Aaron Spangler

Aaron Spangler is an American sculptor and printmaker best known for his monumental sculptures. Reinterpreting the ancient technique of woodcarving, Spangler carves elaborate reliefs into wood. He then coats them in layers of black gesso and graphite, producing the distinctive matte-black surfaces that define his work. While carved bas-reliefs remain Spangler’s most recognisable works, his artistic practice extends across multiple media, always grounded in craftsmanship and the physicality of making. His woodcuts often fragment and recombine elements of the human body with motifs drawn from the natural world, resulting in rhythmic, abstract patterns. Rooted in the rural culture of Minnesota, his works combine myth, rural folklore, and history under the uniform density of a pervasive black. 

Born in 1971 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Spangler attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he obtained a BFA degree. In 1997, he was awarded the Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant and, in 1998, the Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship. In 2010, he was the recipient of McKnight Artist Fellowship for Visual Artists. Over his thirty-year career, his work has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, including the group exhibitions The Spectacular of Vernacular at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in 2011, and Working Thought at The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, in 2022. His artworks are part of the permanent collections of several important museums worldwide, including The Art Gallery of Ontario, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, and the Saatchi Gallery, London.  Splangler is Vice Chair of the Nemeth Art Center, Minnesota. He currently lives and works in Park Rapids, Minnesota.