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Artist Exhibitions:
Selected Exhibitions
1993 Longwood Gardens, West
Chester, PA
2004 Soho Photo 2004 National
Competition, Juried Exhibit,
Lyle
Rexer, Juror, Soho
Photo Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Borders Books and Music,
New York, NY
2004 Starving Artist Ball,
New York, NY
2005 Los Angeles Center For
Digital Art, Los Angeles,
CA...
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Artist Galleries:
The Bridgeman Art Library, New
York, Paris, London, Berlin
(nonexclusive licensing
Agent)...
Further Information
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Artist Reviews:
PRESS
RELEASE
New York, New York - At Art
Basel Miami Beach, New York
Arts Magazine will project a
video that includes artist
Stephen Spiller's photographs
and text rejecting the
November 11, 2005 message of
Conservative Christian
televangelist Pat Robertson,
founder of the Christian
Broadcasting Network and
Christian Coalition.
Robertson...
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Collections:
Private Collections
1994 Cheryl Carter-Pierce:
Baltimore, MD
1995-7 Ronald Fenstermacher:
West Chester, PA
1997/8 Bart Greenhut: Malibu,
CA
1998/9 Michael and Kathy
Gordon: Los Angeles, CA
2003 Peter and Phyllis Klein:
Fiesole, Italy
2003 Rhoda M. Urman: New York,
NY
2004 Richard and Jane Abrams:
Pacific...
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Statement for Stephen Spiller
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STATEMENT
In broad terms, I photograph and write to discover and understand what I think. More specifically, my interest is in making photographs that stimulate discussion about human behavior, especially what I like to call the complex and common denominator language of emotion rooted in our unconscious which is driving so much of what we think, say, and do. That language is uniquely available to photography, revealing itself through non-verbal cues, i.e. things we see like clothing, tattoos, idiosyncratic behavior, and more. Such visual cues carry meaning equally significant to verbal ones. A “Freudian slip”, for example, may be a telling remark, but no more so than messages predicated on how we dress, decorate our bodies, etc. In both situations understanding and/or interpretation is required.
Starting with the idea that individuals continuously send and invite verbal and non-verbal messages, I photograph people in public venues, imagining that I’m capturing those messages – encrypted as they may be, but capturing “something” nevertheless. While precise interpretations can be implausible, in fact they are unnecessary and I’ve adjusted my expectations. I accept that certain realities like sadness, sexual desire, anger, shame, etc. are typically hidden; that presentation and image rule while feelings and emotions are often repressed because gold stars go to the “mature”. What I’m looking for is always in plain sight - performance broadcasting meaning. I know that what’s visible is metaphor and meaning is subjective, so I’ve adopted a “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality, viewing my ideas as they evolve during my extended editing process simply as an embarkation point.
Pressing the shutter for me, often without using the viewfinder, depends upon whether I “connect”, on some level, with the subject. I know that I’m drawn to what‘s sexy or obnoxious, gorgeous or ugly, or just plain weird; that I connect viscerally with people I’d hate to be, or love to be; those I envy or those who infuriate me; the ones who make me sad or jealous. Given all that, whether I “feel” something is the litmus test on whether to shoot or not. Spontaneous shooting, I believe, yields an honesty and truth, more successfully presented than when images are staged.
I work without technical concerns, e.g. about color, tone, image dimensions, etc. or even preconceived ideas about what the final image will, or should, look like. Occasionally I write text accompanying the messages photographed. My words can be a gambit supplying a voice as I imagine it laced with my private, even unconsciously driven, emotion.
Finally, because of my “connection” with the subject and my firm belief in the universality of human emotions, I hope my images offer viewers an opportunity to gain insight into, and information about, people and culture at large. I’m attracted to the idea of encouraging viewers to recognize aspects of themselves in others, acknowledge feelings as a common-denominator language and, most importantly, value their unconscious. Understanding who we are as individuals in large measure determines how we behave collectively as a society. My work is documentary as well as conceptual and offers both social and political commentary.
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