STEPHEN AIKEN, USA
Stephen Aiken is a visual artist whose recent body of work was conceived in Mérida, Yucatán, where he has been a temporary resident since 2013. He began his artistic journey studying photography in New York City in 1974, during a time of intense cultural and artistic experimentation. Eventually, he transitioned into painting by the late 1970s, developing a practice that combines abstraction and figuration with a strong sense of historical continuity.
Aiken describes his painting as a fusion of influences drawn from a lifetime of immersion in visual culture. His more recent works reflect a refined synthesis of simplified forms and contrasts, often creating visual play between figure and ground. In some of his abstract compositions, decorative motifs echo the ornamental elements found in colonial Mexican architecture. The artist is fascinated by the historical journey of these visual symbols, which he analyzes and reinterprets through his painting, as seen in works presented in the exhibition Spirit of Place.
While earlier works centered on landscapes—evocative of Yucatán’s natural world and rendered with minimalistic forms—his practice has expanded to include non-landscape-based abstract pieces characterized by the repetition of geometric patterns and rhythmic compositions. He works on both canvas and paper, using a range of media including oils, gouache, acrylics, collage, and mixed techniques. The resulting artworks defy a single category, often blending landscape, memory, and structure in a visual language that is both intuitive and historically reflective.
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“I like working under time constraints and creating experimental art with gouache and paper. The process is intuitive”, he says. Stephen described his creative process for the individual exhibition that was presented in January 2019 at El Zapote Gallery: “I’ve been an artist for over forty years. When I appreciate last month’s pieces I feel happy that things are being developed. I keep going forward because work promotes more work and new ways to advance”.
Stephen has also created photographic and other projects that support contemporary art for Art News magazine, Art in New England magazine, Provincetown Arts magazine, as well as for diverse newsletters in France and Germany. He has worked as a curator for The Seaport District Cultural Association Gallery in New York City.
