“Castles,” a painting by Astoria tattoo artist Aaron Toledo from “Breadcrumbs,” his first solo exhibition, on display at Imogen Gallery through Feb. 3.

Alocal tattoo artist is shifting from illustrating the human body to painting humans on canvas.

The show “Breadcrumbs,” on display at Imogen Gallery through Feb. 3, is Aaron Toledo’s first solo exhibition. It’s a collection of figurative oil paintings that explore relationships between people and the spaces they occupy.

A hobby painter since he was young, Toledo focused on illustration as he took up the art of tattooing. The longtime Astorian has owned and operated Keepsake Tattoo, next door to Imogen on 11th Street, for about 13 years. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he revisited figurative painting with oils.

“Figurative painting is a way of exploring different ways of connecting to myself through observation of other people, and it’s an exploration into human nature, human condition, and the ways in which we all relate to our environment, to the world,” Toledo said.

“It was also always a challenge to paint human features, human bodies, human form, and I was always a little trepidatious about taking it on. And so at some point, I just felt, ‘Hey, OK, now is the time to take on this challenge.’”

As a tattoo artist, Toledo applies the form’s illustration techniques in painting.“I’ll do almost a fully rendered illustration and then completely paint over it,” he said. “And tattooing has helped me prepare for those illustrations.”

For three years, he contributed a handful of works to the annual portraiture group show at Imogen, “Facing You.”

“He is primarily self-taught, nonacademic, which is refreshing and gives him more freedom to explore without having had someone to explain to him how he should paint,” said Teri Sund, Imogen’s owner. “I started working with him because I could see the nuance and magic to his work. He’s got a very unique, original style. His palette is very unusual, very muted, he’s brought in some bright, almost day-glow colors.”

The collection has to be seen in person to understand its subtlety, Sund added.

“There’s so much life and intimacy to each piece he creates. He has a real, natural sense for the human form, which makes sense if you think about what he does for his day job as a tattoo artist; you know the human body is his canvas. So now he’s taking that and putting it onto a different substrate,” she said.

Sund has stepped into the role of a guide and mentor for Toledo. “I had no fine art world experience before starting the show,” he said. “Teri has been really great about holding my hand through dipping my toes into showing my work. She’s been really intentional and helpful. I really appreciate her.”

The paintings on display all are from within the past year, and depict members of an online figure drawing group Toledo is part of. Members of that group share photos of themselves to practice painting.

“It’s an open-source reference group of great people from all around the world,” Toledo said.

Rather than reveal the identities of individuals portrayed in the paintings, titles and captions of his works describe the emotion or the intention of expression he felt while creating them.

He plans to share the show with friends from the online group. “Obviously, they’re so far away, they’re not likely to be able to attend,” he said, “but everybody is really excited about it.”

As for the future, Toledo hopes to contribute to Imogen’s “Facing You” again this year. But mostly, he said, “I hope to spend my year playing outside and connecting with nature.”