Appelbaum holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Master of Architecture from Cornell University, and a Master of Fine Art from the University of Chicago. Since 2001, he has worked on projects including those with Harper’s Bazaar, Serpentine Gallery, ASICS Tiger, Elle, Petzel Gallery, FGP Atelier, The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, InStyle, the Ann Hamilton Studio, the Jewish Federation, TRANSFER Gallery, Heidi Klum LLC, de Sarthe Gallery, Snoop Dog, L’Officiel, Hirmer Verlag, Kids of Immigrants, the Columbus Museum of Art, Vogue, the Singapore Art Museum, Critical Inquiry, Perry Ellis America, and Numéro.