Aaron Johnson / Christian Rex Van Minnen
Chum Chum Rubby Dubby
14 Nov - 22 Dec 2018
Opening reception 14 Nov 6-8pm
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AISHONANZUKA is please to announce two persons show “Chum Chum Rubby Dubby” by Aaron Johnson and Christian Rex Van Minnen. It will be the first exhibition of the artists in Hong Kong Asia.
Aaron and Chtistian are long time admirers of each other’s works, as well as friends. They took the opportunity for this exhibition to design a suite of paintings of same sizes to alternate positions throughout the gallery space, and also literally bridged together their practices in two collaborative sculptures.
In certain ways these two artists are polar opposites. Christian Rex Van Minnen’s works honor the methods and materials of the great schools and masters of European oil painting. Aaron Johnson takes an irreverent stance toward tradition, going so far as to stick socks into the sacred space of painting. Despite those differences, both artists demonstrate an exquisite devotion to craft and process. Their approaches, most clearly demonstrated in the collaborative sculptures in which they built and painted on each other’s structures, complement each other in uncanny ways.
In terms of imagery and psychological grit, Van Minnen and Johnson are a natural pair to share an exhibition. In the most simple terms, both could be said to embody in their paintings a “grotesque figuration”. Both are involved in ideas such as attraction vs repulsion. Digging deeper, both artists explore the human body, and the process of painting itself, as a physical terrain for psychological and spiritual aspects of the human condition to run its course. The image of the fish plays a vital role in many of the paintings and sculpture featured in this exhibit, an image Carl Jung illuminated as archetype representing the collective unconscious. Indeed, Johnson and van Minnen are two fisherman chums, chumming the waters of the subconscious abyss, wishing, waiting for a leviathan.
For this exhibition, Johnson focused on a series of portraits, characters who are assembled of modular parts. These relief elements: guns, burgers, tacos, etc, are all sculpted out of old socks. Johnson is interested in the absurdity and comedy of socks as art material, and in creating dynamically sculptural paintings. In addition to these sock paintings, Johnson’s largest work in the show demonstrates his newest process: fluid acrylic stained into raw canvas. Van Minnen likewise focused on a series of portraits involving sculptural ideas, working from reference imagery of fragments of baroque Italian terracottas, Chinese scholar stones, and other references ‘glazed’ as if they were ceramics with references ranging from Jakuchu, porn, digital iPad drawing to pop culture food reference. By applying classical technique of grisaille followed by glazes of color, Van Minnen creates a dynamically illusionistic sense of relief in his luminous paintings. Into the flesh of his subjects, he applies tattoos that are in turn disturbing, humorous, and mysterious.
Both painters demonstrate zealously maximalist aesthetics as they fish the subconscious abyss. As they take deep dive into the chum bucket of sculptural collaboration, they dredge up some wildly weird and colorful results.
We will have a reception party with the artists on November 14th. Please meet the artists in person and enjoy this unique exhibition.
Aaron Johnson
recent exhibition
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
New Paintings, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
Turkey Pistol Dinner, Galerie Sebastien Adrien, Paris, France.
2017
Gone Fishin’ Joshua Liner Gallery, New York ,NY.
2015
Pisockophilia, Stux + Haller Gallery, New York, NY.
¡Eso Si Que Es!, Arts and Leisure Gallery, New York, NY.
2013
Sock Paintings, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012
Liberty Chomp, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
New Works, 2 person with Christian Rex Van Minnen, AishoNanzuka Gallery, Hong Kong
Sieben, Ober Gallery, Kent, CT
This Wild Parade, Spring/Break Show, New York, NY
2017
Summer Breaks, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
GOAT: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York,
NYThe Cannonball Run, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen
Birds of the Audubon, 101 Exhibit, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Summer Mixer, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
The Fourth Wall, Booth Gallery, New York, NY
Pretty Creepy, Booth Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Walk in my Shoes, Mass MoCA, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA.
Hot Slice, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Blaze of Glory, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Viewer Discretion…The Children of Bataille, Stux + Haller Gallery, New York, NY.
Heathen Fundamentalist,; An Ode to Philip Guston, The Lodge Gallery, New York, NY.
Static Cling 2, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY.
Free Market Economy, Spring/Break Art Show, New York, NY.
2014
The Halloween Show, Gitler & ______, NY, NY.
Burning Bright: Tiger, Tiger, Stux Gallery, New York, NY.
Heat, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Awkward Phase, Pop Up curated by Jeremy Willis, Brooklyn, NY.
If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind? Stux Gallery, New York, NY.
2013
Hello Nasty, Cindy Rucker Gallery, New York, NY.
The Wild Bunch, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Die Wunderkammer, The Lodge, New York, NY
One Hundred Little Deaths, Bravin Lee Programs, New York, NY.
2012
Exquisite Corpses, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Like Comment Share, American University Art Museum Katzen Center, Washington DC.
The Dirty Double Dozen, Freight and Volume, New York, NY.
Piping Down the Valleys Wild, Stux Gallery, New York, NY.
Drawn to You, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation
Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Fundación Mer, Madrid, Spain
Christian Rex van Minnen
recent exhibition
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Mourning Wood in Liminal Dawn, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (Upcoming)
2016
Enantiodromia, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2015
Golden Memes, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2014
Glazed and Confused, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2013
Welsh Rats, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2012
Fever Dream, Copro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
UNTITLED, ART, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami Beach, FL (December)
EXPO Chicago, Richard Heller Gallery, Chicago, IL
Dallas Art Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Dallas, TX
Beheaded, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
con-figuration, Postmasters, New York, NY
2016
UNTITLED, ART, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
EXPO Chicago, Richard Heller Gallery, Chicago, IL
Juxtapoz x Superflat, co-curated by Takashi Murakami and Evan Pricco (Juxtapoz Magazine), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Juxtapoz x Superflat, co-curated by Takashi Murakami and Evan Pricco (Juxtapoz Magazine), Pivot Art + Culture Center, Seattle, WA
Dallas Art Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Dallas, TX
2015
Objects Installation, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
HEY! 3, Halle St Pierre, Paris, FR
The Copenhagen Interpretation, Lodge Gallery, NY, NY
Jokes of Nature, Redline Arts, Denver, CO
All Types of Characters, Joshua Liner Gallery, NY, NY
Pulse NYC, Gallery Poulsen, NY, NY
2014
Heat! Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, DK
Annual Art Auction, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, CO
Winter Group Show, Jonathan Levine Gallery, NY, NY
Ducks, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Messin’ With The Masters, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
The Gallery Poulsen 10 Years Anniversary Show, Copenhagen, Denmark
Beinart Collective 2013 Group Show, Copro Gallery, LA, CA
Varnish 10th Anniversary Show, Varnish Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
The Wild Bunch, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012
Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
Unnatural History, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England
Against the Grain, Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SWAB Contemporary Art Fair, Represented by MiTO Contemporary, Barcelona, Spain
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Beth Rudin de Woody Collection
Hall Art Foundation
Denver Art Museum
Djurhuus Collection
Colecciōn Solo
Richard B. Sachs Collection
Works
Exhibition view
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