August 31—September 30, 2025
Press Release
Those of us who have known the unique personality of cats will feel an immediate sense of familiarity when confronted with Michael Ajerman’s Break In series. Created between 2020-2025, these works are character studies of an orange tabby cat named Grendel, a neighborhood cat who would sneak into Ajerman’s London apartment during the Covid lockdown.
Ajerman presents a tender and expressive series, each depicted with a strong sense of character and emotion. Anyone who has ever had a pet cat can relate to the sense of fierce independence and playful curiosity that dominates the subject of these works. The works are painted with a thick and gestural application of paint, capturing the untamed sense of motion of a cat exploring its surroundings. The warm, sometimes monochromatic palette creates a sense of mystery, memory, or dreamlike wonder.
Prior to meeting Grendel, Ajerman was experiencing a type of artistic burnout. A combination of Covid and the grief at the loss of a close friend sent Ajerman spiraling into a kind of existential crisis, where his reason for painting was lost to the chaos of the world. Grendel, a curious cat who would find her way into Ajerman’s apartment day after day through an open window, brought him back to painting. It was a unique challenge to paint a subject who doesn’t sit still or pose for the artist. The innocence of this creature, unaware of the global pandemic upending the lives of all humans around her, sparked a type of artistic rebirth for the artist Ajerman. It was the rare and treasured bond of an artist and muse.
Ajerman uses Grendel to explore a range of emotional states: longing, joy, mystery, play. Rather than striving for anatomical accuracy, he is after emotional truth, using body language, color, and painterly force to convey each scene’s inner world. The works are at once whimsical yet deeply personal.
Artworks
Inquire
michael-ajerman
Break In
2021
Oil on linen
47.25 x 35.50 in (120.02 x 90.17 cm)
$14,000
michael-ajerman
Can't You Hear Me Knocking
2024-2025
Oil on linen
35.50 x 31.50 in (90.17 x 80.01 cm)
$12,000
michael-ajerman
Cardboard & Cremnitz
2022
Oil on linen
18 x 24 in (45.72 x 60.96 cm)
$5,500
michael-ajerman
Oscar's Elevation
2022-2024
Oil on linen
16 x 18 in (40.64 x 45.72 cm)
$4,500
michael-ajerman
Riposo V
2024-2025
Oil on paper
22 x 28.50 in (55.88 x 72.39 cm)
$3,000
michael-ajerman
Riposo I
2024-2025
Oil on paper
17.75 x 22 in (45.08 x 55.88 cm)
$2,400
michael-ajerman
Afternoon on the Couch
2023
Color pencils on pastel paper
12.75 x 19.50 in (32.38 x 49.53 cm)
$2,000
michael-ajerman
Garden Gladiators
2023
Color pencils on pastel paper
12.75 x 19.50 in (32.38 x 49.53 cm)
$1,900
michael-ajerman
3% (Mince)
2022
Color pencils on pastel paper
12 x 16 in (30.48 x 40.64 cm)
$1,800
michael-ajerman
Grendel Awakening
2022
Color pencils on paper
25.50 x 19.75 in (64.77 x 50.16 cm)
$2,500
michael-ajerman
The Under the Chin Spot
2022
Color pencils on paper
19.75 x 25.50 in (50.16 x 64.77 cm)
$2,500
michael-ajerman
Dreamies Outstretched
2024
Color pencils on paper
12 x 16 in (30.48 x 40.64 cm)
$1,800
michael-ajerman
In the Box, The Spot
2021
Color pencils on paper
13 x 19.50 in (33.02 x 49.53 cm)
$2,300
Artist
Michael Ajerman was born in New York in 1977. As a teenager he took part in the Cooper Union Outreach Program, later studying at the Corcoran School of Art, the New York Studio School, along with the Yale Summer School at Norfolk. In 2003 he completed his Masters Degree at the Slade School of Art, and received the British Institute Award from the Royal Academy the same year. He has consistently exhibited internationally. He is a contributor to Garageland Magazine where he has written articles on cinema, music, literature, and painting. In 2018 he was awarded UCLA’s Kitaj Research Fellowship, where his investigation of artists R.B. Kitaj and Walter Sickert culminated in the lecture, From Tipperary to Westwood. Select press includes: The New York Times, Flash Art, The Guardian, The Sun, Arte, Garageland, Bay Area Reporter, and the Royal Academy Magazine. He lives and works in London.
