Aidan Ciuperca is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in printmaking and drawing. He is currently working on getting his Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Artist Statement
It’s my goal to study the world around me, past and present, in order to inform my personal and artistic aspirations. Recently, I have been interested in extinction and Elizabeth Kolbert’s book The Sixth Extinction which, along with Neil Shubin’s Your Inner Fish, informed my series of scientific lithographs of extinct creatures. I’m intrigued by what defines “creatures” as lifeforms and the way the word allows living beings to be categorized without being limited to the way currently discovered species look. Creature as a term also allows consideration for how beings of figmented zoology might live in the real world.
In the past year, my work has become more involved with relief printmaking, which has allowed me to connect with the physicality of wood carving and engage with it as a meditative and healing practice. The time I put into my work is what allows it to connect with mindfulness, as it usually happens through long hours of carving and writing. Through my writing practice, I have worked to build spaces of self-reflection and capture the feelings of meditation and spiritual awareness. Specifically, I use the human body to pinpoint how energy moves through us by capturing bodily sensations. This has manifested itself in the forms of poetry, guided meditations and comics exploring the visual landscapes of meditation.
Ideas of mindfulness connect to my work with creatures through the use of familiar visual landmarks. This happens in moments of anatomical certainty where someone can say “That’s a dog nose,” or “I think that’s a human ear,” when a creature can’t be defined as any preexisting being.
I find it fun to reference reality in order to create new languages of exploring life and its various components. In its most basic form, I believe that my work is a reflection of the things that bring positivity and excitement into my life.
Exhibitions and Publications
TBD (2020)
Awareness Comic | Mouth Magazine | Chicago, IL
Awareness Comic | Mouth Magazine | Chicago, IL
February 2020
Heart Comic | Mouth Magazine | Chicago, IL
Heart Comic | Mouth Magazine | Chicago, IL
November 2019
SAIC Student Work Display | Chicago Art Book Fair | Chicago, IL
SAIC Student Work Display | Chicago Art Book Fair | Chicago, IL
May 2019
Barely Balkan Comic | Self-Published | Chicago, IL
Barely Balkan Comic | Self-Published | Chicago, IL
May 2019
Grandma Smackdown Comic | Mouth Magazine | Chicago, IL
Grandma Smackdown Comic | Mouth Magazine | Chicago, IL
March 2018
SAIC Core Studio Student Exhibition | Co-Prosperity Sphere | Chicago, IL
SAIC Core Studio Student Exhibition | Co-Prosperity Sphere | Chicago, IL
Education
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago | BFA | May 2021
The Florence Art Studio | Drawing and Painting Courses | July 2018 & November 2016
The Galloway School | High School Diploma | 2017
University of the Arts | Summer Pre-College Program | July 2016
Address emails to aidanciuperca@gmail.com for more information on commission work and employment.