Steve Spencer

Lives and works in Little Rock, AR

Artist statement

I am using the plastic properties of cut and bent foamcore and acrylic paint to make visual music. I have synesthesia: I hear colors and see rhythms and harmonies. My work aims to convey the energies and emotions of people, places, memories, situations and things. How we process the firehose of sensory information we take in from the world. When I started painting at age forty five I set out strict rules based on folk artists practices. I painting on cardboard, only mixing two colors and only using three brushes. These restrictions helped me develop a personal style. As I’ve matured, my ideas have increasingly mutated, evolved and taken unexpected turns. I’ve embraced the idea that every step in the creative process is another chance to improvise. To see possibilities that weren’t obvious before. My process is more of a jazz mindset than a chamber music sensibility. In service of communicating my feelings I am open to a wide range of visual strategems and techniques. I’ll take an idea from anywhere - Red Grooms, Elizabeth Murray, Ornette Coleman, Harold Finster, Matisse, Warhol, Earth Wind and Fire, David Bates, Phillip Glass, Roy Lichtenstein, Charles Mingus. I am continuously working to surprise myself.

Artwork