Spencer Selby, Artist statement
The history of art is the history of art criticism and interpretation. With abstract art this is all the more true and problematic. The public has been taught to require words to accompany art that has no subject or verbal content. Usually these words reduce aesthetic experience to predetermined categories of one sort or another, making it impossible for art to be new or open viewers’ eyes.
My art attempts to short circuit this process by utilizing bits of language and verbal fragments as a part of its abstract content. The viewer’s need for words is answered but in a way that keeps the work resonant with possibilities, allowing it to be considered with eyes more open than closed.
