Aaron Smith
“Coterie of the Wooly-Woofter"

Reception: Friday, June 3rd, from 6 to 8 pm
Exhibition: June 2 through 26, 2011

Aaron Smith and Sloan Fine Art would like to invite you the join the “Coterie of the Wooly-Woofter,” a bad-ass neo-dandy beardo brigade from beyond time. Part reality, part invention of the artist, the “Coterie of the Wooly-Woofter” exemplifies a convergence of spectacular subcultures - from Dandyism, Freak Folk, Steam Punk and Bear Culture, to Beard and Mustache enthusiasts - that revel in the exaggeration of masculinity's archetypes and encourage men to play freely with past forms of male identity.

Mixing images of Victorian and Edwardian gentlemen with those of men in his immediate circle, Aaron Smith paints with irreverent swagger. In each impasto portrait, woozy colors and aggressive surfaces act as a foil to the sitter's stoic pose, maintaining a giddy ambivalence to nostalgia. Rounding out this collection of dapper gents are still lifes infused with historical and cultural references to the beauty and delight of a natty man.

Aaron Smith attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he is now an associate chair. Galleries in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York have mounted multiple solo exhibitions of his work and he has been included in group shows at galleries and museums nationwide including Laguna Art Museum, Frye Art Museum and Museum of South Texas. He was the first artist in residence at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Smith currently resides in Silver Lake, California with his husband Tom and their dogs Flora and Miles.

Image: Aaron Smith, "Chopsy," 2011, oil on panel, 28" x 24"