Christopher Aque
*1987, United States
Lives and works in New York, NY, United States
Biography
Christopher Aque's practice connects longing and desire to spaces both public and private. Working between sculpture, photography, and video, Aque often combines images or traces of individuals with those of urban sites, subtly making evident the inherent vulnerability of private desires set within the latent economic, social, and political dynamics of public space. Deliberate choices in process and material further the dichotomy between an underlying tenderness and unyielding surroundings – soft gum bichromate prints and cyanotypes are made by germicidal UV-C lights, delicate glass elements are situated amongst plexiglass and metal components of sculptures.
Aque (*1987, United States) lives and works in New York. His third solo exhibition at the gallery will take place in October 2025. Other recent solo exhibitions have taken place at Laurel Gitlen, New York, and Regards, Chicago. His work has been included in group shows at Charim Galerie, Herald St., Abrons Arts Center, and SculptureCenter. Aque received an MFA from Hunter College in 2016.
Selected Texts
Exhibitions
Artworks
Curriculum Vitae
Education
| 2016 | MFA, Hunter College, New York, NY, United States |
| 2012 | Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, United States |
| 2009 | BA, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States |
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
| 2025 | Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany |
| 2023 | Growth, Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY, United States |
| 2022 | Civic, Regards, Chicago, IL, United States |
| 2021 | A void, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany |
| 2018 | Red-blooded, White-skinned, and the Blues, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany |
| Idling, Regards, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| 2015 | I am, etc., Regards, Chicago, IL, United States |
| 2012 | Homonyms (for Misfits and Outcasts), PeregrineProgram, Chicago, IL, United States |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2024 | Parloir Tournai, Tournai, Belgium |
| Play as it lays, curated by Kristian Vistrup Madsen, Charim Galerie, Vienna, Austria | |
| Condo London 2024, Sweetwater hosted by Maureen Paley, London, United Kingdom | |
| 2023 | Ithaca, Herald St, London, United Kingdom |
| Oak House, Fernberger, Newport, RI, United States | |
| Basement Romance, Romance, Pittsburgh, PA, United States | |
| 2022 | Some of it Falls from the Belt and Lands on the Walkway Beside the Conveyor Belt, curated by Yaby, Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art, Middelburg, Netherlands |
| 2021 | Maison Dakota, Super Dakota, Brussels, Belgium |
| 2019 | The Comedies of the Status Quo, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY, United States |
| 2018 | Call Me Mr. Benson, OCD Chinatown, New York, NY, United States |
| Not an edge but a hinge, Abrons Arts Center, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2017 | Ice Wine, Rzeplinski, New York, NY, United States |
| 2016 | In Practice: Fantasy Can Invent Nothing New, SculptureCenter, New York, NY, United States |
| What came of picking flowers?, Motel, New York, NY, United States | |
| A Place Where He Is Meant to Be Lost, The Third Policeman, New York, NY, United States | |
| Hunter MFA Thesis Exhibition, 205 Hudson Street Gallery, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2014 | Murmurs, Regards, Chicago, IL, United States |
| White Columns Benefit Exhibition 2014, White Columns, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2013 | Canon Fodder, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, United States |
| Street Trash, curated by Virginia Overton, Aaron Suggs, and Motoko Fukuyama, Memphis, TN, United States | |
| Taken, Practice Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, United States | |
| The Made-up Shrimp Hardly Enlightens Some Double Kisses, Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2011 | Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Original Jokes About The Suburban and The Poor Farm by Artists Who Have Exhibited There, Green Gallery, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT, United States |
| Two Fold, The Suburban, Oak Park, IL, United States | |
| 2009 | BIG FUN, DOVA temporary, Chicago, IL, United States |
Selected Press
| 2024 | Ivana Cholakova, 'Play It As It Lays’ Gives Up Control, Frieze, October 9 |
| 2022 | Ángels Miralda, Critic’s Pick, Artforum, August 20 |
| Philipp Hindahl, Tidbits: Christopher Aque, Mousse, January 11 | |
| 2021 | Carlos Kong, Body as Void, Texte zur Kunst, December 8 |
| Jeppe Ugelvig, Critics’ Picks: Christopher Aque at Sweetwater, Berlin, Artforum, October 22 | |
| D. Creahan, AO On-Site: Basel, Liste Art Fair, September 20th–26th, 2021, Art Observed, September 26 | |
| Isabella Zamboni, Gallery Weekend Berlin 2021, Spike, September 21 | |
| 2019 | Alexandra Symons Sutcliffe, Critics’ Picks: Christopher Aque at Sweetwater, Berlin, Artforum, January 7 |
| 2018 | Caroline Elbaor, In Conversation with Christopher Aque, isthisit? n. 5. |
| Maximilano Duron, Preview Frieze New York 2018, ArtNews, May 1 | |
| What to Look Out for at Frieze New York 2018, Something Curated, April 19 | |
| Ryan Filchak, Navigating Desire Between Connection and Anonymity, A Review of Christopher Aque at Regards, Newcity, April 18 | |
| 2016 | Maximilano Duron, Preview NADA Miami Beach 2016, ArtNews, November 30 |
| 2015 | Jason Foumberg, GO: The Best Things to Do in Chicago This Month—Art & Design, Chicago Magazine, December |
| Domenico de Chirico, One Pic Monday, We Find Wildness, November 30 | |
| 2014 | Erin Toale, Murmurs, Newcity, August 9 |
| Drawing a Blank in John Zappas: Figured Spot, Brooklyn: Primetime | |
| 2013 | Todd Hebert, Canon Fodder, BURNAWAY, November 12 |
| Featured Artist: Christopher Aque, SculptureCenter SculptureNotebook, October 27 | |
| Chip Schwartz, Practice examines appropriation and ownership with ‘Taken’, Knight Arts, April 16 | |
| 2012 | Georgia Wall, Christopher Aque at Peregrine Program, Chicago Artist Writers, November 2 |
| Harrison Smith, Fall Art Preview 2012, Newcity, August 28 |
Publications and Texts
| 2023 | Contributor, Email, 2020–2023, Mossflower vol. 1. no. 1, February, p. 16–21 |
| 2015 | TEN: Park McArthur Interviews Christopher Aque, Chicago: Regards |
| 2012 | Contributor, Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?, ed. Michelle Grabner, (Wassaic, WI: Poor Farm Press) |
| Chatter by Evie, artist book with No One, (Brooklyn, NY: No One) 68 pages |
Residencies, Grants and Awards
| 2021 | New York City Artist Corps Grant |
| 2017 | AIRspace Residency, Abrons Arts Center, New York, NY, United States |