Spelman Downer
Credit: Spelman Downer
Superman Downer has worked as a visual artist since 1977, with studios in New York City, Santa Fe, NM, San Francisco, CA, Anchorage, AK, Hoboken and Jersey City, NJ. Lives in the Mojave Desert in Yucca Valley, CA where he is director of Gallery Turquoise South. Has summer studio & gallery in Alaska at Cooper Landing on the banks of the Kenai River. Is director of Gallery Turquoise North at that location. In 2019 he retired from 24 years of being a college art professor, first for the University of Alaska at the Kenai Peninsula College and then since 2001, at the newest community college in California, Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree.
Credit: Spelman Downer
Overarching praxis statement:
I am currently expanding beyond my decades long investigation of geographic and geologic subjects derived from map sources into painting more abstractly. My newest works investigate geo-political conflicts and wars, utilizing my long developed mapping based painting techniques. I am also concurrently working on un-previsualized experiments that invent visualizations derived from listening to music. Generally these take the form of expressionistic color fields with gestural brushstrokes and often include small decorative items dropped into wet paint.
Credit: Spelman Downer
Current art and/or research interest:
Making paintings that visualize the Russian Invasion of Ukraine using a combination of map derived aerial landscapes and abstract expressionist painting experiments.
More about the artist:
Credit: Spelman Downer
Credit: Spelman Downer