Aaron Sheppard was born in 1976, York, Nebraska
He lives and works in Joshua Tree, California
Areas of Specialization:
Painting, Performance, Sculpture, Drawing, Video, Installation, Writing, Tattoo
"Aaron Sheppard speaks eloquently about constructing and projecting identity, religiosity, sexuality, and a counter-factual historicism. His filter is the culture's love of fame and/or pornography, mixed with the romance and perversion of classical allegorical portraiture. His lavish materiality finds a narrative function for neon light tubes, thick heavy paint, and extreme mannerism in his mostly nude figures, forcing people to deal with the inconvenient object and not just the idea of it. Art history is used as a case study for cognitively accepting the chaotic simultaneity of paradoxical life experiences, expressive of the messy exuberance of memory and desire. As observed by his spirit-guide, the incendiary philosopher Georges Bataille, "The need to go astray, to be destroyed, is an extremely private, distant, passionate, turbulent truth." And Aaron sincerely recommends going astray."
"I think of the artist Aaron Sheppard as the person who is willing to jump off the rocks into the water first, the height does not scare him, nor the sensation of cold ocean water, or whatever lurks beneath the choppy waves…or maybe it does, but he is still determined to make the dive, to be in the moment of discovery, of danger, of sensation. Courage and joy, danger and beauty, these elements all play into a life fully experienced. Immersive and intense, Aaron’s work embraces this way of living…
"The artist combines the delectably ribald with a sense the painterly modernism in a wide-ranging body of work that includes assemblages, installations, performances, and mixed media works.
"Fragmenting static ideas of sexuality and gender identity, he uses his own body and image as subject repeatedly. Aaron layers this syntax with motifs from diverse sources including 20th century art, erotica, literature, mythology, popular culture, folktales and religion. The oeuvre may be seen as delightfully exhibitionist because it is constantly seems engaged in the sexy theatrics of display. However, there is also a sense of extreme vulnerability and it is this profound fragility that makes Aaron’s work powerful."
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
3X Studios, Las Vegas, NV
MASH Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
2006-09 MFA, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
1995-99 BFA with Hon., Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
His Eminence Shan’t Attend: A Dada Dinner Theatre, Art in Wanderland, Joshua Tree, CA
2022
Be Fnord. Be Very Fnord., ASAP, Las Vegas, NV
Le Da Ac Costa Encyclopédique, Venice and Florence, Italy (rogue at Biennale and Uffizi)
2021
Couched w/o a Shot, Art in Wanderland, Joshua Tree, CA
2018
Dichotomous Imaginarium, Ge-Shuku, Kanazawa, Japan & Palos Verdes Art Center, CA
2017
Sensitive White Boy Syndrome, Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
XXXYYY, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA
Bearded & Shucked: Droppin’ a Deuce, Joshua Tree, CA
Nameless&Neutral meets MademoiselleX&Operator1, BOXOprojects, Joshua Tree, CA
2016
Timeline of Tastee, Cowgirl, New York, NY
2013
Moist Gilding, Western Project, Los Angeles, CA
2012
Five New Paintings, Western Project, Los Angeles, CA
2011
tisch im raum/the cake in the room, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria
The Cabinet, Part 1: Demon of Vanity, Lone Wolf, Brooklyn, NY
Locals Only: Aaron Sheppard, CENTERpiece Gallery, CityCenter, Las Vegas, NV
2010
Yonic Inversion, Western Project, Los Angeles CA
2009
LIPSTICKaFORKinME (MFA Thesis Exhibition), UNLV, Donna Beam Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2008
Midway, UNLV, Grant Hall Gallery & Contemporary Art Center, Las Vegas, NV
2007
Tapologo Hospice Fundraiser, Double-D Gallery, New York, NY
2005
Design This!, Volume 1E Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Selected Dramatic Works, 1996 - 2003, (writings by Lannie Hill), Skyline Books, New York, NY
2004
People I've Known and Those I've Never Met, Volume 1E Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2003
Snatch N' Stiff Festival, CBGB & OMFUG (Main Stage and 313 Gallery), New York, NY
2002
Maxxxed Out, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ
2001
PLAY - : - - , The Scene Gallery, New York, NY
2000
Viva Lost Elvis, Monk Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1999
Powder Dust, Power Studios Gallery, Miami, FL
Blue, Renaissance Agency, Miami, FL
1997
Billboards of Pangea, Squirrel-Bate Quasi-International, Washington, DC
1995
untitled, Surya Gallery, Lincoln, NE
untitled, The Coffee House, Lincoln, NE
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
untitled, 3X Studios, Las Vegas, NV
Unspoken Emergence, MASH Gallery in collab. w/ The Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA
Blah! Blah! Blah!, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA
Erotique Hypnotique, Brassworks Gallery, Portland, OR
Á Gogo III, MASH Gallery in collab. w/ The Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA
2024
Low Hanging Magick, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA (3-person w/ Thea Saks and Tony Buhagiar)
Altered Eyes, Artlands Gallery, Redlands, CA
TRYST, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Indulgence, MASH Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Hi-Desert Pride, Beatnik Lounge, Joshua Tree, CA
Muscle Memory, MASH Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023
Go Loco, MASH Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Mightiest of All that the World Has Yet Owned, as part of Joshua Treenial, Art in Wanderland, Joshua Tree, CA
Cringey Craft Bizarre, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA
2022
The Erotic Impulse in an Ever Becoming Universe, MASH Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022
Dirty Show, Detroit, MI
2021
Still Life, ASAP, Las Vegas, NV
Skull, Sheppard Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno
untitled, Art Queen, Joshua Tree, CA
2019
EROTIC-VULVIC-PHALLIC, at Kamikaze, PØST, Los Angeles, CA
Paradise :: Prolapse, as part of Joshua Treenial, Joshua Tree, CA
Queerated, Arttrap, Joshua Tree, CA
Dis/Order, Settlers + Nomads, Las Vegas, NV
2018
N&N, P8, Karlsruhe, Germany & Copernicus Science Center, Warsaw, Poland
Cactus Fetish, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA
Plural, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV
Mr. Slappy, at Insertion - 12 Inches of Sin VII, Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2017
Mermaids + Matadoras!, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA
Joshua Treenial, Joshua Tree, CA
Honey in the Hole, at 12 Inches of Sin VI, Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
Nameless&Neutral meets MademoiselleX&Operator1, Silverlake Lounge, Los Angeles, CA
2016
untitled, Western Project, Los Angeles, CA (2-person w/ Carol Caroompus)
Skull, Sahara West Library, Las Vegas, NV
PerformanceNight, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe, Germany
Für & Bürger, at Immersive - 12 Inches of Sin V, Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2015
Thanks for Letting Me Sit on You, Salon De Luncheonette, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY
Like, Out of Water (pt2), at Joshua Treenial, Art Queen, Joshua Tree, CA
Like, Out of Water (pt1), at ARTrageous, Havana Room at The New Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV
2014
untitled, Life Is Beautiful, Las Vegas, NV
pink box, at 6th Annual Perform Chinatown: Chaos Reigns, Los Angeles, CA
Skull, Donna Beam Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
2013
Seeing Voices: Contemporary Drawings, UNLV, Donna Beam Gallery, Las Vegas,NV
The Odyssey, Life Is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV
2012
Bacon, Western Project, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Cold War(m) at The Global Climacteric, Jaus, Santa Monica, CA
2011
Landscape; or, the Modern Epemethius, at Conceptualizing the Body, College at Old Westbury, NY
Skull, Blackbird Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
Kaleidoscope, Springs Preserve Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2009
The First Six Years, Western Project, Culver City, CA
Drunk, A Comic About Bar Stories, Alios, Las Vegas, NV
Tales of the Flesh, Western Project, Culver City, CA
untitled, at Fringe Festival, Adelaide, Australia
Some Future Sometime, Reed Wipple Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2008
Maid in China(town), at Chinese Biennale, Ku Art Center, Beijing, China
Maid in China(town), at Samuel Beckett Festival, Arts Factory, Las Vegas, NV
On Being Good, Reed Wipple Gallery & Aruba Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
The Difference Between Making a Living and Making a Killing, MCQ Fine Art, Las Vegas, NV
2007
3Dimentia, Contemporary Arts Center, Las Vegas, NV
AOTM Bombshell at Yokohama Boogie: Under the Influence, ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
2006
Lost in Spegas at DUMBO Arts Festival, DUMBO Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
Room #11515, Stardust Casino, Las Vegas, NV
Nun Slaughter at Nun Slaughter, JMX Productions, Los Angeles, CA
Grand Opening, A6 Gallery, Henderson, NV
Artpulse Launch, New York, NY
2005
Ex-Corpse, XC Projects, Scope Miami International Art Fair, Miami, FL
Made in America, Pickled Art Center, Beijing, China
2004
AbraCadaver, at Paperviens Museum Biennial, Here Art Center, New York, NY
US vs. THEM, at Peekskill Project, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Heart of Red Fish Man at Multiplicity, Ilnacullin, Garnish Island, Ireland
Barbie/Ken Box, at Anatomically Correct, Broadway Gallery, New York, NY
2002
This Is BlindSnatch, at Fake!, Post Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Oxygen, White Box Gallery, New York, NY
T&A, GV/AS, Brooklyn, NY
2001
Art Heals TTOF Beneiit, The Eyebeam Atelier, New York, NY
Rodeo, Clemente-Soto Cultural Center, New York, NY
2000
New Samba, 291 Gallery, London, England
Imaging the Wunderboard at London Biennale, Center for Freudian Research and Analysis, London, England
Sindrohm, CBGB 313 Gallery, New York, NY
1999
Pescadito Salsafrito (BFA Thesis Exh.), Corcoran Museum, Hemi-Cycle Gallery, Washington, DC
1998
untitled, Center for Collaborative Art and Visual Education, Washington, DC
Jug, Dance Place Theatre, Washington, DC
PopStars, Club Alcatraz Gallery, Washington, DC
untitled, Bound Gallery, Washington, DC & Baltimore, MD
Fathers and Sons, The Burkholder Project, Lincoln, NE
1995
untitled, Miscellanea, Lincoln, NE
1994
untitled, The Business of Art Center, Manitou Springs, CO
untitled, The Art of Craft Gallery, Denver, CO untitled, The Gallery, Overland Park, KS
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The John & Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art, University of Nevada, Reno (Goodman-Duffy Collection)
The City of Las Vegas, Nevada (as Atomic Industries, facilitated by The Las Vegas Arts Commission)
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Sheldon Museum of Art, Lied Center for the Performing Arts, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Virginia Cable & Wireless Corporation, Vienna, VA