Sebastian Spreng

Delicate balance

Sebastian Spreng (* 1956 in Esperanza ) is an Argentine artist and music journalist of German descent.

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He spent his childhood in Esperanza and the Argentine pampas , then on the Atlantic coast in Mar del Plata and moved to Buenos Aires in 1973 . At the age of 17 he took part in a group exhibition: "Artists from Esperanza at the Fundacion Lowe".

The following year he had his first solo exhibition at the Martina Cespedes Gallery in the San Telmo (Buenos Aires) district of the Argentine capital. The exhibition was sold out on the opening evening and the gallery retained exclusive representation for its work for another seven years.

In 1978 he took over the work as a set designer for the Argentine theater production of Jean Cocteau's L'Aigle à deux têtes and also worked as a draftsman.

In 1980 he moved to Miami , Florida , where he still lives and works today and where he became a vital and respected member of the Florida's art scene. Since then he has had solo and group exhibitions in Boston , Seattle , Tokyo , Osaka , Düsseldorf , Essen , Munich , Caracas , Panama , Toronto , etc.

His work was represented in the "University of Miami Lowe Art Museum" in the "Paradise Lost" exhibition, in the Miami-Dade Public Library System and in the exhibition "Latin American Artists in Florida" in the Palazzo Medici , Seravezza , Tuscany , Italy in 2002.

He won prizes in the Hortt Competition at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale , Fort Lauderdale , Florida and the 1995 Personal Achievement Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association of the State of Florida. As already mentioned, Sebastian Spreng is an MD patient.

In 1994 he was hired by Metro-Dade Art in Public Places to arrange a permanent exhibition at the Miami-Dade County Government Center. The series "Nonet for the Long Journey" is an exhibition in honor of the "American with Disabilities Trailblazers" (the disabled American trailblazers).

In 1998 (and 2004) he took part in Christie's New York auction with his work, along with other Latin American artists, and his name was mentioned in the book "Leonard's Price Index Latin American Art Auction" by Susan Theran. 2 In 2009 his work " Daphne " was selected for the book "Speak for the trees", along with 70 other artists such as David Hockney , Christo , Yoko Ono etc.

Music is an important topic in his work. He named whole series of his work after pieces of music such as B.: Liederkreis Opus I and II, Der Ring des Nibelungen , chamber music (His works mostly have a strong relation to music and so whole series are based on musical structures with the title Impromptus, Liederkreis, Liederie etc.) Many of his related works adorn hence the title (pages) for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra Playbills , as well as the New World Symphony's 1995–96 seasonal program .

Spreng has been writing about classical music in magazines and newspapers since 1988. He started when he was a foreign correspondent for Clasica Magazine, Argentina. During his 20 years as a music journalist he interviewed, among others, artists from the field of music such as the composer Luciano Berio , conductors such as Donald Runnicles , Michael Tilson Thomas , Nicholas McGegan, theater director Harold Prince , singer Renata Scotto , Deborah Voigt , Anne Sofie von Otter , Barbara Hendricks , Thomas Hampson , violinist Gil Shaham , Pinchas Zukerman , cellist Sol Gabetta , pianist Evgeny Kissin , etc.

Voices of criticism

Lilia Fontana, music critic and director of Miami Dade College Kendall Campus Art Gallery, wrote in her catalog for the 2002 Coral Gables exhibition :

He's a minimalist at heart, but he combines the feeling of isolation (loneliness) in an Edward Hopper painting with the color field technique of a Mark Rothko . This mixture then results in an original Spreng composition. He built a bridge between psychological and physical elements. (In his own way he combines the psychological with the physical element.) In his last work he placed a lonely figure (shape) in the middle of a huge seascape. The lonely swimmer alone in the ocean gives a feeling of isolation while an autonomous swimmer knows no boundaries - perhaps a sentimental longing of the artist to free his own body in weightlessness. Although this figure looks comparatively small in its environment, it seems safe feel in their element to be able to swim away at any time without any hindrance. In his more recent works, the swimmer is transformed into an arbor that he places in a slightly agoraphobic landscape. Many of these landscapes are reminiscent of the pampas in Argentina, but their beauty is exclusively American with European roots. He is referring to the landscape paintings of the Romantic period. Each picture composition is bordered with a painted dividing line that creates its own frame within a frame. In this way, Spreng gives the viewer the illusion of looking through a window and discovering his bizarre fantasy world there. These are simple picture compositions in which trees take on biomorphic forms against a Rothkoesque background . With passages of text he creates a dense surface layer upon layer. His compositions convey a calm and a delicate balance of forms, which result in such a harmonious interplay. Spreng's own aesthetic style is unmistakable. He put the pampas in an American landscape context.

Dr. Carol Damian, director of the Florida International University Frost Museum wrote:

Sebastian Spreng's pictures seem like the epitome of simplicity, like visual abstractions of form and color; on closer inspection, however, it becomes absolutely clear that technically they are anything but simple. Sebastian Spreng's search for a design to remember time and place, his pictures became more and more colorful and luminous. At the limit of abstraction, his pictures radiate something mysterious in a haunting language. They allow the viewer moments of introspection and a glimpse into the past.

Art critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa wrote in 1991:

Among the many artists who live in South Florida, few have viewed their surroundings with as much interest and passion as Sebastian Spreng, an artist born in Buenos Aires in 1956. Sebastian Spreng came to Miami as a well-respected painter, but it was only in Florida that he found the central theme for his work: the human existence between the elements of earth and water ... Spreng articulates the contradictory in human beings, because, although humans is the only agent and carrier of consciousness, he is only a part of the whole creation. (Although man alone is a conscious agent, he is or: although man alone is conscious of his actions and his existence, so is ...) Nature comes to life through contemplation and can thus become an important element his search for the meaning of life. In Sebastian Spreng's pictures, the Florida chimera played an important role in his work and career .

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2018 - Dresden, Lowe Art Museum, University Miami, Florida
2015 - A Song of the Earth, Kelley Roy Gallery, Miami, Florida
2011 - Salad Bar, Kelley Roy Gallery, Miami, Florida
2009 - Handmade Horizons & Songs, Kelley Roy Gallery, Miami, Florida
2008 - Liederkreis / Op. II - Friesen Gallery, Seattle , Washington
2007 - Liederkreis - The Americas Collection, Coral Gables , Florida
2006 - Arden Gallery, Boston , Massachusetts
2005 - Ring Landscapes - Friesen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2004 - Chamber Music Opus 3 - Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho
2003 - The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, Florida
2002 - Seeking Light - Friesen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2001 - Witness - Anthony Ardavin Gallery, Atlanta , Georgia
2000 - Inner Island - Friesen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1999 - Reverberations - The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, Florida
1997 - Oasis - The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, Florida
1996 - Galeria Arteconsult, Panama City, Panama
1995 - Chamber Music - Anthony Ardavin Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
1994 - Centro de Arte Euroamericano, Caracas , Venezuela
1992 - Sinfonietta / Impromptus - The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, Florida
1991 - Metro-Dade Cultural Resource Center, Government Center, Miami, Florida
1990 - Park Gallery, Fort Lauderdale / Boca Raton , Florida
1989 - Silent Voyages - Helene Grubair Gallery, Miami, Florida
1989 - Galeria Atica, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1988 - Spanish Cultural Institute, Munich , Germany
1987 - Galeria Atica, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1986 - Veranos - Galeria Martina Cespedes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1981 - Casa de la Cultura, Esperanza, Santa Fe, Argentina
1980 - Interiores - Galeria Martina Cespedes, Buenos Aires, Argentina