There is no final destination, only a continual process of becoming.
-- Verla Collins
Spencer Simons was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He graduated
from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts,
majoring in painting, with minors in photography, printmaking, and
ceramics.
Many cross-country trips and travels along the coasts have
inspired some of his works, while others are based on places he
experienced while backpacking in the nation's parks. A few paintings,
such as
The Red Bandanna
are from his imagination.
Mr. Simons' background in photography has influenced his realist
painting style, while also emphasizing the elements of time and
framing. The blank piece of paper or primed canvas is like an empty
viewfinder of a camera, the frame around the image. A successful
photo composition should not need cropping, so the photographer
becomes keenly aware of the edges while framing the shot. This
rudiment naturally carries over into his paintings. He sometimes
place an object at the edge of a painting to create tension or
increase its importance.
He also likes to have fun with the composition by playing with the
camera angle. "Tilt" the camera, and the angle determines where and
how the observer is located in the image. The viewer of the artwork
then becomes a participant in the painting, an actor in the action.
Mr. Simons' pencil drawing
Got'cha
is an extreme example of camera tilt with the viewer falling
off a horse.
Most of Mr. Simons' current paintings have one or two reoccurring elements. He is intrigued by how the forces of nature -- water, wind, and, more importantly, time -- alter man made objects. These forces, when applied, give an inanimate thing a life all of its own.
One such element is rust. At birth, metal is a pristine media to be hammered, forged, or altered to suit a person's needs. And like the human hand that shapes it, metal is destined to age, rust, and return to the earth.
The other element is wood: farmhouses, buildings, and other structures, once lived in or utilized by humans, now abandoned. He explores the relationship between wood in its natural state -- a living thing -- and wood that has been cut, planed, and nailed together to serve a purpose. After the inhabitants have left, some buildings become nothing more than an empty shell, a body of wood, decaying. But sometimes, when Mr. Simons finds a special place, he can hear a lingering echo, feel a presence from the departed. He senses the building's purpose; he feels its "soul". It calls out, "Remember me." Be it an old house or rusting truck, he chooses the subject for a painting if he hears this plea.
New to Montana, Mr. Simons rejoices in his new backyard, filled with a fresh, abundant collection of old buildings and other treasures yet to be discovered. Subjects for future paintings that should keep him busy for a long time.