Ramble Tamble
January 10 - February 15, 2025
ENGAGE Projects is excited to announce Aaron Spangler's debut exhibition in Chicago, Ramble Tamble. Dreamy and foreboding all at once, the gallery will be filled with his hand-carved reliefs that pull from roots in rural life and culture in northern Minnesota. Pairing weaving with his low-relief sculptures for the first time, Spangler collaborates with artist Bruce Engebretson and a long lineage of tapestry knowledge to tell these stories as well. Spangler says, "The weavings are ecclesiastical portals much like stained-glass windows."
Originating from a bumper sticker on the back of a truck in northern Minnesota, the name Ramble Tamble evokes a feeling of meandering through a familiar environment: lived-in and falling apart. It prefaces the exhibition with notes of swamp rock and country blues with its reference to the song by 70s band Creedence Clearwater Revival. Working at a saw mill in his early years as an artist, Spangler says he was "entrenched with the characters of the mill and a serious rural education in wood logging and lumbering, but also in narrative and stories and community." Spangler moved to New York City in 1999 where the rural ethos in his bas relief carvings was born. Best known for his largescale scenes of rural life filled with action and conflict, this new body of work is a quiet departure from his previous imagery; he remarks, "This show is about going back to the landscape." The carvings in Ramble Tamble tell just one story at a time, acting chiefly as portraits of place.
Originating from a bumper sticker on the back of a truck in northern Minnesota, the name Ramble Tamble evokes a feeling of meandering through a familiar environment: lived-in and falling apart. It prefaces the exhibition with notes of swamp rock and country blues with its reference to the song by 70s band Creedence Clearwater Revival. Working at a saw mill in his early years as an artist, Spangler says he was "entrenched with the characters of the mill and a serious rural education in wood logging and lumbering, but also in narrative and stories and community." Spangler moved to New York City in 1999 where the rural ethos in his bas relief carvings was born. Best known for his largescale scenes of rural life filled with action and conflict, this new body of work is a quiet departure from his previous imagery; he remarks, "This show is about going back to the landscape." The carvings in Ramble Tamble tell just one story at a time, acting chiefly as portraits of place.
All installation photos by Jonas Muller-Ahlheim
Solid Gold Jet Fighter, 2024
pine with burnt surface
91 x 59 1/2 x 12 3/4 in | 231.1 x 151.1 x 32.4 cm
pine with burnt surface
91 x 59 1/2 x 12 3/4 in | 231.1 x 151.1 x 32.4 cm
Folding Tenderness, 2024
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
51 x 69 in | 129.5 x 175.3 cm
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
51 x 69 in | 129.5 x 175.3 cm
Daily Driver, 2024
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
18 x 19 1/2 x 3 in | 45.7 x 49.5 x 7.6 cm
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
18 x 19 1/2 x 3 in | 45.7 x 49.5 x 7.6 cm
House Plant, 2024
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
23 x 11 x 2 in | 58.4 x 27.9 x 5.1 cm
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
23 x 11 x 2 in | 58.4 x 27.9 x 5.1 cm
Deity, 2024
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
33 1/2 x 18 in | 85.1 x 45.7 cm
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
33 1/2 x 18 in | 85.1 x 45.7 cm
Hell Awaits, 2024
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
62 1/2 x 79 in | 158.8 x 200.7 cm
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
62 1/2 x 79 in | 158.8 x 200.7 cm
Down the Road I Go, 2024
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
21 1/2 x 16 3/4 x 3 1/2 in | 54.6 x 42.5 x 8.9 cm
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
21 1/2 x 16 3/4 x 3 1/2 in | 54.6 x 42.5 x 8.9 cm
Pillars, 2024
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
25 x 71 1/2 in | 63.5 x 181.6 cm
in collaboration with Bruce Engebretsen, hand woven dyed wool
25 x 71 1/2 in | 63.5 x 181.6 cm
Natural Disaster, 2024
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
24 1/2 x 36 1/2 x 2 1/2 in | 62.2 x 92.7 x 6.3 cm
carved basswood, black gesso and graphite
24 1/2 x 36 1/2 x 2 1/2 in | 62.2 x 92.7 x 6.3 cm
