Aron Wiesenfeld

Aron Wiesenfeld (born 12 August 1972) is an American painter, illustrator and comic book artist based in San Diego, California. He is known for painting disquieting scenes of lonely youths. His works have been shown at several exhibitions in the United States and Europe including those at Arcadia Contemporary in New York City, Unit London, Long Beach Museum of Art and the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Wiesenfeld has created illustrations for various comics publishing companies including Marvel Comics, Continuity Comics and WildStorm.

Early life Wiesenfeld was born to Susan Brouwer and Stephen Wiesenfeld in 1972, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Santa Cruz, California. He began drawing at an early age and received lessons in painting and etching from his grandmother, Betsey Straub Wiesenfeld, a noted watercolor artist. Soon afterward, he was hired by Jim Lee at Wildstorm Studios, part of the fledgling creator-owned company, Image Comics. At Wildstorm he gained recognition for his storytelling and detailed line drawings in such titles as Team 7, Deathblow and Wolverine.

Fine art In the year 2000, after graduating from Art Center College of Design, Wiesenfeld shifted his focus to oil painting. His first solo exhibition was with Timmons Gallery, San Diego in 2006. In 2009, Wiesenfeld began exhibiting his works at Arcadia Contemporary in New York City, where his work attracted the attention of celebrity collectors such as J. J. Abrams, Joss Whedon and Laura Linney. His paintings have been part of more than 50 group exhibitions around the globe. In late 2014, IDW Publishing collected Wiesenfeld's work in a hardcover monograph, titled The Well, which collected 15 years of paintings and drawings.

Wiesenfeld's artwork has appeared on the covers of numerous novels, poetry collections and album covers. In 2015 he collaborated with poet Bruce Bond on the book The Other Sky by Etruscan Press.

Art Themes According to David Molesky of Juxtapoz, Wiesenfeld paints images of young people in foreboding landscapes, fraught with undertones of danger. Like characters from fairy tales, the adolescents who populate his paintings often appear under-prepared and vulnerable. The characters stare across these thresholds as if they are "trying to get to the other side of a river that is forever out of reach".

Influences Wiesenfeld has credited a number of mid-19th century painters as sources of inspiration for his work, such as Caspar David Friedrich, Camille Corot, J. W. Waterhouse, and Puvis de Chavannes. He also maintains admiration for the comic artists who initially inspired him such as Edward Gorey, Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Chris Ware, and Robert Crumb.