About
I am a New York City-based fine art photographer. Having originally trained and worked as an actress, I segued to a role behind the camera when I left the theatre and film world to concentrate on photography. This background and a life-long affinity for reading laid the groundwork for my emphasis on visual storytelling.
In my still life photography, organic life often takes center stage, where fruits, vegetables or plants “pose” for formalized portraits as I explore the drama and sensuosity of the natural world. My subjects are often anthropomorphic – “stands-ins” for humanity. Whether ripe, luscious and vibrant, or molding, rotten and decaying – all tell a story about the many forms of beauty and life’s transitory inevitability. My images of forests, trees, branches, and limbs bring the natural world into closer focus, embracing the cycle of growth and decay. Inorganic subjects also present opportunities to examine utility and obsolescence, heightening our awareness of everyday objects.
I have a deep obsession with uncovering what lies within, be it a piece of produce like an orange or a strawberry, or a concept like an idea or an argument. I am constantly pondering, “What’s in there?” and “How can I make sense of it?” This curiosity drives me to understand the inner workings of things and people, to look deeper and more fully – in order to discover subtle nuances and relationships between dichotomies.
With any art form that I’ve pursued, my aim has been to mix things up, put them back together, see them in an entirely new light. To challenge, to provoke, to create true catharsis through an AHA moment – by exploring the high and low, the transcendent beauty in the world, as well as the mundane, the “usual”, and common-day phenomena.
Photo by Terry Dudley
Cheryl Aden
(917) 331-9678
Email: cheryladen@me.com
EDUCATION
International Center of Photography
Student and Teaching Assistant
BA, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Performing Arts
EXHIBITIONS
Solo
Rio III Gallery, Solo Exhibit & Artist Talk, New York, New York
Apples & Oranges … a Photographic Essay, Fall 2024
Group
New York Artists Circle, Juried Exhibition at Westbeth Gallery,
Breathe, February 2026
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Winter 2025 Exhibition
Silken Twine, December 19, 2025 – June 19, 2026
New York Artists Circle, Juried Exhibition at Westbeth Gallery, Co-Curator & Artist
Seeing Music Live, Fall 2025
New York Artists Circle, Juried Exhibition at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109
Serene and Exuberant Color, June 2025
Art Lives Here – The Brownstone Gallery, New York, New York
Art Lives Here: Gifted, Winter 2024
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Summer 2025 Exhibition
An Open Door, June 20 – December 20, 2025
First Street Gallery, New York, New York
2024 National Juried Exhibition, curated by April Gornik, Fall 2024
Art Lives Here, An Art Fair at Westbeth Gallery, New York, New York
Art Lives Here: Collecting, Fall 2024
Gallerium.Art, Juried Online Exhibit
Plantarium 2024, Fall 2024
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Winter 2024 Exhibition
Homing, December 6, 2024 – June 5, 2025
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Summer 2024 Exhibition
Water and Dust, July 12, 2024 – January 10, 2025
Photo Artfolio, International Juried Exhibit
Colorscapes, April 2024
El Barrio’s Art Space PS109, New York, New York
Women Celebrate Women, March 2024
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Winter 2023 Exhibition
Into Wildness, December 1, 2023 – May 30, 2024
Chateau Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
The Art of Food, Director’s Choice Award, December 2023
New York Artists Circle, Juried Virtual Exhibition
De.code, Fall 2023
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Summer 2023 Exhibition
Sense Making, June 2 – December 1, 2023
Westbeth Gallery, Spliced Connector, Fluid Media and Pell Lucy Collectives
Luminous Elsewheres, April 2023
El Barrio’s Art Space PS109, New York, New York
Women Celebrate Women, March 2023
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Winter 2022 Exhibition
Birr, December 2, 2022 – June 1, 2023
New York Artists Circle, Juried Virtual Exhibition, Co-Curator & Artist
Seeing Music, Winter 2022
Art Lives Here, JVS Project Space, Photography Exhibit
Look This Way, October – November 2022
Gallerium.Art, Juried Online Exhibit
Cancer: Never Give Up 2022, October 2022
Chateau Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
Beauty in Decay, October 2022
Spliced Connector Group, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Jamaica, New York
Inter-generational, Invitational Exhibit, August – September 2022
Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Juried Virtual Exhibition
Food Glorious Food, Summer 2022
Spliced Connector: SHIM Art Network, Summer 2022 Exhibition
Clean Energy, June 3 – December 1, 2022
New York Artists Circle, Juried Virtual Exhibition
I Dreamed a Garden, Spring 2022
Art Lives Here, Living With Art Salon
A Conversation Between Women, Spring 2022
Spliced Connector: Shim Art Network, Winter 2022 Exhibition
Everything Will Be Recognized, January 21 – May 19, 2022
New York Artists Circle, Juried Virtual Exhibition
Backordered, Winter 2021 – 2022
El Barrio’s Art Space PS109, New York, New York
Women Celebrate Women, August 2021
New York Artists Circle, Juried Virtual Exhibition
Lost and Found: A Personal Vision, Summer 2021
El Barrio’s Art Space PS109, New York, New York
Women Celebrate Women, August – September 2020
JVS Art Project Space
Holiday Art Exhibition, Winter 2020
The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective (C4), New York, New York
Featured Artist, 2018 – 2019
PUBLICATIONS
Art Lives Here, Volume 1
2024
Apples & Oranges … A Photographic Essay
2020, 2021
MEMBER
New York Artists Circle
Spliced Connector, Shim Art Network
Art Lives Here NYC