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Centric 63: Brad Spence Psychology Today
June 17 – July 20, 2003Centric 63 Brad Spence: Psychology Today presented a series of self-reflexive paintings that engage that artist in the roles of historian, illustrator and interpreter of human behavior and addressed our preconceived notions of the human condition. By appropriating illustrations found in popular psychology publications from the late 1960s and 1970s, he communicates that life can be a horrifyingly lonely place. Spence’s reinterpretation of the imagery from Psychology Today draws a parallel between psychoanalysis and the search for significance in recounting childhood memories. As he illustrates a young boy cowering in a corner or a small child standing alone in front of an imposing mound of trash in a junkyard, the work resonates with fear and isolation. Though, to understand this body of work as purely personal would be to miss the point. Even though the images were inspired by an autobiographical investigation, the paintings render a collective experience that evokes an emotional response in the viewer.
Centric, which began in 1981, is an ongoing series of exhibitions dedicated to introducing the University Art Museum ausidence to work by individual artists that has not previously been shown in the area.
Image Credit: Brad Spence, The Autistic Child II, 2003, acrylic on unprimed canvas, 81 x 132 in. Courtesy of the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles.
