Vaughn Spann (b. 1992, Orlando, Florida) is an American contemporary artist working primarily on printmaking and painting.[1][2] His style moves between abstraction and figuration, and at times incorporates symbols such as the American flag or the letter X.[3] He lives and works in Newark, New Jersey.[4]
Vaughn Spann | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1992 (age 31–32) Orlando, Florida, US |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Painter, Printmaker |
Early life and Education
editVaughn Spann was born in Orlando, Florida, in 1992. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Rutgers University, New Jersey, in 2014, and received an Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and printmaking from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, in 2018.[5]
Work
editVaughn has been shown at the Rubell Museum, Florida; the Pérez Art Museum, Florida; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Missouri, and others.[6][7] In 2020 he was one of Forbes "30 Under 30 in Art and Style" alongside Grace Lynne Raynes, Ilana Harris-Babou, Farah Al Qasimi, and Louis Fratino.[5][8]
In 2020 he donated some proceeds from the sale of a print to Black Lives Matter.[9] The solo show Vaughn Spann: Trilogy was on view at Almine Rech gallery, New York, in 2023. The abundance of blues in his paintings have been associated with Stéphane Mallarmé’s 1864 poem “L’Azur.”[10]
In 2024, the Tampa Museum of Art displayed the one-person presentation Vaughn Spann: Allegories, a series of four large-scale mixed media prints on wood panels. Compositions in the show expanded on the artist's vocabulary such as the "X" shape in combination with art historical references.[11]
Collections
editHis work is held in institutions including the Pérez Art Museum Miami,[12] Florida, as part of the institution's Fund for Black Art; High Museum of Art, Atlanta;[5] North Carolina Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York, among others.[11]
References
edit- ^ "Vaughn Spann". DePauw University. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Vaughn Spann / 'Smoke Signals' / Almine Rech Brussels". Flaunt Magazine. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ Crow, Kelly (15 January 2020). "A Boundary-Busting Artist Seeks to 'Learn Through the Chaos'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Vaughn Spann". rubellmuseum.org. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ a b c "Vaughn Spann". Forbes. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Vaughn Spann: Open Onto". Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM's Fund for African American Art". www.pamm.org. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "30 Under 30 2020: Art & Style". Forbes. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Vaughn Spann Releases 'Cosmic Symbiote' Print in Support of Black Lives Matter". HYPEBEAST. 13 October 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ Adam, Alfred Mac (2024-07-29). "Vaughn Spann: Trilogy | The Brooklyn Rail". brooklynrail.org. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
- ^ a b Art, Tampa Museum of (2024-02-15). "Vaughn Spann: Allegories". Tampa Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
- ^ "Pérez Art Museum Miami Announces Acquisition of Artworks by Isaac Julien and Kennedy Yanko at Eleventh Annual Art + Soul Celebration • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
Further reading
edit- Brown, Patricia Leigh (12 April 2019). "An Artist Rises, and Brings a Generation With Him". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 August 2020.