Spencer James

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=75 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" StudioSoto Home Page"><U><B><IMG SRC="ceb2c340.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="52" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="home.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Info"><U>Info</U></A>   |   <A HREF="shows.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shows"><U>Shows</U></A>   |   <A HREF="home18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Artists"><U>Artists</U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7008c80808000.png" HEIGHT="9" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Spencer James</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=405 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Spencer James</B></div> <div> <B>New Work & Slop Pop</B></div> <bR> <div> December 8, 2005 - January 6, 2006</div> <div>  </div> <div> Opening Reception:</div> <div> Thursday December 8 @ 7pm</div> <bR> <div> Closing Reception/ Rock Show:</div> <div> Friday, January 6, 2006 @ 9pm</div> <bR> <div> Studio Soto is pleased to present <B>Spencer James: New Work & Slop Pop</B>. This exhibition marks James' first solo show with Studio Soto. </div> <div>  </div> <div> The exhibition will feature paintings by James as well as merchandise from his new Slop Pop label. James' recent paintings, featuring Buddhas, ballplayers, and various other mass-culture icons, combine the spontaneous and the quirky in unexpected ways. Employing a stream-of-conciousness approach, James appropriates the rawness and honesty of Folk Art or Naive Art, blending it with a certain elegance of form and design. The result falls somewhere in between Basquiat and Matisse.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Inspired by the lifestyle, mentality, and fashion of skateboarders, bike messengers, rock bands, and artists, James started his own line of merchandise for his company, <A HREF="http://sloppop.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://sloppop.com"><U>Slop Pop</U></A>. For <B>New Work & Slop Pop, </B>Studio Soto will showcase James' Slop Pop merchandise, recognizing it as a significant aspect of his art-making philosophy and practice. Unique, hand-printed T-shirts, hats, and pants featuring the Slop Pop logo and other designs will be on display and for sale. James, who sings and plays guitar in the band <I>Flats Fixed,</I> will also perform, along with guest stars, at a closing reception/ rock show on January 6.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> ARTIST BIO:</div> <div> <B>Spencer James </B>was born in Zagreb, Croatia to an American Mother (of Italian/Croatian descent) and a Mexican father and has lived in     Croatia, Mexico, Pittsburgh, coastal Maine and finally, Boston. The influence of cultural diversity, pop imagery and underground music, along with working at his family's American Folk Art gallery during high school, provided most of the basic undercurrents for his art inspirations.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Believing art is everywhere and in everyone, he sees all mediums as an option. Spontaneity and a maverick, “stream-of-consciousness” approach, is key to his process- often using found weathered wood as “canvas” and drawing with oilstick over patchworked under-painting. Being red-green “color-blind” adds an element of risk to his “punk rock” methods, leaving an unexpected beauty in the final piece, the imagery of which is only “incidentally channeled” during the process.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Holding a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Spencer has most recently shown at the Rose Art Museum (as part of the internationally-touring exhibition <I>Bad Touch</I>), the Gallery at Green Street and the Puddingstone Gallery. He is also a singer and guitarist in the rock band <I>Flats Fixed</I>, and founder of Slop Pop Records and Merchandise.</div> <bR> <div> <B>           </B></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>