As my last act during this month’s delivery of the paper I stopped in Columbia, SC, on my way back home from Charlotte, NC, to see if the Gene Speer exhibit, Line • Circle • Square, was still on view. I was in luck, but it was the last day of the exhibit (July 3, 2008).
Highway 101 Series, oil pastel
We didn’t receive notice of this exhibit until after our deadlines for the June or July issue, so this exhibit wasn’t included in the printed version of the paper or on our website, but I was interested in seeing the exhibit since seeing the work Speer had in the SC State Museum’s juried exhibit. And, I wasn’t disappointed – there, as a centerpiece of the exhibit at the McMaster Gallery exhibition, was another one of Speer’s mixed media works in his Highway 101 Series. I am really attracted to this – at least new to me – work by Speer’s. He had seven works in all under the Highway 101 Series title, but the other six were several monotypes, a lithograph and several oil pastels. I liked the oil pastel works too. Well, I liked the entire exhibit, but I’m really taken by the mixed media works and the oil pastels in this series. Some of the works are just titled Highway 101 Series and others were given subtitles like Hwy. 78 East or I-26 South.
I really didn’t see any highways in these images, but I didn’t have to in order to enjoy the works. Speer is an abstract expressionist so the works are his reaction to what he sees and feels. My reaction is on a whole different level to color, texture and shapes. Besides, if the highways I travel each month start looking to me like Speer’s works – my delivery days are over.
I’d love to see an exhibition of just the mixed media works in this Highway 101 Series.
The exhibit as a whole is a view at a wide range of techniques and media done in variations of Speer’s basic concept of vertical runs for the Highway 101 Series, grid patterns, and circular works. I read in a review by Mary Gilkerson for Free Times in Columbia that all of the works were done over the last two years. I would have thought that it might have been a longer span of time. It would seem that Speer’s has been a busy artist with a lot of ideas on his mind.
The least structured work in the exhibit was a black ink on white paper monotype entitled Bare to the Bone #4. There were no grids, no rows of symbols or any sign of organization in this piece. I guess it was a sign of Speer really letting go.
There was a small mixed media piece tucked away in a little corner of the gallery titled Short Circuit. I would have liked to take this piece home with me. I’m talking about buying it of course – if I had some money. (As many opportunities that I have had over the years to walk out of a not-so-well attended gallery with a work of art – it has never crossed my mind to do so – other than worry about whether other less scrupulous individuals do.) This work was maybe 5″ x 5″ square with small pieces of copper placed in a grid pattern against a darker gray/black background. This was sort of a 3-D version of Speer’s usual grid prints. They may have been pieces of a copper plate used to make some other print. The title might refer to a print that didn’t work out so well – who knows, but it was interesting to speculate as the piece was so different from the rest of the works – and after all it was sent to a corner of the room all by itself.
Adding to the total range of media used in this exhibit there were two other small works, one was Untitled, which was a grid pattern in acrylics, and one titled Yellow Can, which was a grid in watercolors.
A work entitled Month of June was comprised of six monotypes of black ink on white paper, with two rows of three images. These were circular shapes which looked like moonscapes. They looked more deliberate than most of the other works, so they stood out a bit in my opinion.
There were also four large circle-shaped monotype works – with lots of bright colors and lots of different shapes in the circles. They were more like the last work I can remember seeing of Speer’s in an exhibit – some time ago.
Another work in the – don’t you want to come home with me category was – This Way, an oil pastel. I can’t remember how it fit into the exhibit – line, circle, square – grid or what. I just remember writing down in my notes – I like this one too.
Highway 101 Series, mixed media
But, my all time favorite was the largest piece in the show, the Highway 101 Series mixed media work which was like the one found in the SC State Museum show – on exhibit through Sept. 7, 2008. I’m not really good at judging the size of some works, but this was maybe a 7′ long by 5′ tall work with eight rows running vertically down the piece. It’s white with colors breaking through from behind the white layers. There are some splashes of color on the outside of the white, but most of the color in the work comes from layers behind the white – making this work more muted than Speer’s other works. There could be a lot of layers of colors – it’s hard to tell, but the effect is wonderful – it had my abstract taste buds popping.
I’d love to say go see this show, but it’s over. All I can say is that if any of this sounds good to you – keep an eye and ear out for the name Gene Speer. Maybe another show is in the works somewhere in the Carolinas.
I know Speer is represented by Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC. And, I was disappointed that he doesn’t seem to have a website. I was hoping to link to some images of his works, but I didn’t find any sign of a site in a Google search. And I didn’t take my camera with me, so I’m sorry we don’t have any images at this time, but I’ll still be looking for some – so check back from time to time.
P.S. Since writing this we received two images from Gene Speer of works in the show and have received a web link to some other photos of his work. You can see the images @ http://web.mac.com/mcmastergallery/McMaster_Gallery/Gene_Speer.html
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