Kevin Van Aelst
Primary Medium: Photography
Other media: Sculpture, Installation
93 Olive
Email: kevinvanaelst (at) gmail (dot) com
Artist Statement
My color photographs consist of common artifacts and scenes from everyday life, which have been rearranged, assembled, and constructed into various forms, patterns, and illustrations. The images aim to examine the distance between the ‘big picture' and the ‘little things' in life—the banalities of our daily lives, and the sublime notions of identity and existance. While the depictions of information--such as an EKG, fingerprint, map or anatomical model--are unconventional, the truth and accuracy to the illustrations are just as valid as their traditional depictions. This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us is capable of communicating much larger ideas.
Other media: Sculpture, Installation
93 Olive
Email: kevinvanaelst (at) gmail (dot) com
Artist Statement
My color photographs consist of common artifacts and scenes from everyday life, which have been rearranged, assembled, and constructed into various forms, patterns, and illustrations. The images aim to examine the distance between the ‘big picture' and the ‘little things' in life—the banalities of our daily lives, and the sublime notions of identity and existance. While the depictions of information--such as an EKG, fingerprint, map or anatomical model--are unconventional, the truth and accuracy to the illustrations are just as valid as their traditional depictions. This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us is capable of communicating much larger ideas.
Selected Works
|  The Heart - 2009 - digital c-print - 40 x 30" - $700.00 [Fundraiser] Diagram of the Human Heart created out of red and blue sweaters on a bed. The print is in an edition of 10.  The Brain - 2009 - digital c-print - 24 x 30 - $500.00 [Fundraiser] My brain. It's made of christmas lights. edition of 10.  Shopping Cart - 2009 - Digital C-print - 30 x 30 - $400.00 [Fundraiser] blue tape on the wall  Circulatory System - 2009 - digital c-print - 36 x 24" - $500.00 [Fundraiser] Wearing my heart and all major blood vessels on my sleeve. edition of 10  blackholes - 2009 - digital c-print - 24 x 36 - $400.00 [Fundraiser] My best effort at replicating the the way a word appeared in my head as an idea. |
Artist Bio
Artist Bio
EDUCATION
2005 M.F.A. Photography. University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
2002 B.A. Psychology. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2009 Catalogue 4.25.09, Catalogue Gallery, Hartford, CT
2008 Minutia, Norwalk Community College, Norwalk, CT
2007 Phases of the Moon and Other Lessons in Science, Khaki Gallery, Wellesley, MA
2005 Step Up, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT.
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Silpe Gallery, Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 Exposure 2009, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
Status Update, Haskins Laboratory Gallery, New Haven, CT
Beyond a Boundary, Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
2008 Where is your Beauty Marked? Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT
The Little Apple, Ken Jones Jr. Gallery, Easton, PA
PRC Benefit Auction '08, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
Art and Math, Axiom Gallery, Boston, MA
Vintage Reserve: ACES/ECA Faculty Exhibition, Gallery 70, New Haven, CT
2008 Artspace Gala Benefit Auction, Artspace, New Haven, CT
2007 Black +White and Red Upstairs, John Slade Ely House, New Haven, CT
What is Big?, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament Players' Lounge Exhibition, Yale Bowl, New Haven, CT
Celebrating Genius: ECA Faculty Exhibition, Gallery at 70 Audubon, New Haven, CT
Texas National Art Exhibition, SFA University Gallery, Nacogdoches, TX
Table Tops, Haskins Laboratory Gallery, New Haven, CT
Gala Fundraising Art Auction, Artspace, New Haven, CT
Earth and Sky: Juried Exhibition, Firehouse Gallery, Milford, CT
Mini: Exhibition of Miniature Art, Guilford Art Center, Guilford, CT
Store Front Window Installation for New Haven Arts Council, New Haven, CT
COLLECTIONS
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Artspace Flatfile, New Haven, CT
AWARDS AND GRANTS
Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism Artist Fellowship Grant, 2008
Northeast Exposure Online, Featured Artist: August, 2008
Honorarium as Guest Speaker, Southern Connecticut State University, 2008
Milford Fine Arts Council Artist in Residence: 2006-2007, Milford, CT
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Professor, Quinnipiac University, Spring 2006 - present
ART 158 Photography History, Theory, and Practice
ART 250/255 Introduction to Black and White Photography
ART 300 Digital Photography
Photography Instructor, Educational Center for the Arts Magnet High School, 2007 - present
Digital and Darkroom Photography
Adjunct Professor, Middlesex Community College, Spring 2007
Art 141 Photography 1
Adjunct Professor, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, Fall 2005
Photography 220: Introduction to Black and White Photography
Photography Instructor, Willard Straight Hall Community Darkroom, Cornell University,
September 2000 – May 2002.
Teaching Assistant, Hartford Art School