“Trash is the failure of imagination” states artist Aaron Kramer, who salvages materials destined for the landfill to create his inventive, finely crafted pieces. “My sculptural work is of a woven or constructed nature,” he explains. “By exploring the intersection between the found and fabricated I seek a deeper understanding of the transcendent nature of ordinary objects. I work primarily in recycled materials. Reclaimed hardwoods, coffee stirrers, strapping materials, buttons or tin can lids are ripe for reinvention. Street sweeper bristles are acquired as scrap from a company that re-bristles used brooms. These are woven over armatures of thin wire that I weld into organic forms. I also take found objects and improve upon them to create new and intriguing inventions. The things I create have an organic soul trapped within a venerated façade.”

After earning a BFA in visual communications from Northern Illinois University in 1985, Aaron worked as a graphic designer, eventually opening his own shop. In the 1990s, he completed a bike tour of the United States and began his transition to full-time artist. He now maintains a studio in Santa Monica, CA and has been commissioned to design retail store interiors, furniture, custom lighting, fixturing and sculptural objects for public and private collections. He exhibits his work at venues including the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles; the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver; the Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington DC; and the Sculptural Objects and Fine Art (SOFA) show, Chicago. The artist and his work have been featured in The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times; American Craft, Ornament, and Metalsmith magazines, and the book 500 Baskets.

“My process is akin to my curiosity,” Aaron says. “I often let it take me where it will. ‘How does that work?,’ ‘what is the process behind that?,’ ‘why do I love that?’ I like figuring out a problem and solving something in a unique way. I love being in the flow.”