The purveyor of a new kind of Post-Vandalism art, Christopher Aaron will be opening his new unconventional art gallery soon in La Jolla.
Located on the second floor at 7542 Fay Ave. next to Bernini’s Restaurant, his new gallery will have a grand opening Saturday, Oct. 22 from 6-11 p.m.
Aaron said it will be the first high-end contemporary urban art gallery in San Diego. “At first I will be only showing my work,” he said. “But after a few months, I will be showing established artists from Los Angeles and New York, as well as up-and-coming artists from all over.”
Aaron is an American contemporary artist and designer raised in L.A. and now living in Ocean Beach. He is best known for his large cement pieces. His painting style, he noted “transforms the language of the street into a hybrid form of abstraction and urban realism.”
Through the use of “aging” and “buffing” (removal of graffiti), Aaron uses paint to cover and/or acids or sandblasting to remove previous graffiti. He then creates physical changes to the texture of the material being worked to “evoke growth and wisdom,” interjecting that into the painting being created, highlighting the beauty created by time and nature on “the various surfaces of the city.”
The philosophical underpinning of this series of Aaron’s paintings employs “endless knot” iconography, a symbol he also has tattooed on his chest. The endless knot symbol appears on clay tablets as far back as the Bronze Age (2500 B.C.). The endless knot has no beginning and no end. It has many symbolic meanings, but popularly represents the endless wisdom and compassion of the Buddha.
Of his art and background, Aaron said, “I’m obviously very into the graffiti scene and that was my form of artwork. It’s our own little art movement. Then, later on, a lot of us started doing artwork on canvas and a big scale and it (art form) changed.”
The 48-year-old artist noted the street art he and his friends introduced has since evolved. Aaron said he has also done other forms of art, such as logos, album covers, and graphic design. Then, 10 years ago, he shifted to working on canvas.
“I didn’t want to do what I was doing on the street, because it is not the same thing,” Aaron said. “But I wanted the same feeling of what I was doing there (street), and be able to still have the same textures and colors, but with creating your own form of art.”
In Aaron’s art gallery you will see unorthodox things like an old pay phone with graffiti scribbled on it, and a piece of a light fixture forming a part of one of his paintings in the entryway of his gallery.
Why is graffiti important as an art form? “Because it’s fleeting,” answered Aaron. “We didn’t start doing this because we wanted to sell a painting. We grew up and we became successful and had a home and asked ourselves, ‘What do want on our walls?’ We want artwork.”
Aaron’s studio is in the midst of his gallery. He said his art pieces have layers, and how many layers are applied determines how long it takes to do a particular Post-Vandalism painting.
“We (post-vandalists) all did illegal graffiti along the way,” said Aaron of what he and others in the art genre share. A Zen Buddhist, Aaron noted he is also something of a “super minimalist.” He noted the job of the artist is to create something that “not only looks nice” but answers the question, “Did it serve its purpose of actually being in a space and making you feel the energy of it?”
Concerning the meaning of art, Aaron said: “I truly believe anything you surround yourself with will affect your energy. Artwork is more than just, ‘I like this image so I’m going to put it on my wall.’ For me, the artwork is, ‘What is that going to fill this space with? How is that going to make us feel every day when we see it?’”
CHRISTOPHER AARON GALLERY
Where: 7542 Fay Ave., second floor.
Contact: 818-731-9136.
Grand opening: Saturday, Oct. 22, from 6-11 p.m.
