'Blood and Water': First Solo Exhibition of Visual Arts Alum Aristotle Forrester '24
Abstract painting—defying realistic depictions of figures, objects, and landscapes—catches its viewer off guard. For Visual Arts alum Aristotle Forrester '24, there is power in this quality of abstraction, a depth that crosses culture and time.
On September 26, 2026, the Jessica Ann Peavy Gallery welcomed Forrester as a newly represented artist with a celebration to mark the opening of his first solo exhibition, Blood and Water. Works featured in the exhibition—on view until November 7, 2026—are poignant, bold, colorful, and richly layered in both medium and meaning. Pieces such as Harlem: Summer Requiem (2024) and Father and Child (2026) feature dynamic markings of thick paint contained by a vibrant red tone, evoking passion and violence at once. According to the exhibition statement, they take the premise “that we are all born from water and made of blood, and that our ancestors’ journeys shape our position and our perspective.”
Forrester’s work engages with both personal and collective memory; he is inspired by Yoruba and Afro-Caribbean traditions, as well as Renaissance painting, pushing the boundaries of Western representations of diasporic bodies. He described creating this new body of work over the last four years as allowing him to deepen his connection to ancestral memory.
While Forrester’s primary medium is oil and canvas, several of his works include handmade materials and tools. Some of Forrester’s pieces, such as Stars and Stripes II (2025), include lock ash and other mixed media, adding texture to the image of three figures falling through a flurry of stripes and stars. This practice highlights the dynamism in the work and is inspired by the legacy of American abstract artist Jack Whitten, known for experimenting with process and material.
Forrester is from the South Side of Chicago, raised in Hyde Park. He received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2016 before attending Columbia, where he was a Neiman Fellow. In 2022, he was selected by the Obama Foundation to create a work during the first Democracy Forum at the Javits Center in Manhattan. In addition to being featured in several exhibitions, his work is held in the permanent collection of Harvard University, Northwestern University, and in 2023 he was named one of NYLON’s Rising Painters to Watch.
About Blood and Water, Forrester said, “[T]hrough sharing these stories of my family history, I extend the representation of Black abstract painting. I’m proud to share this work with the community, and I hope viewers find a similar space for reflection, connection, and celebration.”