of Madness, 23rd Annual Watermill Center Arts Benefit & Auction, Watermill
2014 Surburbanites and Urbanites, Hooloon Gallery, Philadelphia
Awards + Residencies
2021 Armory Off-Site Project, Guild of Adventure Painting (creator)
2020 Shandaken Paint School, Fellowship
2019 Visions West Contemporary Residency, Bozeman MT and Jackson Hole Wyoming
2018 Greenwich West Development Project
2018 South West America Bullet, The South West, Residency
2018 Macedonia Institute, Residency
2016 Perez Art Museum Pick, Pulse Miami Beach 2016
2016 Ace Hotel Artist in Residence, New York
Bibliography
Hyperallergic “Adventure Painters of the Southwest”. By Susannah Abbey
https://hyperallergic.com/771271/adventure-painters-of-the-southwest/
Whitehot Magazine “Interiors at 1969 Gallery” by Alfred Rosenbluth
https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/interiors-at-1969-gallery/4779
Jackson Hole News “Brooklyn artist paints a ski trip series” by Julie Kukral
https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/scene/arts/article_0e006a9a-75e8-518f-af4b-e3419e2b016b.html
Painters on Paintings “Sam McKinniss on Aaron Zulpo” by Sam McKinniss
https://paintersonpaintings.com/sam-mckinniss-aaron-zulpo
Greenpointers “Thursday Spotlight: Aaron Zulpo Painter of Narratives” by Madeline Ehrlich,
https://greenpointers.com/2017/08/03/thursday-spotlight-aaron-zulpo-painter-narratives
Hyperallergic “Dreamscapes for the 21st Century at the Volta Art Fair” by Daniel Larkin
http://hyperallergic.com/280703/dreamscapes-for-the-21st-century-at-the-volta-art-fair
The Art Blog “Suburbanities and Urbanites at Hooloon Art” by Irena Frumkin,
http://www.theartblog.org/2014/08/suburbanites-and-urbanites-at-hooloon-art