Jered Sprecher

"Thinspace" -- Oil Painting by Jered Sprecher

2024

Michael Tole says of his work… This work draws a connection between the didactic moralizing tendencies of Neo Classicism (represented in the style of the painting) and Modernism (represented in the architectural setting). Though modern art eschews the naturalistic imagery used by Neo Classicists, both movements pursued a self-important, austere, self-consciously masculine aesthetic that they saw as synonymous with virtue. Set in the MoMA courtyard, a passel of men lounge about, regarding a golden statue which looks terribly out of place in this modernist vitrine. The uncomfortable architectural setting, prisonlike and cold, provides a foil for the odalisque-like young men sprawled on hard stone benches and paying homage to the central idol. In my current work, The Revisionist Histories, I am writing letters to art history, literature, and mythology in an attempt to reflect the social changes that have reshaped our society over the past century.  As part of this agenda, I explore the evolution of gender norms, power dynamics, and representation within Western visual culture and what this implies for the negotiation between pleasure, justice, and our culturally specific discourse on beauty.    The seed for The Revisionist Histories was sewn when I caught a glimpse of my preteen daughters watching music videos on their iPad as I chopped veggies for dinner.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught glimpses of music videos featuring Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Doja Cat gyrating across the tiny screen.  A better parent might have snatched the iPad away, but I was overcome with hallucinatory visions of this pop diva...

Michael Tole says of his work… The Most Dangerous Game: Nymphs and Satyrs Edition, is a conflation of the short story by Richard Connell and the mythological trope of nymphs and satyrs. In, The Most Dangerous Game, two men hunt each other for sport on a tropical island, creating the most epic, most toxically masculine sport hunt possible. In the classical nymph and satyr trope, lusty satyrs chase nubile nymphs through the woods in a game that varies from playful to predatory depending on the artist. In this revision, it is the nymphs that do the chasing, and they have made common cause with the hunters' quarry to fully turn the tables on the hunter/satyrs. Formally speaking, the painting is an experiment in creating emphasis using color intensity rather than value. The central focal point is distinguished from its surroundings by setting off hot, high intensity colors from a halo of cool pastels. In my current work, The Revisionist Histories, I am writing letters to art history, literature, and mythology in an attempt to reflect the social changes that have reshaped our society over the past century.  As part of this agenda, I explore the evolution of gender norms, power dynamics, and representation within Western visual culture and what this implies for the negotiation between pleasure, justice, and our culturally specific discourse on beauty.    The seed for The Revisionist Histories was sewn when I caught a glimpse of my preteen daughters watching music videos on their iPad as I chopped veggies for dinner.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught glimpses of music videos featuring Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Doja Cat gyrating across the tiny screen.  A better parent might have snatched the iPad away, but I was overcome with hallucinatory visions of this pop diva...

As an artist I make paintings that exist in the sliver of space between abstraction and representation. My work compresses time into the surface of painting, that old technology. Inc...

As an artist I make paintings that exist in the sliver of space between abstraction and representation. My work compresses time into the surface of painting, that old technology. Inc...

Daniel Tavares considers his oil paintings part drawing and part painting. His artwork is a visual synthesis of his life experiences reflecting the inf...

The painting is comprised of two horizontal canvases bolted together. This work is part of earlier works done by the artist in the 1990's when he was...

Zhang Lili oil paint on canvas 30 x 40cm dated 2019 Zhang lili was born in Hunan, China. She received her MA from Central Academy of Fine Arts in China in 1996.

Zhang Lili oil paint on canvas 30 x 40cm dated 2019 Zhang lili was born in Hunan, China. She received her MA from Central Academy of Fine Arts in China in 1996.