Derek Aylward (b. 1976, Boston, MA) lives and works in Quincy, Massachusetts. Aylward attended The Art Institute of Boston from 1997-1999 and has exhibited in group shows at V1 Gallery (Copenhagen), Sorry We’re Closed (Brussels), Blum & Poe (Los Angeles) and Nassima-Landau (Tel Aviv). His first solo exhibition in New York was with SHRINE in 2021. Derek Aylward's paintings are completely raw, while at the same time deeply classic. They meditate on a sense of community and togetherness. Depicting images of disembodied heads dropped down on a horizon, Donald Duck taking a toke, tennis matches gone riot and groupings of stupefied figures unconsciously, and narrowly, dodging parachuting skulls. Mystical creatures appear frozen in time as they amble through their day, glowing with neon edges and humane countenances, and human figures dissipate into neatly Cubist backdrops only to reemerge across the way.