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.

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