Artist: Aaron Troyer
Title: "Perhaps the Lapse in Judgement was a Dream"
Size: 30" x 24"
Medium: Acrylic and ink on canvas
Value: $1,500
Artist Statement:

I am interested in exploring themes of desperation and confusion through a playful, and slightly humorous lens. My aim is to create naturalistic spaces that feel both familiar and fantastical. By defying traditional perspectives and color schemes, while simultaneously embracing and distorting many well-worn landscape tropes, I can present a living world that is free from the restrictions of objective scenery. I seek to depict plants and biomes that embody moods and traits that are usually reserved for human subjects. Flowers are often presented as symbols of natural beauty, or in many cases, as benign decorations meant to "tie the room together". My work challenges this notion by placing an emotional weight onto the plants that centers them as the protagonist in a surreal conflict with both natural and unnatural forces. By pushing ourselves to assign human emotions to plants, we can better understand the devastating toll that we often unknowingly inflict upon the natural world.

Artist Bio:

Aaron Troyer paints naturalistic scenes that skirt the line between familiar and fantastical. He was born in Mansfield, Ohio, earning a BFA in painting from The Ohio State University in 2006. He has most recently displayed his paintings at Brandt Gallery (Columbus, OH), Concept Gallery (Pittsburgh, PA), Hedge Gallery (Cleveland, OH), No Place Gallery (Columbus, OH), Telefonica (Tijuana, Mexico) and Teros Gallery (San Diego, CA). Aaron currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, daughter, and dog. In addition to painting, Aaron is an educator and enjoys playing music with friends. He is represented by Brandt Gallery in Columbus, OH.