Steve Spencer
Steve Spencer’s outsider-influenced painting combines vivid color with humor and subtle compositional underpinnings. Spencer uses the plastic nature of acrylic paints to create musical canvasses. His images strive to combine representation and abstraction. His work has a tactile element.
He is drawn to popular culture, architecture, urban life, jazz, baseball, food and the way people’s memories work. Humor is ever present. Many of his works seem to be very obvious at first glance but reward a viewer with deeper layers upon reflection.
Largely self-taught, Spencer’s work has been featured in numerous publications around the world. In 2016, he was honored with a grant by the Arkansas Arts Council. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was selected as a Regional Artist by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. In 2019 Spencer created the artwork for the Google Doodle honoring B.B. King.
I don't know where to start other than thank you. You put into words something that I feel in a powerful way. Your description and analysis floor me. I will be re-reading it frequently. I could go on. But instead I will go get the glove out of the back of my car and throw a ball into it for a while.