Michael Ajerman: Possessions
Project Room
June 15 - August 17, 2019
Diane Rosenstein Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Possessions, a solo exhibition of figurative oil paintings by Michael Ajerman, marking his first presentation in Los Angeles. Ajerman, an American artist based in London, will show recent paintings (2015-2019) in the gallery’s Project Room.
Possessions glimpses private moments shared by real and fictional subjects: erotic vignettes and quiet moments of domesticity unfolding mostly after hours. Ajerman’s actors are often fictitious characters seen in off-stage encounters (Pinocchio and Tinkerbell making love in an arbor) or familiar adults alone at home with their pets. His style is tangible and gestural; the energy of the surface involves the oil paint as image. Through his process of “aggressive surface control,” he will push, pull, and adjust the painting in a delicate or aggressive manner at any given time. This intuitive process, informed by experience with life drawing, is focused on color and brushwork, and moves between smooth and scratched surfaces, thick impasto and diluted drips. Ajerman’s paintings are stimulating and humorous, luscious and unexpected.
Michael Ajerman (USA, b. 1977) was born in New York City and received his MFA from Slade School of Art, London, UK (2003). He is currently included in the Royal Academy Summer Show, Royal Academy, London, UK (2019). He recently had a solo show, Far From Tahiti, HemingwayArt, Oxford, UK (2017) and was included in Bad For You (Curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody), Shizaru Gallery, London, UK (2012). Ajerman received the first UCLA Kitaj Research Fellowship in 2018. The artist lives and works in London.
