LARRY SPAID

My work as a painter is unavoidably linked to cultural, social, and environmental experiences. I have spent over nine years of my adult life working, living, and traveling outside of the United States with extensive time in Mexico, Asia, Southeast Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Specifically, I have responded to traditional crafts, structures, utilitarian devices and objects of ritual. There is no hidden message in my work. I am a painter with a deep respect for Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. I attempt to create formal and technical situations that are, in turn, objects as well as fields of illusion.

From January 2001 until the present, my primary influences have been derived from a travel and study experience in Vietnam and Cambodia (1/4/01-2/28/01). The purpose of this was to research traditional fabric coloring techniques that relate, in part, to the grounds or rear spaces of my paintings. Furthermore, I was intent on acquiring input for shape and color. The resulting work has become as involved with symbolism as with formal and technical execution.

This exhibition has been supported by the following:

Faculty Research and Study Leave, Tyler School of Art, Temple  

University, Spring Semester 2001.

Grant-In Aid for Research, Temple University, 2002

Temple University Summer Research Fellowship, 2003