Aleph Contemporary for AccessArt

Watercolor has been a vital part of Michael Ajerman’s oeuvre since his time as a student. A material that he has consistently used while painting sitters from direct observation, as compared to oils. This piece is a rare moment where the artists moves away from a sitter to painting an exterior environment. While the history of watercolor used for depicting landscapes is saturating and overwhelming. After relocating to a new part of London last year, Ajerman’s attempt to depiction or carve a nocturnal urban vertical space in watercolor was a major preoccupation. Here the artist found comfort in the strong nocturnal electric light creating intense skies that contrast with the deep chromatic saturation of buildings, trees, water pipes, curtains, and a very mysteriously lit window. Finding architecture and line melting and full of movement as our vision shifts and adjusts to low light.

Internationally renowned American artist Michael Ajerman’s chromatic paintings pair a delight in the haptic quality of paint with an instinctual approach. While Ajerman’s work may be enjoyed solely as a celebration of pigment, the human body and contemporary form, the pictures express at the same time, a sense of polarity, what he describes as a “divide between a nude and nakedness -and figures.” In his extensive oeuvre, Ajerman explores two beings: bodies and subjects within a single picture, functioning as a commentary on ideas of balance and imbalance. The artist notes “the figure and the body have the most interest, excitement, confusion and danger in the history of art.”

Ajerman holds his MA, Fine Art, Slade School of Art, University College London, and has attended the Yale at Norfolk Summer Art Program, Connecticut, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture and the Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC. The artist is the recipient of various awards including the UCLA Kitaj Research Fellowship in 2018, the Manhattan Graphics Center, SummerINK Scholarship, 2012-2014; British Institute Royal Academy Award, 2003; and the William Newman Memorial Painting Award, 1996.

Ajerman’s artwork is found in The Ruth Borchard Collection and international private collections.

Solo Exhibitions:
Grip. Aleph Contemporary. London, UK, 2020, Walker House, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2020, Possessions, Diane Rosenstein Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, 2019, Far From Tahiti. HemingwayArt, Oxford, UK, 2017, Squash, Transition Gallery, London, UK, 2013, Inatteso/Unexpected. Galleria Ghetta, Ortisei, Marcorossi Artecontemporanea, Milan and Eventinove Borgomanero, Italy, 2012, Glossolalia. Toomey-Tourrell Gallery, San Francisco, USA, 2010, Fishermen, Strawberry, and Devil Crab. Transition Gallery, London, UK, 2010 Third Floor. Eventinove Artecontemporanea, Torino and Marcorossi Artecontemporanea, Verona, Italy, 2010
My Friends. Jerwood Project Space, London, UK, 2009, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Rothschild Fine Art, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2009, Solo Project Space. Bridge Art Fair, London, UK, 2007, Reclamation Point. Bischoff/Weiss, London, UK, 2007, The Norfolk Lesson. AR Contemporary, Milan, Italy, 2006. Long Way Round. Bischoff/Weiss, London, UK, 2005.

Select Group Exhibitions:
Royal Academy Summer Show, Royal Academy, London, UK, 2019, Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize, Piano & Noble, London, UK, 2019, Evening Standard Art Prize, National Gallery, London, UK, 2018, Contemporary British Painting Prize, Richmond Museum, London, UK, 2017, Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize, Piano & Noble, London, UK, 2017, In This Soup We Swim. Kingsgate Workshops, London, UK, 2016, The Names. Transition Gallery, London, UK, 2016, Contemporary Drawing from Britian, Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, China, 2015, East End Painting Prize, The Rum Factory, London, UK, 2015, Bad For You, curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody. Shizaru Gallery. London, UK, 2012, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK, 2012, thecentre:mk Painting Exhibition, FRINGEMK, Milton Keynes, UK, 2009, Kunskog, 500 Dollars, London, UK, 2009, Threadneedle Painting Prize 2009, London, UK, 2009, East Wing Collection 8. Courtauld Galleries. London, UK, 2009, The Painting Room. Transition Gallery, London UK, 2009, Bomberg’s Relevance. Ben Uri Gallery, London, UK, 2007, Repetition and Sequence, Jerwood Space, London, UK, 2007, Creekside Open x2. A.P.T Selected by Victoria Miro, London, UK, 2007, The Relaxed Audience or Why Are We So Wise. Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London, UK, 2004