Aaron Kraten
Aaron Kraten is a mixed media artist situated in Costa Mesa, California.
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[edit] Early life
Kraten was born in 1974 in San Francisco, California. He moved out of the city to Huntington Beach in Southern California while he was young. As a teenager, he revered local pro-skateboarder artist Mark Gonzales. Kraten is interested in street graffiti and skateboarding. He worked full-time jobs while establishing himself as an artist, taking jobs in factories and working a stint as a courier. He gained recognition in the 2000s, and subsequently set up a studio in a Costa Mesa loft on the East side.[1] [2]
One of his best known paintings is Workers Compensation 2003, which depicts a table found in the trash. It was entirely fingerpainted.[3]
[edit] Work
Kraten is a mixed media artist, using found objects such as refrigerator doors and discarded windows to dismantled doghouses and old street signs as well as nontraditional paint media such as correction fluid. He prefers to use his hands to work directly with the paint, giving a rich and textured quality to the work. He is a self-taught artist, having never attended an art school.
[edit] History
Kraten grew up in Huntington Beach, California and always enjoyed drawing. He would carry around small 100-page sketchbooks which he drew in often. In 1999, while Kraten was working at as a Vespa motorcycle mechanic, he started experimenting with painting on found objects. Kraten started displaying work in a thrift store and sold a fair amount of it.
Soon after, Kraten began submitting his work to galleries and museums in Southern California. Kraten's work has been shown in museums such as the Laguna Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and galleries such as Gallery 23; Gallery C; Seven Degrees; and Subject Matter. Kraten shows about 4 times a year and posts new work on his website often. Kraten has filled over 58 100-page sketchbooks and created over 350 paintings. He currently paints full time.
[edit] Past exhibitions
- Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA)" - Newport Beach, CA. (group exhibit) "10/10" October 11, 2002
- Gallery 23" - Costa Mesa, CA. (group exhibit) "Dee Dee Ramone" May 12 - June 13, 2002
- The Camp" - Costa Mesa, CA. (group exhibit) "Remix" June 27 - June 28, 2003
- 7 degrees" - Laguna Beach, CA. (Solo exhibit) "Latest Works" September 1 - October 1, 2003
- Laguna Art Museum" - Laguna Beach, CA. (group exhibit) "21-art pack" October 13 - November
15, 2003
- Gallery C" - Redondo Beach, CA. (group exhibit) "Nine" July 29 - September 11, 2003
- Subject Matter" - Costa Mesa, CA. (group exhibit) "Chapter 10" September 18 - October 18, 2004
- Moca Museum of Contemporary Art" - Los Angeles, CA. (group exhibit) "Fresh" June 4, 2004
- Gallery 1988" - Los Angeles, CA. (group exhibit) "I am 8bit" April 18 - May 19, 2006
- Rothick Art Haus" - Anaheim, CA. (group exhibit) "Doll Haus" April 9 - May 7, 2011
[edit] References
[edit] External links
[edit] Published works
- OC Weekly Cover May 2001
- OC Weekly Cover June 2001
- Razor Magazine vol. 3 no. 3 March 2003, *Ramones article*
- Razor Magazine vol. 3 no. 4 April 2003, *HP Lovecraft article*
- Razor Magazine vol. 3 no. 5 May 2003, *The Matrix article*
- ISM Quarterly Cover May 2003
- Happy Magazine 2004
- ISM Quarterly Cover 2005
- ISM: Untitled Love Project Book Issue 15 December 2008
- OC Weekly See Creatures With Kraken and Kraten at the Box Gallery 2009
- Hunt & Gather: discovering new art book by Tina Ziegler 2010
- Billabong Stores Display Holiday 2010
