4 May – 10 June, 2000
Exhibition
Opening reception May 4th
Spencer Brownstone Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of recent photographic works by New York based artist Jeffrey Sturges.
Having originally studied painting, Jeffrey Sturges’ photographs are constantly informed by, and referring to, abstract painting. The strong horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines, flat color fields and minimal composition of his images are reminiscent of works by Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and others. Yet, having been produced by the mechanical and repeatable process of photography, they possess the illusion of objectivity inherent to the medium together with the associated absence of mediation through human style or personality. The spaces chosen as subjects by Jeffrey Sturges reflect this lack of personal investment and human presence – completely void of people, they are common, generic spaces not relegated to backdrops or environments for human interaction or drama, but are subjects in themselves. Usually these spaces can only be defined in the negative. They are in a state of transition, used for transition or defined only by their use yet photographed empty, waiting and without use – the space under a bridge, a construction site, a hallway or an empty parking garage. They are ‘non-spaces’ and yet despite their anonymity, the quasi-documentary style serves as a persistent reminder of the specificity and grounding of each place in the world. Through an exploration of the dialogue between painting and photography; abstraction and figuration; the generic and the specific; and absence and presence, Jeffrey Sturges makes pictures which function both as documents of specific places and as abstract compositions.
Artist Bio
Jeffrey Sturges is currently exhibiting in a solo show in Florence, Italy. His exhibition at Spencer Brownstone Gallery will include new large-scale works made for the first time, specifically for this show.