Aaron Fowler (B. 1988)

Having grown up in a disadvantaged and racially divided district of St Louis, Aaron Fowler draws on his experiences of gang violence, social inequality and the corruption of power as generators for expression in his powerful, striking work. Fowler sources both narrative and physical materials from his local environments of Harlem, Los Angeles and St Louis. A weathered pair of doors are used for the support in My Brothers Keeper (2012), upon which a melee of characters are rendered in mixed media, a colourful frenzy of apparelled patterns demanding our attention. Indebted to graffiti art, with visible blotches of spray paint and a fluorescent palette, the scene pulsates with vibrant urban life. Plunged into a distinctive visual microcosm, Fowler hopes to leave his audience ‘with a feeling of connection and conversation with a world that may not be familiar.’