UrbanArtSyndicate proudly presents

"Urban Decay Five"

A Group Show Including the Art of Aaron Wilder

June 7 – 29, 2014

Opening Reception:

Saturday, June 7, 2014, 7:00 – 11:00pm

The Fridge Gallery

516 8^th Street SE, Rear Alley

Washington, DC 20003

http://www.thefridgedc.com/

Aaron Wilder works primarily in mixed media and acrylic paint and uses color, line, and text to grab attention and provoke personal interaction with his work. Some of the more dominant themes in his artwork include international politics, political and social commentary, popular culture, contradictions, introspection, the state of humanity, gay rights, gender equality, and questioning the process of our own socialization.

The “Amends” series is comprised of two pieces created by Aaron Wilder between 2011 and 2013. The result of a photograph taken by the artist in 2007, Amends One and Amends Two were experimental works on vinyl that reflect on the relationships between individuals at the point of immense strain. While maintaining a sense of distance between the relationship itself and the broader social context which both influences it and is impacted by it, the simultaneous presence and absence of intimacy between human beings necessitates the exploration of how we represent ourselves in times of interpersonal conflict. The juried exhibition “Urban Decay Five” includes one piece from the “Amends” series that will help to create a Conditionalist forum in which perspectives, ideas, and beliefs about how we shape our identities can be discussed and explored.

Aaron defines his beliefs about the meaning of art through the term Conditionalism. The conditional tense (or mood) in languages is used to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs or to discuss what would happen under certain circumstances. Thus, a Conditionalist is one who is concerned with understanding a range of perspectives through dialogue with others who may perceive events and the world around them in different ways. Before it was appreciated for its aesthetic qualities, art (in its diverse array of expressions) was used as a way to facilitate the communication of ideas. Therefore, as a Conditionalist, he seeks to employ his work in creating a forum to celebrate art as dialogue where individuals can share their perspectives on issues in the community and across the world.

Originally from Arizona, Aaron has also lived in California and France and currently resides in Washington, DC. He has been creating art since 2002 and has shown at exhibitions in Chicago, Illinois; Flagstaff, Arizona; Gilbert, Arizona; Hyattsville, Maryland; New York, New York; Phoenix, Arizona; San Francisco, California; Tucson, Arizona; and Washington, DC.

The opening reception is free and open to the public. For more information on the work of Aaron Wilder, visit http://aaronwilder.com. For more information on The Fridge Gallery, visit http://www.thefridgedc.com/. For more information on UrbanArtSyndicate, visit http://urbanartsyndicate.com/.