Derek Aylward

Derek Aylward is a figurative painter whose raw, boldly colored, and roughly expressive works are reminiscent of graffiti or folk art, balancing tension with humor to reflect the absurdity of the modern condition. Using repetition as a means of confronting the limitations of both paint and his own technique, Aylward’s paintings often feature the same motif, generally a figure or a face, painted over and over again with subtle variations of line or color, as in Untitled (2019) and Untitled Face (2020). Aylward has said he draws constantly, mainly from memory or imagination. His quick, intuitive way of working is seen in works such as Meow (2021) or Untitled (2020), in which he seems to take pleasure in the act of intuitive mark-making, letting his unfiltered imagination loose upon the canvas.