Sam Van Aken's art combines sophisticated technology with traditional modes of art-making. Van Aken's projects cross boundaries between artistic genres, including performance, installation, video, photography, and sculpture. With each body of work, he selects practices and new perspectives that provide a kinesthetic perception of objects and a visceral charge.
Born in Reading Pennsylvania, in 1972, Sam Van Aken received his undergraduate education in Communication Theory and Art. Immediately following his studies he lived and worked in Poland under the auspices of the Andy Warhol Foundation and the United States Information Agency. Returning after several years in Europe, Van Aken received his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. Since this time his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally receiving numerous honors including an Association of International Curator’s of Art award and a 2009 Creative Capital Grant. Sam Van Aken is currently an Associate Professor and the Sculpture Program Director at Syracuse University.
Sam Van Aken is one of the recipients of the 2010 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award. The grants, established in 1993 to assist individual artists, are given to acknowledge painters and sculptors creating work of exceptional quality.
Creative Capital Grant in Emerging Fields
Maine Arts Commission, Individual Artist Fellowship
Juror’s Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, Portland Museum of Art 2007 Biennial
AICA (Association of International Critics of Art), 2006 Exhibition Award
for Baja to Bar Harbor: Transnational Contemporary Art Exhibition
Honorarium Dallas Video Art Festival, Dallas Texas
Visting Artist l'Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts de Cergy-Pontoise
Skoki Palace Residency, Skoki Poland
United States Information Agency Travel Grant
Andy Warhol Foundation Stipend