List of products by brand Isaac Aden
Born in 1979 in United States.
EDUCATION
Hunter, New York, with Robert Morris
SOLO SHOW
2025
David Richard Gallery, New York, United States
2023
The Numinous Sublime Part II: David Richard Gallery, New York, United States
The Numinous Sublime Part I: David Richard Gallery, New York, United States
The Soft and the Saudade, POWER HOUSE ARTS, New York, United States
2022
The Numinous Sublime: David Richard Gallery, New York, United States
Painting on the Periphery, The World Trade Center, New York, United States
2021
Immersion: David Richard Gallery, New York, United States
Immersion: The World Trade Center, New York, United States
2020
Vespers and Auroras, David Richard Gallery, New York, United States
Tonal Paintings, The World Trade Center, New York, United States
2019
Floating Paintings, The World Trade Center, New York, United States
2018
No Regrets: Bars and Irish Chains, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Visual Arts at the KuBe, Beacon, United States
2016
Painting in the Expanded Filed: Monochromes for Montenegro, Dukley Art Center, Kotor, Montenegro
I Like America, Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
2014
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Bear, KuBe, Beacon, United States
2012
Kassel Kasse, Galerie Rasch, Kassel, Germany
Kartofflen zur Vergebung, Galerie Ulrike Petschell, Kassel, Germany
2011
Works on Steel, The Annex, Fairbanks, United States
Works on Steel, Gallery 151, New York, United States
2010
Stahl Zeichnungen, Galerie Rasch, Kassel, Germany
American Women in the Dutch Style, The New York Public Library, New York, United States
Tropic of Cancer, Gallery 151, New York, United States
Jetz Besser als Nie, Trafo Haus Kassel, Kassel, Germany
GROUP SHOW
2021
Artists as Subject, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Visual Arts at the KuBe, Beacon, United States
2020
Atelier Montez, Rome, Italy
Proyectos, 78 JANE, New York, United States
AD ART SHOW, The Oculus New York, United States
2019
Museum of Modern Art, Hifie, China
Systems of Injustice, The Bronx Art Space, New York, United States
Black Hole Sun, Houston Arts Advisory, Houston, United States
SILVER SHED, New York, United States
Orphans of Painting, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Visual Arts at the KuBe, Beacon, United States
Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
AD ART SHOW, The Oculus, New York, United States
2018
The Empty Circle, New York, United States
Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
GOODBYE COLUMBUS, SPRING/BREAK, New York, United States
AD ART SHOW, Sotheby’s New York, United States
2017
VOLTA BASEL, Ethan Cohen, Basel, Switzerland
Art Miami, Ethan Cohen, Miami, United States
As of Now, Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
Post Millennial Tension, Current Curators, New York, United States
Orphans of Painting, Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
The Water Mirror, SPRING/BREAK, New York, United States
Art Remix, Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
2016
The Assessable Art Fair, New York, United States
Different Americas, Budva, Montenegro
Different Americas, Kotor, Montenegro
Different Americas, Cortatia
First We Take Manhattan, Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
ART Miami, Ethan Cohen, Miami, United States
Polymorphus, Cluster, New York, United States
Make America Great Again, White Box, New York, United States
2015
Hunter College, New York, United States
Face to Face, Ethan Cohen, New York, United States
Vox Populi, Philadelphia, United States
SEDIMENT, Richmond, United States
The Cave, Detroit, United States
Skylab, Columbus, United States
Three Walls, Chicago, United States
the Luminary, St. Louis, United States
The White Page, Minneapolis, United States
Leisure gallery, Denver, United States
Recess, New York, United States
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Italy
In the Cloud, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, United States
2014
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Bulgaria
Emerge 11, Aljira Center for Art, Newark, United States
BBBBBreeze Ethan Cohen Fine Art, New York, United States
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Pristine Gallery, Monterey, Mexico
SCOPE: MIAMI, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, Miami, United States
2013
Sharper Image, Ethan Cohen Fine Art, New York, United States
Sharper Image, Ethan Cohen Fine Art + ArtSTRAND, Provincetown, United States
Turn On, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Art, Beacon, United States
Home Coming, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Art, Beacon, United States
2012
dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany
SCOPE: MIAMI, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, Miami, United States
Yule Shoot Your Eye Out, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Art, Beacon, United States
Amerikkka the Beautiful, White Box, New York, United States
Finding Our New Fort, The Jerome A. Cohen and Joan Lebold Cohen Center for Art, Beacon, United States
Body Snatchers, White Box, New York, United States
Werksatt Kassel e.V., Kassel, Germany
White Box, New York, United States
In the Future the Artist Will Say: That Object is a Work of Art, Third Ward, New York, , United States
AWARDS & GRANTS
2021
New York Foundation for the Arts, Grant
2020
New York Foundation for the Arts, Grant
2016
US State Department, Grant
2014
The Evelyn Kossak Painting Fellowship, Grant
2011
The Evelyn Kossak Painting Fellowship, Grant
PUBLICS COLLECTIONS
Tao Hua Tan, Anhui, China
Related Developers, New York, United States
The Free Masons of New York, United States
The F and T Group, New York, United States
Hadeya Capital, New York, United States
Bancroft Library Los Angeles Unified School District, Hollywood, United States
Through his paintings, Isaac Aden addresses fundamental concerns of the human condition while leaving space for the deeply personal experiences of each viewer. At first glance, the paintings evoke minimalism, as they read like monolithic monochromes. On closer inspection, however, they seem more akin to color field canvases, revealing a vast range of subtle hues. The paintings appear deceptively simple, but in reality they are highly complex in their methodical production, involving numerous layers of underpainting and the blending of colors on the surface using spray techniques and the outdoor wind to introduce an element of chance and serendipity.
After a prolonged period of in-person observation, the paintings reveal themselves as a kind of post-minimal pointillism composed of billions of tiny dots of pure color floating together to create nebulous expanses. The relationships between Aden’s colors carry an implicit connection to time: ephemeral, ending, beginning, and always ongoing. This elicits a more subjective response from viewers, as each painting develops its own relationship to time and to the memory of its passage.
Aden’s paintings evoke the sublime, though they focus less on a sublime of terror and more on an uplifting, spiritually oriented sublime. Likewise, the scale of the canvases engulfs the viewer’s periphery, and the effect of the gradual gradient creates a boundless field. This absence of observable form prevents the viewer from clinging to any specific signifier or object within the painting. The result is to grant interpretive agency to the audience, creating a highly subjective and deeply personal experience.
