VAUGHN SPANN

Early Years

Born in Orlando, Florida in 1992, Vaughn Spann grew up in New Jersey. He completed his BFA at Rutgers University in 2014, studying under the late Denyse Thomasos, and earned his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale School of Art in 2018. Spann is based in Newark, New Jersey, and is deeply engaged in mentorship and community, co-founding the NXTHVN arts incubator in New Haven with Titus Kaphar.

Vaughn Spann Artworks

Spann’s practice is defined by its refusal to settle into a single style, oscillating between expressive abstraction and surreal figuration. His paintings and mixed-media works are rich in color, texture, and symbolism, often incorporating universal motifs such as X-marks, circles, rainbows, and brickwork patterns. He frequently draws on personal and collective histories, using his art to reflect on race, social justice, and the complexities of contemporary life.

Abstraction and Symbolism

Spann’s abstract works are notable for their tactile surfaces and symbolic forms. The “Rainbow” paintings, crafted with woven strips of paint-soaked terry-cloth towels, engage with color, race, and American iconography. The first of these was created as an homage to Trayvon Martin, referencing the Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea Martin carried. His ‘Dalmatian’ series features black-and-white splotches inspired by his New Jersey childhood, using the image of the dog as a symbol of the false American dream.

Figuration and Narrative

Spann’s figurative paintings often present surreal, dreamlike scenes with vibrantly adorned, multi-headed figures and animals in secluded outdoor spaces. Works such as Basking in the wind (2019) and Parisian Girls (2019) exemplify his interest in doubling, duality, and psychological complexity.

The “Marked Man” Series

A key body of work, the ‘Marked Man’ series, uses the X form to reference both personal experience—being racially profiled and stopped by police as a college student—and broader themes of surveillance, vulnerability, and resilience. Spann describes the X as a “symbolic form, and so powerful to this contemporary moment.”

Awards and Accolades

• Forbes ‘30 Under 30 in Art and Style’ (2020)
• Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship (2017)
• NXTHVN Residency, New Haven (2019)

Exhibitions

Vaughn Spann has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions. Below is a selection.

Solo Exhibitions

• Allegories, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL (2024)
• Pups!, Almine Rech, Shanghai (2021)
• OPEN ONTO, Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO (2021)
• The Heat Lets Us Know We’re Alive, Almine Rech, New York (2020)
• Dalmatian Paintings, Night Gallery, Los Angeles (2019)
• Scorched Earth and The Weeping Sun, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo (2019)
• Orange, Yellow, Purple, Blue Skies, Half Gallery, New York (2018)

Group Exhibitions

• Objects Reimagined by American Artists, Montclair Art Museum, NJ (2021)
• Frieze London, Art Basel Miami Beach, EXPO Chicago, and others

Spann’s works are included in the collections of the Rubell Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami, High Museum of Art (Atlanta), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Brooklyn Museum, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and UBS Art Collection, among others.

Vaughn Spann FAQs

Ocula | 2025