Aaron Michael Skolnick’s (b. 1989) paintings address the most human of moments through both literal and allegorical methods. Building on universal themes of intimacy, desire, and mortality, Skolnick’s work bears the mark of his own history. A means to investigate the most profound and complex of experiences, these paintings range from the most graphic of nudes to the most graceful of still lives. By nature, such visual intimacies serve also as symbols of intangible experience, revealing hidden memories, desires, and thrills.
Aaron Michael Skolnick was born in 1989 in Erlanger, Kentucky. He received a BFA from the University of Kentucky in 2012. He is currently based in New York State. Previous solo exhibitions include Under the Eyes of a Dry Mountain at MARCH (New York, NY), Between Two Suns at MARCH (Taylor County, KY), Your Voice Lying Gently In My Ear at Institute 193 (1B) (New York, NY) and Feel It on Their Faith at Incident Report (Hudson, NY) in 2019, A Landscape that I Know at Fierman Gallery (New York, NY) in 2018, Running Where We Stand at Glacier Gallery (Cincinnati, OH) in 2016, and Pick Me Up and Turn Me Round’ at Institute 193 (Lexington, KY) in 2013.
Skolnick has been included in exhibitions at September Gallery (Hudson, NY), United Artists Space (Los Angeles, CA), Atlanta Contemporary Art Centre (Atlanta, GA), KMAC (Louisville, KY), and RARE Gallery (New York, NY). He has given guest lectures at the Speed Museum (Louisville, KY) and the University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) in 2014, and attended the Maple Terrace artist residency (Brooklyn, NY) in 2018. Skolnick received the Theophilia Joan Oexmann Original Art Award and the Merit Award of Excellence from the University of Kentucky in 2012. He has been represented by MARCH since 2020.