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In the light an object becomes visible whereas light itself remains invisible, and rather manifests itself as reflections from what it makes visible. Through his body of work, Spencer Finch has aspired to show that light must be seen in the first place in order to really see anything at all. Spencer Finch's attention is not directed towards the enlightened, visible and manifested, but towards the lightening as such, towards the appearing, that happens at the temporally indefinable border between being and non-being.

Sunlight in an empty room is a sculpture resembling object, or an artificial cloud which depicts the appearance of light as experienced by Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson had an obsession, of sorts, with looking at the sun, as did many poets and scientists in the 19th century. This piece was inspired, in part, by Dickinson's poem Before I had My Eye Put Out , in which she describes her intense desire for visual stimulation as: ''as much of noon as I can take between my finite eyes.'' For the piece Spencer Finch measured the colour of the sunlight in Dickinson's backyard and re-created precisely that colour of light using the mixture of 100 fluorescent tubes. Then he measured the colour of the light of a shadow cast by a passing cloud and re-created that effect by using a combination of 8 different filters, crumpled to form a cloud. When the cloud is hung from the ceiling the light filtered through the crumpled filters is the exact colour and intensity of the cloud in Dickinson's back yard.

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Born in 1962 in New Haven, CT
Lives and works in New York City


Education

1989
Master in Fine Arts in Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

1985
B.A. in Comparative Literature, magna cum laude, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY

1983-84
Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan


Solo Exhibitions

2009
Title TBA, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Title TBA, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

2008
Title TBA, Dundee Centre for Contemporary Art, Scotland
Lux and Lumen, Lisson Gallery, London
First Sight, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand

2007
In Praise of Shadows, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin
What time is it on the sun?, Yvon Lambert, Paris
One Way, Or Another, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
What time is it on the sun?, Mass MoCA, Massachusetts
A Certain Slant of Light , Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY

2006
Somewhere Else, Galleria Suzy Shammah, Milan, Italy
H2O, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL
The Cave of Making, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France
Through a Glass, Darkly, Mala Galerie, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
The Importance of Elsewhere, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Fransisco, CA

2005
Art Unlimited Basel 36, Brändström & Stene Stockholm & Nordenhake Berlin
Prussian Blue, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, Germany

2004
As much of noon as I can take between my finite eyes, Postmasters Gallery New York

2003
Mars Black, Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany
Art Pace, San Antonio, TX
Winter Light, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm, Sweden

2002
From things you can´t remember to things you can´t forget, Postmasters Gallery , New York, NY
Le Jardin Gattieres, France, curated by Daniel Birnbaum

2001
Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France
Bildhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2000
Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY

1999
Bildhuset, Stockholm, Sweden

1998
Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
Galleri Andreas Brändström, Stockholm, Sweden

1997
Matrix 133K, Hadsworth Atheneum Hartford, CT
Periscope (for August Strindberg), Minbyrån Artnode, Stockholm, Sweden
Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY

1996
Galleri Roger Björkholmen, Stockholm, Sweden

1995
Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
Galleri Adlercreutz-Björkholmen, Stockholm, Sweden
Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

1994
Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
Nordanstad Gallery, New York, NY

1993
Literal Truth, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (with Paul Ramirez)

1992
Tomoko Liguori Gallery, New York, NY


Selected Group Exhibitions

2008
Title TBA, Turin Trieniale, Italy
Title TBA, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, MO
Toys R Us, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
High Resolution: Artists Projects at the Armory, Park Avenue Armory, New York
Visions Nocturnes, Centre d’art Contemporain, Noissy-le-Sec, France
A Matter of Time, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York

2007
Lucky Day, San Fransisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006
Artificial Light, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse, Miami, FL
Light x Eight: The Hanukkah Project, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
A Tribute to Paul Cezanne, Yvon Lambert, New York, NY
Artificial Light, Virginia Commonwealth University|Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VI
The Materialization of Sensibility: Art and Alchemy, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks+Projects, New York, NY
The Starry Messenger: Visions of the Universe, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, England
Nichts/Nothing, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
The Missing Peace: Artists consider the Dalai Lama, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, CA
Juxtapositions (2), View-Vista, Perspective, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY
Colour and Perception, Sherbourne House, Dorset, England
Die Couch, Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna, Austria
Alice Don’t Live Here Anymore, Galleri Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden
Backdrop, Bloomberg Space, London, England

2005
Meteorologic Phenomena, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY
Working on Paper: From Drawing to Ammo, Bank, Los Angeles, CA
In the Neighborhood of Infinity, Sixteen One Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Colour After Klein, Barbican Art Gallery, London, England
Untitled, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Lichtkunst Aus Kunstlicht, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
The Shadow, Vestsjaellands Kunstmuseum, Soro, Denmark
Blur of the Otherworldly and the Paranormal, Contemporary Art, Technology Center for Art and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD

2004
Biennial Exhibition, The Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY
Nothing Compared, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
Indivisible Cities, Culpture Center, New York, NY
Astonish Knowledge, Bill Maynes Gallery, New York, NY
Bard College, Annandale, NY
Whitney Biennial Exhibition , Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2003
Pale Fire, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, Germany
Aldrich Museum of Art, Ridgefield, CT

2002
Aldrich Museum of Art Ridgefield, CT Charles Carpenter Collection
Collection Lambert Avignon, France Photographier

2001
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Galerie Gabriele Maubrie, Paris, France
Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn, Sweden
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Denver MoCA, Denver, CO
Once, Then Something, Sculpture Center, New York, NY

2000
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC
Full Serve (Curated by Kenny Schachter), New York
Sea and Sky, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin and Beaver College, Glenside, PA
Made You Look, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX

1999
Eye Spy, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
Conceptual Art as Neurobiological Praxis, Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY
Paradise 8, Exit Art, New York, NY

1998
Sensaround, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, New York, NY

1997
Onomatopoeia, Studio La Città, Verona, Italy
The Charles Carpenter Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1996
A Scattering Matrix, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The Charles Carpenter Collection, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Between the Acts, C/O, Oslo, Norway
Between the Acts (curated by Devon Dikeou), Ice Box, Athens, Greece
Clarity, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Chicago, IL

1995
Looky Loo, Sculpture Center, New York, NY
Four Views From Earth, Center For the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Yale University Norfolk, CT
Nordanstad Gallery, New York, NY

1994
Promising Suspects, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art Ridgefield, CT
The Cave of Making, Exhibition Hall Mánes Prague, Czech Republic
Part II, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY
Smart Fair, Stockholm, Sweden

1993
Things you can't remember/Things you can't forget, Tomoko Liguori Gallery New York, NY
Traces. . ., Nordanstad Gallery New York, NY
A Collector's Choice, Washburn Gallery New York, NY
add Hot Water, Sandra Gering Gallery New York, NY
New Prints and Multiples, Tomoko Liguori Gallery New York, NY

1992
Unfair, Nordanstad-Skarstedt booth Cologne, Germany
Morality Cafe curated by Kenny Schachter, Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
Vacation Show, Four Walls, Brooklyn, NY
Unlearning curated by Kenny Schachter, 142 Greene Street, New York, NY
Morality Cafe curated by Kenny Schachter, Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
Vacation Show, Four Walls, Brooklyn, NY

1991
Home for June, Home For Contemporary Theater and Art, New York, NY
From Sculpture curated by Kenny Schachter, BACA Downtown, Brooklyn, NY

1990
BACA Downtown Brooklyn, New York

1989
Langston Hughes Center for the Arts Providence, RI
Sol Koffler Gallery Providence, RI with Paul Ramirez

1988
Sol Koffler Gallery Providence, RI


Public Grants / Performances

2008
The River that Flows Both Ways, The Highline, New York (upcoming)
Bee Purple, Park Avenue Armory, New York

2005
Three Atmospheric Studies (lighting), The Forsythe Company, Frankfurt, Germany

1996
Apples and Oranges with Paul Ramirez, Gramercy Art Fair, New York, NY

1993
Applesauce with Paul Ramirez, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT Applesauce with Paul Ramirez
Telephone with Paul Ramirez, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY

1992
Masterpieces Without the Director (sponsored by Creative Time) New York, NY, audio tour of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art with Paul Ramirez

1991
Enemies of Promise with Paul Ramirez, 142 Greene Street, New York, NY

1990
The Death of Anton Webern, Dixon Place, New York, NY
The New York Aquarium at Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY, 45 Questions About Water, participatory mural project 1989 Rhode Island Public Transport Authority Bus Shelter Design

1989
Containment with Paul Ramirez, Brown University, Providence, RI

1989
Book Smelling with Paul Ramirez, Benefit Street Post Office, Providence, RI

1988
Twinkie Smashing, Providence, RI


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Chamberlain, Colby. “Spencer Finch”. Artforum, 2007
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Ryan, Paul. “Artificial Light.” Art Papers 31, no. 2 (March/April 2007): 48-49.
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Madestrand, Bo. “Ljushuvud.” Dagens Nyheter, Pa stan sec., March 1, 2007.
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Johnson, Ken. “Playing with the Past While Examining the Fault Lines of Memory.” The Boston Globe. ( June 22, 2007). E3.
Goodbody, Bridget L. “Trying to Capture a Trick of Light, a Tug of Memory.” The New York Times ( June 19, 2007), E3.
Godfrey, Mark. “A Rainbow in Brooklyn/On Spencer Finch.” Parkett 79 (June 2007)
“Spencer Finch: Postmasters.” The New Yorker. (April 23, 2007). 14-15.
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Princenthal, Nancy. “Willing Spirits: Art of the Paranormal” Art in America 94, no. 2 (February 2006): 104-113, 144.
Ravenal, John B., ''Artificial Light'', VCUarts Anderson Gallery/VMFA/MOCA Miami Exhibition Catalog, 2006
Marinelli, Lydia, ''Die Couch. Vom Denken im Liegen'', Sigmund Freud Museum Exhibition Catalog, 2006
Rayfiel, Thomas Bomb Magazine, ''Artists on Artists: Thomas Rayfiel on Spencer Finch'', Fall 2006
Richard, Paul The Washington Post, ''Aglow With The Old'', September 27th 2006
Leslie, John ''The Starry Messenger: Visions of the Universe'', Compton Verney Exhibition Catalog, 2006
Hollein, Max and Weinhart, Martin ''Nichts/Nothing'', Schirn Kunstalle Frankfurt Exhibition Catalog, 2006.
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Dailey, Meghan ''Spencer finch'' Vitamin D New Perspectives in Drawing, Phaidon, 2005.
Genocchio, Benjamin The New York Times “Modern Mishmash at the Wadsworth” Nov. 13 2005.
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Finch, Spencer Cabinet, “Colors/Pistachio” Issue 16, Winter 2005.
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Gopnik, Blake The Washington Post “The Artist Who Manufactured Dawn” April 20 2005.
Kabat-Zinn, Jon Tricycle “Healing Mind, Healing Body” Spring 2005.
Ratner, Megan, ''Spencer Finch at Postmasters'' Winter 2005.
Gilman-Sevcik, Frantiska and Tim FlashArt “Spencer Finch at Postmasters” Jan/Feb 2005.
Hudson, Suzanne Artforum ”Spencer Finch at Postmasters” January 2005.
Mehta, Nina IEEE Multimedia “The Curiously Disassociative Work of Spencer Finch” Oct/Dec 2004.
The New Yorker “Goings on About Town: Spencer Finch” Nov. 22 2004.
Jana, Reena Time Out New York “Art” Nov. 11 2004.
Rosenberg, Karen New York Magazine “Preview” Oct. 25 2004.
Gopnik, Blake The Washington Post “The Whitney Biennial 10 Choices” March 14 2004.
Rimanelli, David Artforum “Best of 2003” Dec. 2003.
LaBelle, Charles Frieze “Eclipse: the Art of Spencer Finch” May 2003.
WW, Architectural Record “Lighting: Artist Spencer Finch Offers a Meditation…” Feb. 2003.
Stern, Steven Time Out New York “Spencer Finch at Postmasters” Dec. 12, 2002.
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Birnbaum, Daniel Artforum “Best of 2002” Dec. 2002.
Volk, Gregory Art in America Spencer Finch at Postmasters, Sept. 2001.
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Anton, Saul Artforum “Color Commentary: The Art of Spencer Finch” April 2001.
Levin, Kim The Village Voice “Choice” Dec. 5 2000.
Allen, Nicholas Source 24 A Glimpse of the Infinite, September 2000.
Dunne, Aidan The Irish Times “When the sky’s not the limit” August 12 2000. Hartigan, Marianne Sunday Tribune “Where the sea meets the sky in breathtaking art” July 23 2000.
Sozanski, Edward J. The Philadelphia Enquirer “A stripped-down…sublime” March 5 2000.
West, Judy philadelphia.citysearch.com “The Sea & The Sky” March 2000.
Rice, Robin Philadelphia City Paper “Natural Wonders” March 2000.
Fallon, Roberta Philadelphia Weekly “Of This Earth” March 2000.
Rostovsky, Peter Zingmagazine “Spencer Finch at Postmasters” Winter 1999.
Anton, Saul Art/Text “Spencer Finch at Postmasters Gallery” May-July 1999.
Ziolkowski, Thad Artforum “Spencer Finch at Postmasters” April 1999.
Johnson, Ken The New York Times Sensaround, September 4 1998.
Madestrand, Bo Merge “Eye Pokes, Hairdressers, and Negative Theology” Spring 1998.
Henry, Max Zingmagazine “Spencer Finch at Postmasters” Summer 1997.
Rondeau, James Matrix 133 Catalogue Essay (Wadsworth Atheneum), June 1997.
McNally, Owen The Hartford Courant “The Elusive Image” May 25 1997.
The Hartford Advocate “Quickies: He Knows How to Suffer for his Art” May 15 1997.
Rosoff, Patricia The Hartford Advocate “Perception Colors Everything” May 1 1997.
Walker, Marie New York City Search “Spencer Finch: Postmasters Gallery” January 15 1997.
Camper, Fred Chicago Reader “Focus on the Invisible” April 5 1996.
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The New Yorker, Goings on About Town “Answering Art” July 7 1991.
Molloy, Joanna The New York Post “Page Six” June 5 1991.


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