The talented and innovative artist, illustrator and photographer Kevin Van Aelst creates extraordinary images out of everyday objects. It wasn’t until his B.A. studies in psychology at Cornell University when he began exploring his artistic side. Taking a gamble on his burgeoning love for photography, he went on to complete a M.F.A. in photography from the University of Hartford, where his work flourished.

Van Aelst is a 2008 recipient of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism fellowship grant, and has been commissioned to create art for such publications as Time, Men’s Health, GQ, Business Week, Fast Company, and Scientific American. His photo illustrations can be seen every week in the New York Times Magazine. He has taught photography courses at the Hartford Art School, Middlesex Community College, and currently at Quinnipiac University and the ACES/Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut.

“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 wanders 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 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.”