Vaughn Spann
Vaughn Spann, Beach Scene in Three Parts (Mia), 2021, oil on canvas, 200 x 160 cm. Collection of Longlati Foundation
Vaughn Spann. © Vaughn Spann. Photo by Vaughn Spann. Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech
b. 1992, Orlando, Florida
Lives and works in Newark, New Jersey
Vaughn Spann devotes his practice to abstraction and figuration as an investigation into space, time and memory. He locates subjects from deeply personal spaces as he reconciles with his body within and out of the studio. With a deep admiration for formalism, he enjoys approaching paintings through the lens of color, line, and shape, but seemingly understands that one's subjectivity can't simply be divorced from the studio. For him, a form is a striking means of generating content in ways that are compelling. His formal investigation permeates throughout his paintings, symbolically reflecting his encounters with diverse people and places. Through his well-known stylistic separations, Spann continues to vigorously experiment with unconventional materials and expands on his personal and historical narratives.
ON VIEW
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Vaughn Spann devotes his practice to abstraction and figuration as an investigation into space, time and memory. He locates subjects from deeply personal spaces as he reconciles with his body within and out of the studio. With a deep admiration for formalism, he enjoys approaching paintings through the lens of color, line, and shape, but seemingly understands that one's subjectivity can't simply be divorced from the studio. For him, a form is a striking means of generating content in ways that are compelling. His formal investigation permeates throughout his paintings, symbolically reflecting his encounters with diverse people and places. Through his well-known stylistic separations, Spann continues to vigorously experiment with unconventional materials and expands on his personal and historical narratives.
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EDUCATION
2018
Master of Fine Arts in Painting & Printmaking, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
2014
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, Rutgers State University, Newark, NJ
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
Pups!, Almine Rech, Shanghai, China
Vaughn Spann: Lineage, Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, US
2020
Smoke Signals, Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium
The Heat Lets Us Know We’re Alive, Almine Rech, New York, NY
Vaughn Spann: Open Onto, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, USA
2019
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, David Castillo, Miami, FL
Scorched Earth and The Weeping Sun, Kaikai KiKi, Tokyo, Japan
Dalmatian Paintings, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Orange, Yellow, Purple, Blue Skies, Half Gallery, New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, US
Salon de Peinture, Almine Rech, New York, USA
Un Hiver à Paris, Almine Rech, Paris, France
2020
Painting Someone, Almine Rech, Shanghai, China
Sympathetic Magic, Blum and Poe, Los Angeles, CA
Polyphonic: Perez Art Museum, Miami, FL
2019
New Acquisitions, Rubell Museum, Miami, FL
Disembodiment, UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills, CA
Painting Is Its Own Country, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts +Culture, Charlotte, NC
Lineup, curated by Alex Bacon, Almine Rech, New York, NY
Unparalleled Journey through Contemporary Art of Past 50 Years, Rubell Museum, Miami, FL
NXTHVN: FIRST YEAR FELLOWS, Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Young, Gifted and Black, Selections from the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY
Domestic Horror, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
The Barn Show, Johannes Vogt Gallery, East Hampton, NY
As Long as We’re Flying…, Luce Gallery, Turin, Italy
2018
Rubell Family Collection: New Acquisitions, Miami, FL
The Strangeness Will Wear Off, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL
Early 21st Century Art, Almine Rech, London, UK
Familiar Boundaries. Infinite Possibilities, August Wilson Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Shifting Gaze: Selections from the Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman, Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL
A Scratch In Time, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY
If I Go There, I Wont Stay There, LTD Los Angeles, CA
Paradise, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Four Artists (Felipe Baeza, Anja Solonen, Jenna Gribbon and Vaughn Spann), Fredericks & Freiser, New York, NY
Eight Emerging Artists, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA
Way Out Now, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The New Contemporaries, Residency Gallery, Inglewood, CA
Countervisuality, Bellevue College Gallery, Bellevue, WA
Kaleidoscope, Kravets and Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
2017
Universal Belonging, Prizm, Miami, FL
Feast, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
Higher Ground, Mercer Contemporary, New York, NY
Exchange, Rush Gallery, Chelsea, NY
2016
First Time, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
Black Joy, Edgewood Gallery, New Haven, CT
2015
Power, Protest and Resistance, Skylight Gallery, New York, NY
After Afropolitan, Weeksville Heritage Center/CCCADI, New York, NY
2014
For Whom it Stands, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD
RESIDENCIES/HONORS
2019
Titus Kaphar’s NEXT HAVEN RESIDENCY
2018
New American Paintings Cover Artist (Issue No.135)
2017
Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship
Leopoldo Villareal III Scholarship, Yale University
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Brooklyn Museum, New York, US
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, US
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
Hirshhorn Museum, DC, US
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, US
Circus Five Art Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey
Cc Foundation, Shanghai, China
Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL
The Zuzeum, Riga, Latvia
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
UBS Art Collection, New York, NY
Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection (The Bunker), West Palm Beach, FL Jimenez-Colon Collection, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Credit Suisse Corporate Collection, Zürich, Switzerland