My artwork is an attempt to reconcile my physical surroundings with the fears, fascinations, curiosities, and daydreams occupying my mind. The photographs and constructions consist of common artifacts, materials, and scenes from everyday life, which have been rearranged and reassembled into various forms, patterns, and illustrations. The images aim to examine the distance between where my mind wanters to and the material objects that inspire those fixations. Equally important to this work are the 'big picture' and the 'little things'--the mundane and relatable artifacts of our daily lives, and the more mysterious notions of life and existence. This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us is capable of communicating much larger ideas.

Kevin Van Aelst was born in Elmira, New York and did most of his growing up in central Pennsylvania. He recieved a B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University in 2002 and an M.F.A. from the Hartford Art School in 2005. He currently lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. He has taught photography classes at the University of Hartford Art School, Middlesex Community College, Quinnipiac University, and currently at the ACES/Educational Center for the Arts . He is a recipient of a 2008 fellowship grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Kevin's photos could be seen weekly illustrating The Medium in the New York Times Magazine from 2007 - 2011, and have been featured in dozens of publications including Scientific American, Money, Wired, Time, and the Atlantic.

www.kevinvanaelst.com