Scott Andrew Spencer (American painter, born 1970)

Living in Los Angeles, California, Spencer loves to listen to music and paint daily. He takes inspiration from his immediate surroundings, real or imagined, and paints into the wee hours of the night. Scott began painting full time after a brush with cancer in 1999. He is represented by renowned gallerist and art dealer Biljana Grcic-Beran through Galeria Jan in La Jolla, California, and was admitted into the Pasadena Society of Artists in 2004.

Artist Statements: Life is a game. Play along.

In the Grand Scheme of it all, we may very well be experiencing different realities. These are definitely wacky times. We live in an age of orange newscasters, Burger King [see more]

Scott Andrew Spencer (American painter, born 1970)

Living in Los Angeles, California, Spencer loves to listen to music and paint daily. He takes inspiration from his immediate surroundings, real or imagined, and paints into the wee hours of the night. Scott began painting full time after a brush with cancer in 1999. He is represented by renowned gallerist and art dealer Biljana Grcic-Beran through Galeria Jan in La Jolla, California, and was admitted into the Pasadena Society of Artists in 2004.

Artist Statements: Life is a game. Play along.

In the Grand Scheme of it all, we may very well be experiencing different realities. These are definitely wacky times. We live in an age of orange newscasters, Burger King memorabilia and war. We think we're smart and that we understand our existence. I'm not so sure. Sometimes I think we're just high-end monkeys.

I give myself over to That Which Governs. I know Someone or Something is watching after us, keeping vigil. Every day I thank my lucky stars and the Powers That Be for the presence of art collectors in this world. "Thank you," to everyone who owns and all future owners of these paintings. You are magical, wonderful people.

Every canvas has an agenda--a life of its own separate from its maker, separate from thought or logic or reason--and to plot its course is only to interfere. To plan is to destroy. Trust the mess. All marks are good.

Oh, but the mutiny of scrutiny . . . if we could only leave it alone.

The self-taught artist has a great chance to be unique. Without knowledge of "rules" to hinder the hand or an instructor's style to imitate, what results is pure, entirely his own.

Contrary to popular belief, abstract art is "meaningful" on a parallel with representational art. Each of us sees differently, and individual responses to an abstract work of art are varied. An abstract work's "meaning" is oftentimes stronger and more personal for the viewer than it is in purely representational art where the subject matter is obvious and can only evoke a limited range of emotions.

I'm never more alive than I am when I'm painting. Nowhere else in this existence have I found the freedom and exhilaration that oil painting affords. Albert Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Welcome words to a daydreamer like me.

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." Francis Bacon

Being gay is a gift, a variation on a theme. Love is too powerful to be shaped or confined.

I stepped off the deep end a long time ago and have been dog paddling for dear life ever since.

Nobody taught me to run from my problems. I had to learn that one on my own.

At the moment, I'm loving the paintings of Cecily Brown, Dana Schutz, Odd Nerdrum, Raimonds Staprans and Paul Balmer. My all-time favorites are Max Beckmann, Milton Avery, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Joan Mitchell, Egon Schiele, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and Lucien Freud.

Interview with Scott Spencer at: ArtIntheVault.com

Spencer's Wikipedia url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/​­Scott_A._Spencer_(artist)

R​­ESUME

Education
1990-1992 C.S.U.L.B. (Long Beach, CA)
1989-1990 Associate in Arts Degree, Orange Coast College (Costa Mesa, CA)

Professional Experience
2002 Holt Advertising (Pasadena, CA)

Affiliations
Pasadena Society of Artists

Selected Exhibitions
2008 Gallery Matsui---"Grand Opening" (San Gabriel, CA)
i-5 Gallery---"$2 Bills" (Los Angeles, CA)
jFerrari Gallery---"Body of Art" (Atwater Village, CA)
2007 Terra Gallery---"Open Up" (Columbus, OH)
BrenArt---Solo (Pasadena, CA)
Essence of Living (Hermosa Beach, CA)
The Loft---"Paint 9 Decor"
2006 Viva Gallery---"81st Annual Exhibition" (Sherman Oaks, CA)
i-5 Gallery---"Art World Poker" (Los Angeles, CA)
Whites Gallery---"Springtime" (Montrose, CA)
Salon Fina---"6 Up" (Los Angeles, CA)
Carlotta's Passion Gallery---"Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" (Eagle Rock, CA)
2005 The Velvet Room--"Third Anniversary" (Pasadena, CA)
Surrounding Art--"Grand Opening" (Redondo Beach and Pasadena, CA)
A Shenere Velt Gallery--"Artifacts of Activism/Images of Peace" (Los Angeles, CA)
8th Annual Rose Variety Arts Show--Celebrity Centre International (Hollywood, CA)
Pazzaz---"Paint and Shoot" exhibit with Matt Harbicht (Silver Lake, CA)
Space-LA---3rd Annual Ken Dunipace Memorial Art Show (Los Angeles, CA)
Pasadena Art and Frame---Gallery Artists (Pasadena, CA)
Creative Arts Gallery---PSA 80th Anniversary Exhibition (Burbank, CA)
Galeria Jan---Gallery Artists (La Jolla, CA)
2004 Fine Artists Factory---PSA 79th Annual Juried Exhibition (Pasadena, CA)
Altadena LCC---PSA New Members Exhibition (Altadena, CA)
Period Gallery---"Color II" (Lincoln, NE)
Friends Gallery---"Make Art, Not War" (Pasadena, CA)
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery---"Open Call" (Los Angeles, CA)
Period Gallery---"Faces III" (Lincoln, NE)
Period Gallery---"Abstraction VII" (Lincoln, NE)
Pacer Communities---"Quattro Blu" (Pasadena, CA)
Period Gallery---"Landscape IV" (Lincoln, NE)
Period Gallery---"Contemporary VI" (Lincoln, NE)
2003 Period Gallery---"Abstract VI" (Lincoln, NE)
Abstract Earth Gallery---"Abstracted" (Columbus, OH)
2002 123 Soho Gallery---"Featured Artist" (New York, NY)
2001 TheArtProject.net---Artists Respond To Terrorism
2000 Solid Expressions Gallery---"Gallery Artists" (Los Altos Hills, CA)

Publications
2008 The Art of Everyday Joe: A Collector's Journal, Michael K. Corbin, Authorhouse
Art Wanted Calendars: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Animals/Wildlife, Landscape/Outdoor
2007 Art Wanted Calendar, Outdoor/Landscape
"Mechanic", short film directed by Asher Glaser
2006 Art in King-Sized Beds: A Collector's Journal, AuthorHouse
2005 Interview Series, Spencer Unleashed, ArtintheVault.com, April edition
Art in the Vault, Artists on their Work, February 5
2004 Guest Artist, Quattro Blu, Pacer Communities, May 25
2003 Artist Spotlight, Pasadena Weekly, 'Art Speak', June 12

Collections
David and Nadine Alon, Belgium
Dr. William Armstrong
Vern Asche, Devore, CA
David Brashear, Virginia
Michal K. Corbin, Indianapolis, IN
Michael L. Grace, Palm Springs, CA
Joe Hudgens, Alhambra, CA
Mark Humphry, Altadena, CA
Glade Johnson Design, Bellevue, WA
Brad Kuhlin, Pasadena, CA
John Kingston, New York, NY
Westley Lagerberg, Yorba Linda, CA
Lurssen Yachts, Bremen-Vegesack, Germany
Junell Mackey, Pasadena, CA
John Matty, Olivenhain, CA
Jason Maynard, Malibu, CA
Jo McDonnell, Durham, NC
Therese Molloy, New York, NY
Sharon Myers, Davis, CA
Tami Pflug, Los Angeles, CA
Amy Pounder, Bernardsville, NJ
Mary Shields, Denver, CO
Michael Smoller, Austin, TX
Ellen Hart Sturm, New York, NY
Karin Wagner, Olympia, WA
Emily Yerkovich-Phillips, Austin, TX

Awards
2006 Best of 123Soho 2006 Art Show, New York, NY
2005 Best of 123Soho 2005 Art Show, Cloud Cover, New York, NY
2004 Honorable Mention, Flowers to Heaven, Pasadena Society of Artists' 79th Annual Juried Exhibition
Special Recognition, Poolside, 'Landscape IV,' Period Gallery
Director's Recognition, Three, 'Contemporary VI,' Period Gallery
2003 Special Recognition, A Place by the Water, 'Abstraction VI,' Period Gallery [hide]