Aaron Spangler

Aaron Spangler’s work is carved from solid blocks of Basswood, a medium rife with limitations and possibilities, and then covered in black gesso and graphite. Working three-dimensionally and in bas-relief, the artist works reductively, balancing shifting scale and perspective, so that each cut not only focuses, but propels the composition forward. Increasingly, abstract form and line in Spangler’s work share space with representational imagery so that neither carries more weight than the other. At first glance, the action in the carvings seems to occupy a specific lawless period in the rural American consciousness. However, as objects in nature accumulate as much agency as man-made ones, the composition evokes a timeless world where objects become unmoored from their footings, behave badly, and avenge injustices on their own.

Spangler’s work has been included in a number of exhibitions including at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, Contemporary Arts, Museum, Houston, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago and Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Taipei. Spangler is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the McKnight Foundation for Visual Artists, Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Jerome Foundation. 

Courtesy of Zieher Smith & Horton