Friday, October 23, 2009

Nancy Spero

I'm sorry to hear of the death of artist Nancy Spero last weekend, at the age of 83. Her work was influential to me, especially her use of open space and flatness of imagery. The following art is from Nancy Spero's The War Series: Bombs and Helicopters:


Search and Destroy, 1967
Gouache and ink on paper

Spero said of her art: "I can speak most directly (though often, by necessity, obliquely) through painting or printing, articulating by hand, by brush - rather than by word, by mouth. The transformations of thought become visual notes, the figures hieroglyphs and the language (when used) borrowed." (taken from Nancy Spero by Jon Bird, Jo Anna Isaak and Sylvere Lotringer. Phaidon press.)


2 comments:

  1. In its stark simplicity this is a very powerful image. Thank you for posting it. Iris

    ReplyDelete
  2. This series is my favorite of her work for exactly the things you mention.

    ReplyDelete