LOUISVILLE, KY.- The Speed Art Museum’s satellite space, Local Speed, opens its third exhibition entitled We'll Wear a Jolly Crown, showcasing the works of five artists selected by guest curator, Aaron Skolnick.

We’ll Wear a Jolly Crown is the first exhibition of its type at Local Speed. Exploring the idea of existence, what it means to be, and death, guest curator Aaron Skolnick selected works from artists Louis Zoellar Bickett, Stephen Irwin, Trenton Doyle Hancock, John Knuth and Aurora Parrish whose work explores these concepts through a variety of media.

Aaron Skolnick graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BFA, and has had three solo exhibitions with the Land of Tomorrow Gallery (Lexington and St. Louis), along with work featured in many regional group exhibitions. Aaron recently curated two exhibitions for RARE Gallery New York, and has work represented in various private collections. "We'll Wear a Jolly Crown has been an amazing experience, allowing me to work with both artists I have previously worked with and artists that I have found inspirational in my own work. This exhibition is an intimate view at how some cope with life, our own existence, and death," says Aaron.

This exhibition opens to the public tonight during the First Friday Trolley Hop and run until– March 22, 2014.

Louis Zoellar Bickett is a photographer and conceptual artist living and working in Lexington, Kentucky. Bickett has been featured in exhibitions and various collections throughout the region for decades. Louis Zoellar Bickett’s work consists of several ongoing projects chronicling the city of Lexington and beyond. This exhibition features work from Bickett’s The Obituary Project and Family Grave Dirt, a work in the Speed’s permanent collection.

Stephen Irwin was a luminary figure in Louisville’s contemporary art landscape. In the years leading to his untimely passing, Irwin had earned wider attention with group and solo exhibits in galleries in New York, New Orleans, Berlin, London, and Munich. We’ll Wear a Jolly Crown includes four works from Irwin’s lauded and widely recognized series of erased vintage pornography.

Trenton Doyle Hancock earned his BFA from Texas A&M University, Commerce, and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia. He was featured in the 2000 and 2002 Whitney Biennial exhibitions, one of the youngest artists in history to participate in this prestigious survey. His work has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; and Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. The recipient of numerous awards, Hancock lives and works in Houston, where he was a 2002 Core Artist in Residence at the Glassell School of Art of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

John Knuth lives and works in Los Angeles. Since receiving his MFA from the University of Southern California, Knuth has been featured in several group and solo exhibitions, including an exhibition of his work at Land of Tomorrow in Louisville. Knuth’s work questions the boundary between creator and object. His paintings and installations are often the result of uncontrolled interactions.

Aurora Parrish is an installation and performance artist living and working in Lexington, Kentucky. Parrish, a recent graduate of the University of Kentucky, works with sculpture, installation, and performance to create an overwhelming, nostalgic experience for her audiences. Her work has been on display in the Expanded Music Project at Land of Tomorrow in 2011, The Lexington Art League, and the Carrie Ellis Juried Show at Barnhart Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky. Included in the exhibition are objects from a new series of work called Weird Creatures on an Island.