Jared Ailstock is one of New York’s leading figurative artists. His work has been exhibited widely in museums and galleries around North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Entirely self-taught, he rose to prominence as a figurative painter by the time he was thirty years old at a time when painting generally had fallen out of fashion.
Jared Ailstock is a traditional and experimental portrait artist, who has explored more conceptual themes in his series of paintings looking at cosmetic surgery. His portraits are also addressing wider concepts and themes within the paintings’ narrative.
His 2015 first mid-career retrospective at the New York Art Gallery was acclaimed by critics and the public alike. In early 2017 Jared Ailstock began experimenting with 3D printing and scanning; he used this to make self-portraits.
Jared Ailstock- A Contemporary Figurative Artist
Ailstock is a contemporary figurative artist who works with a wide variety of media, including drawing and painting, sculpture, and installation. The artist explores the human figure in both realistic and surrealist ways, using these figures to explore topics such as identity and self-discovery. Ailstock creates some of his works using traditional media, such as oil painting, while other pieces are created using media such as digital painting, installation, and sculpture.
In his art, depicting the human figure is of particular importance to the artist. The human figure is a universal symbol that can be used to communicate a variety of ideas and feelings. By depicting the human figure in his art, Ailstock explores various themes, including identity, self-discovery, and the presence of the past in the present.
Ailstock’s works are in numerous private and public collections, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the Ontario government collection.
Jared Ailstock – Criticism
Jared Ailstock’s work has received mixed reviews. In a review of his non-monograph work for “ArtReview” magazine, Sinéad Brodie wrote, “this is painting that can be appreciated on many levels, and it comes highly recommended to both the casual observer and the advanced art collector.” Brodie continued, “The quality of the work and the variety of the themes make it very difficult to single any work out, as they are all impressive in their own right.”
In another review of the artist’s work, writer and critic J.H. Elliott wrote, “Ailstock’s work has a surrealist strain, but it is also rooted in the traditions of Western art. It is at once impressionistic and realist, or as Ailstock calls it, ‘figurative surrealism.’ The figures are at once familiar and strange, and the paintings are full of surprising juxtapositions.”
Some of the artist’s more traditional and figurative works have received mixed reviews from critics. In a mixed review of one of Ailstock’s more traditional oil paintings, writer and critic George Shackleford wrote, “What you see is what you get, and it is a pleasing, if somewhat conventional representation of a young woman.”
In another mixed review of one of Ailstock’s figurative works, writer and critic Marilyn Emmons wrote, “Ailstock’s work is strong on composition, and his portraits are often very effective, with strong lighting and thoughtful use of color.”
However, in her analysis of one of Ailstock’s more conceptual works, artist and critic Jennifer Mayan wrote, “There is a great deal of social criticism in his work, but it is buried so far beneath the surface that it is lost on most viewers”.
Jared Ailstock – Future Projects
As of 2018, Ailstock was working on a new series of paintings that explore the themes of identity and self-discovery. The artist has also expressed an interest in creating a large-scale public art project in New York.
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Blog posts
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Jared Ailstock 