Purple Diary
[07/11/2011]
Spencer Sweeney’s Nudes at the Green Gallery, Milwaukee
For Spencer Sweeney’s latest solo show at The Green Gallery, the
artist pares down his color palette and brings the focus to line and
texture. The muted acrylic on canvas works combine brushstrokes with
hand-scratched passages which add emotion to his content and break up
otherwise simple forms into dynamic characters. Consciously
referencing the style of painting masters Matisse and Picasso, Sweeney
injects his own humor into the canvases with figures ranging from a
reclining man holding a pizza to a soccer fan. This work stands as a
solid and thoughtful progression from the artist’s solo show last year
at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise where he exhibited one of the strongest paintings shows, subverting and working outside
the conventions of portraiture. Pizza God (2011), black gesso and white gesso on linen by Spencer Sweeney and text Juliana Balestin
Nudes by Spencer Sweeney is on view through August at The Green Gallery, 1500 North Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
