Keith Spoeneman: Assemblages - Reassembled, Repurposed

Bruno David Gallery is pleased to announce Assemblages - Reassembled, Repurposed, an exhibition of new work by Keith Spoeneman. This is Spoeneman’ s first solo exhibition at Bruno David Gallery.

Keith Spoeneman states “I remember going at a young age to the Art Institute in Chicago and being overwhelmed by a particular Paul Klee print. The colors, the child-like invention was entirely new to me and completely captivating. Afterwards, intrigued, I continued going to Museums, looking at art books, reading about the history of art, particularly about Modernism, the new ways of making art, and then, when I was sixteen or so, I met a local artist, a friend of my older brother, Dewey Dempsey, who had studied art at Brown University and apprenticed to Henry Moore, and through him was introduced to the exciting and psychologically more expressive and contemporary, Assemblage and Collage. Not long after that, I felt “permitted and enabled” to make art the same way, or rather, my own way, taking various objects I found that appealed and had some significance for me, and putting them together. Meanwhile, my two college degrees did not lead to a professional career; but I discovered that making art was the only activity I really enjoyed. So, I worked at various jobs, bookstores, hardware stores, sales and other entry-level jobs, and some free-lance writing and editing, but it was art-making that was my primary interest. I kept aware of the current trends, to some extent, and responded to other artists along the way that made a special impression, but kept mainly to my own course, adding colors, new-found materials, and other methods that naturally evolved as they developed.

At first, I wanted simply to redirect and reanimate objects that came my way. But gradually, I decided that I wanted to make them more of my own, give them more of my own stamp. And I realized that the most effective way to do this is with color, the entire register of color combinations. The color used in this way, assemblage-wise and detached from any referents, was like sound, I decided, like tones, and the compositions like musical pieces. And of course, such compositions could go in any number of directions. There could be abstract patterned color studies. There could be assemblages of colors that would establish them as in a certain “key,” and with a certain emotional valence.  I did a series on the flags or emblems of imaginary countries, colored accordingly. There is another series on “illuminated manuscript letters," but with the color studies within the frames as the “illuminations” within the imaginary letterforms. The frames had become themselves almost independent assemblages. All I had to do, is to find the right frame done in this way, for the right color composition within. Assemblage within assemblage, keyed accordingly. And there could also be assemblages of colors and shapes and objects presented as surreal compositions, developed on any selected theme; or color studies based on the colors of favorite paintings by favorite artists. There’s really no end to the possibilities.”