Little Rock Artist Spencer Jansen
Little Rock Artist Spencer Jansen Opens New Exhibit at the South Arkansas Arts Center
The South Arkansas Arts Center welcomes Little Rock artist Spencer Jansen to the Lobby Gallery with his new exhibition entitled “The Process.” Jansen’s work will be on display from September 2 through October 21. An artist reception will be hosted in the Merkle and Price Galleries on Saturday, September 10, from 6-8pm. The exhibition and reception are free to the public.
“Next. Ok, hold it. Change. Stay. Next. Another pose. Change. Switch it up. Take a break.”
These are the words being said during the process, according to Little Rock artist Spencer Jansen.
“ The images before you are layers and layers of the process. The process is continuous figure drawing and painting to the point of taking a concrete organic image and replicating it to the point of abstract confusion. There are a few rules for the process: Quick gestural drawings is one step of the process. Another is to fill in the negative spaces. Repeat is another step in the process. The last aspect of the process is you,” said Jansen.
“We all can recognize the human form, but when the figure is laid over itself multiple times it becomes disordered. There are aspects that remind the viewer that they are looking at a multitude of bodies. Our eyes search for regular, recognizable forms. Like searching for faces in clouds, you look at the process and reconfigure the images. Limbs imitate other limbs, and curves mock other curves. You create your own aesthetic. The process is now your process,” said Jansen.
Born June 6th, 1983 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jansen began exploring the world through his hands and eyes as soon as he could grasp a pencil. Jansen’s first inspiration was his Grandmother, Millie Prasifka, a fantastic painter in her own right. With her, Jansen began painting
and drawing at a very young age. As he grew so did his passion for art, attending many classes at the Arkansas Art Museum, along with grade school and high school. Spencer's formal education in art began at Lyon College, in Batesville, Arkansas, where he earned a Bachelor's in
Fine Arts.
Jansen’s work has been described as “contrasting existentialism while seeing an inner soul”. Jansen had a piece of his work selected and sold during the opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Library to help support the THEA Foundation. Jansen has created many awards for the
Arkansas Children’s Hospital, along with donating his artwork for various events for ACH and the Center’s for Youth and Families. Jansen’s studies at Lyon took him to both New York and Greece, where he was educated from ancient to modern art.
Jansen was the designer and builder for a reception honoring Academy Award winner Lisa Blount. Also, he planned and assisted building the façade of the Becknell Physical Education Building for Lyon’s annual Scottish Fest. While at Lyon, Jansen studied studio art under Brody Burroughs and Chris Valle. Jansen was a founding member of the Zeta Alpha Omicron chapter of Kappa Pi international art fraternity at Lyon College.
Jansen’s drawings and photographs have graced the pages of the school’s publication The Wheelbarrow numerous times. Jansen was a member of a group show at Lyon’s Kresge Gallery in Spring of 2005, his body of work was entitled, “Let’s Go For A Drive,” where he invited the viewer into his life as a pizza delivery worker, showing various scenes of Batesville on canvases shaped like car windows accompanied by songs that were interpreted through his brush. In August of 2007, Jansen had a solo show “Childhood” at the Main Street Art Store in Heber Springs, Arkansas. “Childhood” took the viewer into Jansen’s upbringing through large charcoal drawings along with abstract photography telling the relationship of Jansen with his brothers.
In the last years, Jansen has been working as a freelance photographer. His photos have been featured in a plethora of stories in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Life, Sync Weekly, and an AETN documentary titled: “On the Hot Tamale Trail”. Most recently, he had an exhibition at the main office of the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Service, which was a collection of photography and drawings.
Spencer Jansen’s exhibition “The Process” will be on display in the Lobby Gallery of the South Arkansas Arts Center, located at 110 E. 5th Street in El Dorado, throughout September and October. For more information, contact the SAAC office at 870-862-5474 or visit www.saac-arts.org.
