Spencer Finch (Artist) 4/18

Work

Passing Cloud (394 L Street NW, Washington, DC, July 20, 2010)2010
Light Fixtures, filters, monofilament, and clothespins. This work precisely re-creates the light of a passing cloud at the street corner in Washington D.C. where Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln passed each other regularly during the summer of 1863. Installation at Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC





Thank You, Fog
2009
60 Photographs, 4 3/4” x 4 3/4” (each), Archival Inkjet Photographs. This photographic series was shot from a static camera at one minute intervals as a fog moved over the densely wooded landscape in Sonoma County.




Composition in Red and Green
2000
Dimensions variable, Apples, carpet, motor, wood, and Plexiglas. An homage to Isaac Newton, this piece drops red apples every five minutes from a motorized chute hanging from the ceiling. Among other things, this installation is an exploration of two subjects to which Newton devoted considerable study; gravity and optics.




The River That Flows Both Ways
2009
This project transforms an existing series of windows with 700 individual panes of glass representing the water conditions on the Hudson River over a period of 700 minutes in a single day.



2 hours, 2 minutes, 2 seconds (Wind at Walden Pond, March 12, 2007)
2007
93" tall and 14' in diameter, 44 fans, wood, computerized dimmer board. This piece re-creates the changing breeze experienced on Walden Pond's shore. The duration of the wind cycle is a reference to Thoreau's stay at the pond, which lasted two years, two months, and two days.




Bio

Spencer Finch is an American artist working in a variety of media, including photography, fluorescent light, video, glass and electronics. His work uses scientific methodologies to observe the world around him, and represent these observations by giving viewers an equivalent experience to the one he has when taking the observations. For example, in Moonlight (Luna County, New Mexico, July 13, 2003), Finch recreated the lighting he observed using meters of a night in Luna County at a certain time of the evening.


Quotations

"Whether he is relying on his own powers of observation or using a colorimeter, a device that reads the average color and temperature of light, the artist employs a scientific method to achieve poetic ends. . . . Contrary to what one might expect, Finch's efforts toward accuracy- the precise measurements he takes under different conditions and at different times of day- resist, in the end, a definitive result or single empirical truth about his subject. Instead, his dogged method reinforces the fleeting, temporal nature of the observed world, illustrating his own version of a theory of relativity. In Finch's universe if you wait a few hours, the sun may very well change a leaden hue into gold."

Cross, Susan. Spencer Finch-What Time is it on the Sun? Mass MoCA.

" He traveled to Rouen to visit the cathedral painted by Claude Monet but found the building closed for renovation. Undeterred, Finch decided to make a series of paintings depicting the colors of various objects in his hotel room. By the time he had completed the arduous task of matching 55 colors, the changing light had altered every one. Thus the work grew into a triptych, a wry blend of Conceptual and Impressionist methodologies, representing the same set of colors in the morning, afternoon, and evening."

LaBelle, Charles. Frieze. 2003

Relates

The work of Spencer Finch relates to mine in that the idea of temporal and observed changes guides the making and the viewing of the work. Finch's work is grounded more in scientific method, as mine is loosely based on scientific research, this semester. Both work uses observed measurements or subjects to create a viewing experience which is meant to replicate the observation experience, with the same lack of permanence the artists encountered while creating the experience. Finch's process is more relatable to the work I made in the fall, however, the experience created for the viewer is more tied to the work I am making now.


Interview

(With Susan Cross)
http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6221&Itemid=174




Gallery

Lisson Gallery


Website

http://www.spencerfinch.com/index.php