This new series of tonal paintings by New York-based artist Isaac Aden appear reductive and straight forward explorations of color at first glance. Yet, they are quite complex in their methodical production that includes many layers of underpainting and color mixing on the surface using spray and wind from outdoors to bring an element of chance and serendipity. They are also complex in terms of the diverse art historical references and nods toward Minimalism and Color Field painting. However, the palettes and imagery evoke atmospheric, etherial landscapes and skyscapes at that fleeting moment when day transitions to night or night becomes day, situating the paintings between the beautiful and sublime.
Isaac Aden
Tonal Painting 26, 2020
Oil on canvas
60 x 48"
Isaac Aden
Tonal Painting 49, 2020
Oil on canvas
60 x 48"
Isaac Aden
Tonal Painting 04, 2020
Oil on canvas
60 x 48"
Isaac Aden
Tonal Painting 17, 2020
Oil on canvas
60 x 48"
Isaac Aden Tonal Painting 15, 2020 Oil on canvas 60 x 48"
About Isaac Aden: Isaac Aden is an artist and curator. Aden’s work is about the human condition, the American experience. Aden’s Post-Medium practice has centered its primary research in the area of New Institutionalism. Aden makes bodies of work often tangentially related and even visually disparate with no desire to ascribe an aesthetic conclusion. In this way the practice becomes absorbent and generative.
Aden has exhibited internationally, including: dOCUMENTA 13, MassMOCA, The Fedricianum, White Box, Kassel Werkstadt, David Richard Gallery, Gallerie Rasch, Ulrike Petschel Gallerie, Ethan Cohen Fine Art, SPRING/BREAK, Art Miami, Contemporary Istanbul, VOLTA Basel, Sotheby’s, The Jerome A. Cohen And Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Art. The Bertha and Karl Luebsdorf Gallery, The International Gallery of Contemporary Art, The Parthenon Museum, The New York Public Library, and The World Trade Center.
Aden is on the board of White Box. Formerly the Senior Curator at the Jerome A Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Visual Arts. He was named the Chief Curator of four art fairs including the AD ART Show at Sotheby’s and the World Trade Center, New York and the Accessible Art Fair. As part of this he developed and executed the first city wide digital art fair, partnering with corporate sponsors including Systech Systems and NBC Universal. Over 13 million people viewed the fair. He has curated over twenty exhibitions, including Jeffrey Hargrave, Escape Route, at the Bronx Museum. He has been awarded Fellowships from the Kossak Foundation, Creative Capital, The New York Foundation for the Arts and the United States State Department.
He is currently represented by: Gallerie Rasch in Germany, Marat Guelman in Russia and the Balkans, and David Richard Gallery the Americas. To View more artworks by Aden and to view his bio and CV, use this link: