Aaron Gilbert

Aaron Gilbert (b. 1979, Altoona, Pennsylvania) is a Brooklyn-based painter whose psychologically charged figurative works explore the relationship between private experience and the broader social structures that shape contemporary life. Depicting scenes of family, intimacy, and everyday life, Gilbert sets deeply personal narratives against the pressures of consumer culture, technology, and institutional systems. Guided by storytelling, myth, and an uncanny sense of timelessness, Gilbert creates emotionally tender tableaux that move between the real and the imagined. His paintings frequently focus on moments of intimate exchange, considering how individuals maintain their humanity and capacity for connection amid forces that can feel increasingly impersonal or destabilizing. Rooted in the visual framework and characters of his Brooklyn surroundings, Gilbert’s approach to social realism draws on artists including Gustave Courbet, Otto Dix, and George Tooker while foregrounding the transformative potential of individual relationships and love. Gilbert received his MFA from Yale University in 2008 and BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005. His work is held in major public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, Hammer Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, Columbus Museum of Art, High Museum, and RISD Museum. Recent solo exhibitions with Gladstone include World Without End in New York (2025) and his first solo presentation in Belgium at Gladstone Brussels (2026).