Aaron Curry

Aaron Curry (b. 1972, San Antonio, United States, based in Los Angeles, United States) creates bold visual forms shaped from a wide range of references, including modernism in art, science fiction, skate culture, tribal drawings and video games, to reflect on cultural production and consumption over time. Originally trained as a painter, Curry’s interest in evoking a greater sense of dimension has led him to create works that shift between painting and sculpture.

Existing between flatness and volume, abstraction and figuration, nostalgia and a distant future, Curry’s well-known sculptural collages are a riot of biomorphic shapes, bright colours and distorted planes. They are constructed from organically cut pieces of plywood, cardboard and aluminium, then stacked into structures that evoke a totemic presence. Curry’s exhibitions are often immersive; walls that act as backdrops to his works are clad in similarly explosive graphic schemes. This dynamic environment blurs the boundaries between artwork and space, drawing viewers into a disorienting yet playful world that heightens the physical and psychological impact of his sculptural forms.

Curry obtained his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 and his MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in 2005. His work can be found in numerous collections including The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; San Francisco Museum of Art; and Seattle Art Museum, Seattle.

Notable solo exhibitions include HEADROOM (2020), McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Tune Yer Head (2018), The Bass Museum of Art, Miami; UGLY MESS (2015), Katonah Museum of Art, New York; Bad Brain (2014), CAPC Musée d'art Contemporain de Bordeaux; Boo, Deadhead, & Thing (2012), High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Bad Dimension (2010), Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover; Bad Dimension (2009), Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo; and Hammer Project: Aaron Curry (2008), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including City Unbounded (2018), 10th Jing'An International Sculpture Project, Shanghai; and Open Plan Living (2008), 1st Art TLV, Tel Aviv.

Curry had his residency at the STPI Workshop in 2017, resulting in the exhibition Fragments from a Collective Unity (2018).