Aaron Garretson grew up in Southern California, attending public schools and surfing the breaks between Swami’s and Sunset Cliffs. He studied biochemistry and cell biology at UC San Diego, earned an MFA at Columbia University, and, for the last 20 years, has worked in research laboratories in California, New Mexico and New York, studying HIV, Zika, Dengue, diabetes and neuro-developmental genetics (not at the same time, and not in that particular order). For the same 20 years, he has also been writing fiction and painting, first with oil pastels and more recently with acrylics and thread. Science increasingly informs the art he produces, as does a fascination with the border between chaos and order, the intersection of rational and irrational thought––which is where he hopes to reside one day.

 

His work has appeared, most recently, in the 2016 Southern California/Baja Biennial at the San Diego Art Institute, at the 2017 Juried Biennial at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad, the 2017 group show Diverge/Convene at the San Diego Art Institute, and the 8th Annual Black and White Juried Show at the La Jolla Art Association.