Jered Sprecher Solo Exhibit in New Orleans
by Amy Beth Miller
The natural world and technology both influence a dozen recent paintings by Jered Sprecher, a professor in the University of Tennessee School of Art, on display at a New Orleans gallery solo exhibition this summer.
The Space Between Earth and Sky, at the Ferrara Showman Gallery through July 13, investigates the interaction between the natural environment and today’s technology.
In the studio, Sprecher said, his creative practice is influenced by artificial intelligence, compost, glints of light, dark soil, glowing screens, sheets of glass, impasto, leaves, and petals.
“AI and glowing screens are examples of technology that permeate our daily lives,” he explained. “I am not using AI to generate imagery at this moment, but I am interested in what it gets wrong and right in the uncanny images that AI produces. A tension in my work is a recognition of the immensity of the natural world and the immensity of the technological landscape—both can inspire a sense of wonder and trepidation.”
As a visual artist, most of Sprecher’s paintings and drawings observe the environment around him, especially trees, plants, and flowers.
“This flora gets filtered and abstracted through technology before I begin the paintings,” he said. “Part of the creative process is the tension between the old technology of paint that I am using and relatively newer technologies such as digital cameras, scanners, and photo processing software. This ability to toggle between old and new technologies allows me to contemplate what I am painting and also how it is painted, creating a hybrid image.”
Sprecher has been working with the New Orleans gallery since 2021, and this is his premiere solo exhibition there. A 2009 recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, he also has had solo exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
“Having taught in the UT School of Art for nearly 20 years, Jered Sprecher has had a productive career as an artist, exhibiting internationally, while creating paintings that engage with our visually saturated and often mediated world,” said Beauvais Lyons, UT divisional dean for arts and humanities and Chancellor’s Professor of Art. “The college is pleased with the success of this recent show at Ferrara Showman Gallery in New Orleans.”
Through the end of June, Sprecher’s woven image “To See the Sound and Hear the Sight” is on display outdoors in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is preparing for a two-person show in Milwaukee and a solo show in Boston this fall.