Artist Info
Ruell is known for his witty, meticulously crafted photographs and films that fluidly tread within the realms of advertising, documentary, and fiction. Inspired by music, modernist design, everyday people, as well as his childhood in central California, Ruell’s crews fastidiously construct scenes ripe with ambiguity, nostalgia and humor. Many of Ruell’s photographs take the settings of his commercial advertising work as points of departure, yet each image, reflects a vision uniquely his own. Of his portraits, Kristina Feliciano of PDN magazine says “Ruell presents them with both abundant empathy and gentle humor, whether it’s a portrait of a meagerly proportioned blond football player with his jaw firmly set as he poses with his pigskin, or a man whose fluffy, wavy hair echoes the shapes of the ceramic ducks hung on the peneled wall behind him.”
In 2008 Nazaraeli Press published the first monograph of Ruell’s work titled Some Photos. Ruell has also received numerous awards over the years for his work including The New York Times “Best Editorial,” Paper Magazine Spread (2010). His photographic work has been featured in solo exhibitions at collette, Paris, France (2010) and Micamera Gallery, Milan, Italy (2008). Group shows include These Friends, This Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2010); ThisIsNotAGallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2008); M Gallery, Los Angeles (2008);. His work is represented in major public and private collections worldwide. Born in 1976, Ruell lives and works in California.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
Aaron Ruell 2011
May 7, 2011 – June 1, 2011