Sebastian Spreng
Encyclopedia
Sebastian Spreng is an Argentine
-American visual artist and music journalist.
(Argentina
) of German ancestry, is a self-taught artist (painter
, illustrator
, stage designer) and music journalist, related from his mother side to writer Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer
(1935–2002), also a native of Esperanza, the first formally organized of the agricultural colonies in Argentina
, formed by 200 families of immigrants from Switzerland, Germany, France and Luxembourg
who arrived in 1856. [1]
He spent his childhood in Esperanza and in the Argentinian countryside (the Pampa
s) and in the Atlantic Coast in Mar del Plata
moving to Buenos Aires
in 1973. At age 17 his works were exhibited in Buenos Aires in a group exhibit Artists from Esperanza at the Fundación Lowe. The next year he had his first solo exhibit at Martina Cespedes Gallery in the San Telmo
district of the Argentinean capital. The show was sold out on opening night and the gallery held his work exclusively for the next seven years.
In 1978 he was the stage-designer for a theater production of Jean Cocteau
's L'aigle à deux têtes
(The Eagle Has Two Heads) starring Miguel Angel Sola
in Buenos Aires and worked also as illustrator and designer.
During the 1980s, he settled in Miami (Florida
) - where he still lives and works - and has been a vital presence in the Florida
art scene ever since. Since moving to Florida he had solo and group exhibitions in Boston
, Seattle, Atlanta, Toronto
, Caracas
, Düsseldorf
, Essen
, Munich
, Osaka
, Tokyo
, Panama
, Italy
, Buenos Aires
, Sarasota, Key West
and Miami.
His works were included in the University of Miami
Lowe Art Museum
in the Paradise Lost exhibition, in the Miami-Dade Public Library
System and in the show Latin-American Artists from Florida in the Palazzo Mediceo (Medici
), Seravezza, Tuscany
, Italy in 2002.
His awards include the Hortt Competition at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale
and the 1995 Personal Achievement Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association
for the State of Florida. As noted, Spreng is a MD patient.
In 1994, he was commissioned by Metro-Dade Art In Public Places to create a permanent exhibition at the Miami-Dade Government Center. The series Nonet for the Long Journey, is a memorial tribute to the American with Disabilities Trailblazers. In 1998 (and 2004), Christie's
New York
auctioned his works among other Latin American Masters and his name was included in the book "Leonard's Price Index Latin American Art at Auction" by Susan Theran [2]
In 2009 his work Daphne
was selected for the book "Speak for the Trees" along 70 other artists including David Hockney
, Christo, April Gornik
, Yoko Ono
, Julie Heffernan
, Robert Longo
, Mark Ryden
, the Starn Brothers, etc.
Music is usually present in his work and whole series were based on musical structures titled: Liederkreis
Opus I and II, Ring Landscapes on Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen
, Sinfonietta, Impromptu
s, Chamber Music
and Reverberations. As a result, many were chosen as cover illustrations for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra
Playbill
s, along with the New World Symphony 1995-96 Season Program Book, the Florida Grand Opera
1998-99 Season Program and Poster and as CD covers in recordings of, among others, composer Henryk Gorecki
, Ildebrando Pizzetti
[4] and the Grammy Award Da Pacem with works by Arvo Pärt
[3]
Since 1988 Spreng writes about Classical music
for magazines and newspapers. His career writing about music began as foreign correspondent for Clásica Magazine, Argentina. In the last twenty years as music journalist
he interviewed, among others personalities in that field, composer
Luciano Berio
, conductors Donald Runnicles
, Nicholas McGegan
, James Judd
and Michael Tilson Thomas
; singers Montserrat Caballé
, Renata Scotto
, Thomas Hampson, Barbara Hendricks
, Evelyn Lear
, Thomas Stewart (bass-baritone), Anne Sofie von Otter and Deborah Voigt
; pianist
Evgeny Kissin
; cellist Sol Gabetta
, violin
ists Joshua Bell
, Gil Shaham
and Pinchas Zukerman
.[7]
He is a minimalist at heart, but he combines the feeling of isolation from an Edward Hopper
painting with the Color Field
technique of a Mark Rothko
. The result is a mixture of components creating an original Spreng. He has formed a bridge between the psychological and the physical. In his previous work he partnered a solitary figure within a vast seascape. A single swimmer floating alone in the water, created a sense of isolation, whereas the autonomous swimmer had no boundaries, possibly a romanticized longing by the artist to set his own body free. This figure, though small in its surroundings, seemed to have had domain of its environment – able to float away on a whim devoid of any imparities. Within his newer work, the swimmer is transferred into an arbor, and it is juxtaposed within a panoramic landscape somewhat agoraphobic. Much of the landscapes are inspired from Las Pampa
s in Argentina, but its aesthetics is exclusively American with European roots. The work references the Romantic
landscape. Each piece has a painted line around the composition, creating a self-contained frame within a frame. Spreng creates for the viewer the illusion of looking through a window and witnessing his phantasmic world. They are simple arrangements, where trees become biomorphic forms enclosed in a Rothkoesque background. Layer upon layer of textured passages richly create his surface. His compositions generate stillness and a delicate balance of forms accentuating a harmonious interaction. Spreng's personal aesthetic and individual style is unmistakable. He has recontextualized Las Pampas into an oniric American formation.[4]
Sebastian Spreng's paintings demonstrate the essence of simplicity, visual abstractions of form and color; however, upon close examination it is quite evident that technically they are anything but simple. As Sebastian Spreng searches for the means to create haunting accolades to the memory of time and place, his paintings have become more luminous. On the brink of total abstraction, they are saturated with a pervasive ambience that glows with mystery. They allow the viewer moments of introspection and a glimpse into the past.[5]
Among the many artists who live in south Florida few have contemplated its environment with passion and freshness of Sebastian Spreng, a painter born in Buenos Aires in 1956. Spreng came to Miami with an impressive list of triumphs but it was not until he reached Florida that he found the central theme of his work: man's presence between the faces of the planet-land and sea....
Spreng articulates the paradox of human Being-although man alone is agent and consciousness, he is but one of life's beings. All landscape seeks its destiny in reflection, seeks to become the indispensable verb in an idea or an attitude towards life. In the paintings of Spreng the chimera of landfall which we call Florida has accomplished a part of his destiny[6]
As if the differences between one proposal and the other were not sufficient, Spreng delves into another element that is not found in painting: time. While music occurs throughout time, painting is subjected to a set time, one that is static and frozen on the canvas. It is not for nothing that painting is associated with timelessness and transcendence. Nevertheless, Spreng subverts this limitation by creating in the pictorial space a feeling of cycle or evolution, achieved thanks to the influence of the ever-changing horizon. The exhibition is impregnated by a clear romantic spirit that is dominated by musical borrowings, a predilection for open scenes, and the subjective nature of the images. It compels the viewer to search for elements unnoticed during its first reading; elements lost or distant, or barely suggested by a horizon always acting with unifying purpose, as it represents both the cohesive element and the driver of change.
"Gazing at the lyrical juxtapositions of imagery in 'Salad Bar' recalls the experience of reading a passage of stream-of-consciousness prose....With a sure sense of color and scale, Spreng navigates the gap between the minute and the majestic."
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
-American visual artist and music journalist.
Biography
Born in Esperanza, Santa FeEsperanza, Santa Fe
Esperanza is a city in the center of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It has about 36,000 inhabitants as of the and it is the head town of the Las Colonias Department....
(Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
) of German ancestry, is a self-taught artist (painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, stage designer) and music journalist, related from his mother side to writer Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer
Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer
Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer was an Argentine writer, born in Esperanza, Santa Fe. From his mother side, he is related to Argentinean painter Sebastian Spreng, also a native of Esperanza....
(1935–2002), also a native of Esperanza, the first formally organized of the agricultural colonies in Argentina
Agricultural colonies in Argentina
Agricultural colonies in Argentina were a demographically and economically important part of the evolution of the country. The Argentine government, faced with large areas of fertile land that were unpopulated or settled by aboriginal tribes , encouraged European immigration, welcoming settling...
, formed by 200 families of immigrants from Switzerland, Germany, France and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
who arrived in 1856. [1]
He spent his childhood in Esperanza and in the Argentinian countryside (the Pampa
Pampa
The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than , that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul...
s) and in the Atlantic Coast in Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
moving to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1973. At age 17 his works were exhibited in Buenos Aires in a group exhibit Artists from Esperanza at the Fundación Lowe. The next year he had his first solo exhibit at Martina Cespedes Gallery in the San Telmo
San Telmo
San Telmo is the oldest barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis and is characterized by its colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antique shops line the cobblestone streets, which are often filled with artists and dancers.San Telmo's...
district of the Argentinean capital. The show was sold out on opening night and the gallery held his work exclusively for the next seven years.
In 1978 he was the stage-designer for a theater production of Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
's L'aigle à deux têtes
L'Aigle à deux têtes
L'Aigle à deux têtes is a French play in three acts by Jean Cocteau, written in 1943 and first performed in 1946. It is known variously in English as The Eagle with Two Heads, The Eagle Has Two Heads, The Two-Headed Eagle, The Double-Headed Eagle, and Eagle Rampant...
(The Eagle Has Two Heads) starring Miguel Angel Sola
Miguel Ángel Solá
Miguel Ángel Solá is a prolific Argentine actor who has made over 60 film appearances in film and TV in Argentina since 1973....
in Buenos Aires and worked also as illustrator and designer.
During the 1980s, he settled in Miami (Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
) - where he still lives and works - and has been a vital presence in the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
art scene ever since. Since moving to Florida he had solo and group exhibitions in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Seattle, Atlanta, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Sarasota, Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
and Miami.
His works were included in the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
Lowe Art Museum
Lowe Art Museum
The Lowe Art Museum is an art museum located in Coral Gables, Florida, a Miami suburb in Miami-Dade County. The museum is run and operated by the University of Miami and opened in 1950. The museum has an extensive collection of art with permanent collections in Greco-Roman antiquities, Renaissance,...
in the Paradise Lost exhibition, in the Miami-Dade Public Library
Miami-Dade Public Library
The Miami-Dade Public Library System is a system of libraries in Miami, Florida and Miami-Dade County in the United States.-Early years:...
System and in the show Latin-American Artists from Florida in the Palazzo Mediceo (Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
), Seravezza, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy in 2002.
His awards include the Hortt Competition at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale
Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale
The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale is an art museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Originating in 1958 as the Fort Lauderdale Art Center, the museum is located in a modernist building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes. The current building was constructed in 1986, with a wing added in 2001...
and the 1995 Personal Achievement Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association
Muscular Dystrophy Association
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is an American organization which combats muscular dystrophy and diseases of the nervous system and muscular system in general by funding research, providing medical and community services, and educating health professionals and the general public...
for the State of Florida. As noted, Spreng is a MD patient.
In 1994, he was commissioned by Metro-Dade Art In Public Places to create a permanent exhibition at the Miami-Dade Government Center. The series Nonet for the Long Journey, is a memorial tribute to the American with Disabilities Trailblazers. In 1998 (and 2004), Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
auctioned his works among other Latin American Masters and his name was included in the book "Leonard's Price Index Latin American Art at Auction" by Susan Theran [2]
In 2009 his work Daphne
Daphne
Daphne was a female minor nature deity. Pursued by Apollo, she fled and was chased. Daphne begged the gods for help, who then transformed her into Laurel.-Overview:...
was selected for the book "Speak for the Trees" along 70 other artists including David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
, Christo, April Gornik
April Gornik
April Gornik is an American artist, known for her American landscape paintings.Her work Storm and Fires is included into the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as well as in many other national museums and private collections.In 2007, The Smithsonian Art Collectors Program...
, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
, Julie Heffernan
Julie Heffernan
Julie Heffernan is an American illustrator. David Cohen, art critic of The New York Sun, aptly describes Heffernan's art: "These paintings are a hybrid of genres and styles, mixing allegory, portraiture, history painting, and still life, while in title they are all presented as self...
, Robert Longo
Robert Longo
Robert Longo is an American painter and sculptor. Longo became famous in the 1980s for his "Men in the Cities" series, which depicted sharply dressed businessmen writhing in contorted emotion.-Early life and education:...
, Mark Ryden
Mark Ryden
-Early life:Ryden is the son of Barbara and Keith Ryden, born in Medford, Oregon but raised in Southern California. He has two sisters and two brothers, one a fellow artist named Keyth Ryden....
, the Starn Brothers, etc.
Music is usually present in his work and whole series were based on musical structures titled: Liederkreis
Liederkreis
Liederkreis, Op. 39 is a song cycle, composed by Robert Schumann. The poetry for this cycle was taken from Joseph Eichendorff's collection of poetry called Intermezzo. Schumann wrote two cycles of this name—the other being his opus 24—so this work is also known as the Eichendorff Liederkreis...
Opus I and II, Ring Landscapes on Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, Sinfonietta, Impromptu
Impromptu
An impromptu is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ex tempore improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano...
s, Chamber Music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and Reverberations. As a result, many were chosen as cover illustrations for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra
Florida Philharmonic Orchestra
The Florida Philharmonic Orchestra was a symphony orchestra based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and serving the South Florida metropolitan area...
Playbill
Playbill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
s, along with the New World Symphony 1995-96 Season Program Book, the Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera is an American opera company based in Miami, Florida. FGO was created in 1994 from the consolidation of two opera companies in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region:...
1998-99 Season Program and Poster and as CD covers in recordings of, among others, composer Henryk Gorecki
Henryk Górecki
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki was a composer of contemporary classical music. He studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice between 1955 and 1960. In 1968, he joined the faculty and rose to provost before resigning in 1979. Górecki became a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde during...
, Ildebrando Pizzetti
Ildebrando Pizzetti
Ildebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music.- Biography :Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi and Gian Francesco Malipiero. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions...
[4] and the Grammy Award Da Pacem with works by Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
[3]
Since 1988 Spreng writes about Classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
for magazines and newspapers. His career writing about music began as foreign correspondent for Clásica Magazine, Argentina. In the last twenty years as music journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
he interviewed, among others personalities in that field, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, conductors Donald Runnicles
Donald Runnicles
Donald Runnicles is a Scottish conductor who has worked extensively in other countries, particularly Germany and the USA....
, Nicholas McGegan
Nicholas McGegan
Nicholas McGegan OBE is a British harpsichordist, flautist, conductor and early music expert....
, James Judd
James Judd
James Judd is a British conductor. He is considered one of the pre-eminent interpreters of English orchestral music and the music of Gustav Mahler....
and Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...
; singers Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
, Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...
, Thomas Hampson, Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks is an African American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland on Lake Geneva since 1985, She is a citizen of Sweden.-Early life and education:...
, Evelyn Lear
Evelyn Lear
Evelyn Lear is an American soprano and opera singer.During her career between 1959 and 1992, Evelyn Lear appeared in more than forty operatic roles, appeared with every major opera company in the US and won a Grammy Award in 1966...
, Thomas Stewart (bass-baritone), Anne Sofie von Otter and Deborah Voigt
Deborah Voigt
Deborah Voigt is an American operatic soprano. Voigt regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.- Early life and education :...
; pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin is a Russian classical pianist and former child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002. He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt.-Biography:Kissin was born in Moscow to...
; cellist Sol Gabetta
Sol Gabetta
Sol Gabetta is an Argentine cellist of French and Russian descent, now settled in Switzerland.- Biography :...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ists Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
, Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham
-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...
and Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...
.[7]
Critic Assestments
- Lilia Fontana, art critic and director of the Miami Dade CollegeMiami Dade CollegeMiami Dade College, or simply Miami Dade or MDC, is a state college with eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers located throughout Miami-Dade County, Florida in the United States. It is part of the Florida College System. Miami Dade College is the largest school in the Florida College...
Kendall Campus Art Gallery wrote in the catalog to his exhibition in Coral Gables, 2002:
He is a minimalist at heart, but he combines the feeling of isolation from an Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
painting with the Color Field
Color Field
Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. It was inspired by European modernism and closely related to Abstract Expressionism, while many of its notable early proponents were among the pioneering Abstract Expressionists...
technique of a Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz , was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter".- Childhood :Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Province, Russian...
. The result is a mixture of components creating an original Spreng. He has formed a bridge between the psychological and the physical. In his previous work he partnered a solitary figure within a vast seascape. A single swimmer floating alone in the water, created a sense of isolation, whereas the autonomous swimmer had no boundaries, possibly a romanticized longing by the artist to set his own body free. This figure, though small in its surroundings, seemed to have had domain of its environment – able to float away on a whim devoid of any imparities. Within his newer work, the swimmer is transferred into an arbor, and it is juxtaposed within a panoramic landscape somewhat agoraphobic. Much of the landscapes are inspired from Las Pampa
Pampa
The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than , that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul...
s in Argentina, but its aesthetics is exclusively American with European roots. The work references the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
landscape. Each piece has a painted line around the composition, creating a self-contained frame within a frame. Spreng creates for the viewer the illusion of looking through a window and witnessing his phantasmic world. They are simple arrangements, where trees become biomorphic forms enclosed in a Rothkoesque background. Layer upon layer of textured passages richly create his surface. His compositions generate stillness and a delicate balance of forms accentuating a harmonious interaction. Spreng's personal aesthetic and individual style is unmistakable. He has recontextualized Las Pampas into an oniric American formation.[4]
- Dr. Carol Damian, director of the Frost Art MuseumFrost Art MuseumThe Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum or simply known as the Frost Art Museum is a Florida International University museum located on-campus in Modesto A. Maidique in Miami, Florida....
at the Florida International UniversityFlorida International UniversityFlorida International University is an American public research university in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park...
, Miami wrote:
Sebastian Spreng's paintings demonstrate the essence of simplicity, visual abstractions of form and color; however, upon close examination it is quite evident that technically they are anything but simple. As Sebastian Spreng searches for the means to create haunting accolades to the memory of time and place, his paintings have become more luminous. On the brink of total abstraction, they are saturated with a pervasive ambience that glows with mystery. They allow the viewer moments of introspection and a glimpse into the past.[5]
- Art critic Ricardo Pau-LlosaRicardo Pau-LlosaRicardo Pau-Llosa is a Cuban-American poet, art critic of Latin American art in the US and Europe, and author of short fiction.-Life:...
wrote in 1991:
Among the many artists who live in south Florida few have contemplated its environment with passion and freshness of Sebastian Spreng, a painter born in Buenos Aires in 1956. Spreng came to Miami with an impressive list of triumphs but it was not until he reached Florida that he found the central theme of his work: man's presence between the faces of the planet-land and sea....
Spreng articulates the paradox of human Being-although man alone is agent and consciousness, he is but one of life's beings. All landscape seeks its destiny in reflection, seeks to become the indispensable verb in an idea or an attitude towards life. In the paintings of Spreng the chimera of landfall which we call Florida has accomplished a part of his destiny[6]
- Art critic Janet Batet wrote in reference to his LiederkreisLiederkreisLiederkreis, Op. 39 is a song cycle, composed by Robert Schumann. The poetry for this cycle was taken from Joseph Eichendorff's collection of poetry called Intermezzo. Schumann wrote two cycles of this name—the other being his opus 24—so this work is also known as the Eichendorff Liederkreis...
in 2009:
As if the differences between one proposal and the other were not sufficient, Spreng delves into another element that is not found in painting: time. While music occurs throughout time, painting is subjected to a set time, one that is static and frozen on the canvas. It is not for nothing that painting is associated with timelessness and transcendence. Nevertheless, Spreng subverts this limitation by creating in the pictorial space a feeling of cycle or evolution, achieved thanks to the influence of the ever-changing horizon. The exhibition is impregnated by a clear romantic spirit that is dominated by musical borrowings, a predilection for open scenes, and the subjective nature of the images. It compels the viewer to search for elements unnoticed during its first reading; elements lost or distant, or barely suggested by a horizon always acting with unifying purpose, as it represents both the cohesive element and the driver of change.
- Art critic Elisa Turner wrote in ARTnewsARTnewsARTnews is an arts magazine based in New York, founded by James Clarence Hyde in 1902 as Hyde’s Weekly Art News. It is published 11 times a year.ARTnews covers all art, from ancient to Post-modernism...
magazine (September 2011 issue) about his Salad Bar exhibition:
"Gazing at the lyrical juxtapositions of imagery in 'Salad Bar' recalls the experience of reading a passage of stream-of-consciousness prose....With a sure sense of color and scale, Spreng navigates the gap between the minute and the majestic."
Selected bibliography
- Alvarez Bravo, Armando. "Los viajes del sueño", El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 5/25/03
- Alvarez Bravo, Armando. "Las reverberaciones de Sebastian Spreng", El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 12/19/99
- Alvarez Bravo, Armando. "Los necesarios oasis", El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 16/11/97
- Alvarez Bravo, Armando. Figura del momento/El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 24/9/98
- Alvarez Bravo, Armando."Spreng y los paisajes de la imaginacion", El Nuevo Herald, 28/10/92
- Alzola, Concha. "Nueva idea del paisaje", Vanidades USA Magazine, Miami, March 1993
- Arcidiacono, Carlos."Plastica: Sebastian Spreng", Revista Mercado, B. Aires, September 1975
- Arocemena, Farfan. "Sebastian Spreng", Revista Creer, Buenos Aires, 1978
- Aubele, Luis."Los Pueblos Blancos del joven Spreng", La Opinión (Argentina)La Opinión (Argentina)La Opinión was an Argentine newspaper, founded by the journalist Jacobo Timerman in 1971. Its ideology was broadly centrist, inspired partly by the Paris daily Le Monde.-Development:...
, Buenos Aires, 22/9/76 - Baliari, Eduardo. "Sebastian Spreng", El Economista, Buenos Aires, November 1978
- Baron Supervielle, Odile."La Pintura Luminosa de Spreng", La Nación, Buenos Aires, 30/1/94
- Batet, Janet. "Sebastian Spreng: Horizontes develados", El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 5/17/2009
- Batet, Janet. "Sebastian Spreng", Artnexus Magazine, December 2009
- Bazzano-Nelson, Florencia. "Sebastian Spreng at Anthony Ardavin, Atlanta".ARTNEXUS, 2001
- Bean, Shawn. ""36 Artists to buy now: Sebastian Spreng", Florida International Magazine, Miami, October 2004
- Behar, Thelia."Artist turns Nature into musical studies", Buenos Aires Herald, 16/11/86
- Behar, Thelia. "The Supernatural", Buenos Aires HeraldBuenos Aires HeraldThe Buenos Aires Herald is an English language daily newspaper from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their slogan is A World of Information in a few words.-History:...
, 25/10/77 - Behar, Thelia. "Reaping a plentiful harvest", Buenos Aires Herald, 11/5/82
- Brasco, Miguel. "Algo sobre Sebastian Spreng", Revista Diners, Buenos Aires, May 1975
- Briante, Miguel."En el nombre del nadador", Pagina 12, Buenos Aires, 27/11/89
- Cantor, Judy. "Floating skies and impossibly blue seas", Buenos Aires Herald, October 1987
- Cantor, Judy. "Natural beauties". Miami New TimesMiami New TimesThe Miami New Times is a free weekly newspaper published in Miami and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered near Miami's Design District.-Overview:...
, Miami, 5/22/03 - Capalbo, Daniel. "El Paisaje Metafisico", Paula Magazine, Buenos Aires, September 1988
- Castelar, Diana. "Un joven artista que trasciende", ClarinClarín (newspaper)Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
, Buenos Aires, 6/12/87 - Cernadas Quesada, Alfredo. "Unbounded Creativity", Buenos Aires Herald, 29/10/95
- Cernadas Quesada, Alfredo. "The Silent Voyager", Buenos Aires Herald, 3/12/89
- Damian, Carol."Sebastian Spreng"(Liederkreis), ARTNEXUS Nº66, 9/2007
- Damian, Carol."Sebastian Spreng at The Americas Collection", ARTNEXUS Nº50, 2003
- Damian, Carol. "Beyond the blue paintings of Sebastian Spreng", Six Continents Mag, Miami 2001
- Damian, Carol. Sebastian Spreng en Arteconsult, ArtNexus Magazine Nº22, US, October 1996
- Damian, Carol. "Studies of Nature", The Americas Collection March 1995, Exhibit Catalog.[5]
- Damian, Carol. "Reverberations". The Americas Collection November 1999, Exhibit Catalog.
- Dieguez Videla, Albino. "Spreng Ganador", La Prensa (Buenos Aires)La Prensa (Buenos Aires)La Prensa is an Argentine daily newspaper.Based in Buenos Aires, it was founded on 18 October 1869 by José C. Paz. La Prensa ranked among the most widely circulated dailies in Argentina in subsequent decades, earning a reputation for conservatism and support for British interests in Argentina...
, October 1995 - Dieguez Videla, Albino. "Spreng: Veranos", La Prensa, Buenos Aires, 2/11/86
- Dieguez Videla, Albino."La rapida maduracion de Spreng", La Prensa, Buenos Aires, 6/12/87
- Di Tella, Andres."Spreng imagina lugares que le complaceria vivir", Tiempo Argentino, B.A.,5/94
- Enriquez, Lucia."Wagner's Ring infuses artist's Landscapes, The Seattle Times, 8/26/05
- Feinsilber, Jorge. "Spreng, sus mares y cielos", Ambito Financiero, Buenos Aires, 19/11/86
- Feinsilber, Laura. ‘Miami exhibe la diversidad del paisaje latinoamericano", Ambito Financiero, Buenos Aires, 6/3/03
- Feinsilber, Laura. "La depurada tecnica de Spreng", Ambito Financiero, Buenos Aires, 16/12/87
- Feinstein, Ronnie."Miami heats-up", Art in AmericaArt in AmericaArt in America is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is designed for collectors, artists, dealers, art professionals and other...
, November 1999 - Fontana, Lilia. "Spreng: La fuerza de los sueños". Arte al dia. Julio 2003
- Fontana, Lilia. Preface to Exhibition The Americas Collection, 2002 [4]
- Galli, Aldo. "Subjetiva concepcion del paisaje", La Nación, Buenos Aires, 8/11/86
- Galli, Aldo. "Idealismo y realidad", La Nación, Buenos Aires, 12/12/87
- Graham Yool, Micaela. "Argentine Art comes home", Buenos Aires Herald, August 1975
- Gudiño Kieffer, Eduardo. Martina Cespedes 1977 Buenos Aires, Exhibition Catalog
- Gudiño Kieffer, Eduardo."La Magia del Agua", Revista Hippopotamus, Buenos Aires, 9/90
- Heer de Beaugé, Isabel - Sebastian Spreng, Esperanza y su gente - Esperanza, Santa Fe, 1980.
- Hernandez, Jesus. "Dialogo inminente". Diario de las Americas, Miami, 5/16/03
- Herrera, Adriana. "Arteaméricas nuevos logros y retos". El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 3/23/08
- Herrera, Adriana. "Latin American Art Auction: La subasta esencial de Miami", Nuevo Herald, Miami, 10/28/07
- Herrera, Adriana. "Ring Landscapes: la consagracion de Sebastian Spreng. Nuevo Herald', Miami 7/8/5
- Hurlburt, Roger."Bigger bolder Hortt", The Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 16/9/90
- Jemanok, Steve. "Boston:Yankee ambition".Art & Antiques Magazine. June 2004
- Juncadella, Soledad "Sebastian Spreng: Liederkreis". 'Complot Magazine, Issue 61, Miami, May/07
- Kohen, Helen."Landscape:healthy genre, handsome show", Miami Herald, 10/11/90
- Kowalski, Maria. "Sebastian Spreng", ShowBiz Magazine, Miami, December 1995
- Locke, Donald. "Dreamscapes". Atlanta Magazine. Atlanta. Georgia, 23/9/95
- Luis, Carlos M. "Representaciones de una experiencia espiritual". Nuevo Herald Miami 5/13/07
- Magrini, Cesar. "Juventud tesoro multiple", El Cronista Comercial, Buenos Aires, 21/9/76
- Magrini, Cesar." Largo y continuado viaje", El Cronista Comercial, Buenos Aires, 18/9/80
- Magrini, Cesar."Pintura que es ejercicio de gran amor", El Cronista Comercial, B.Aires, 3/12/87
- Manzano, Manuel. "El paraiso acuatico", El Nacional (Caracas), Venezuela, 11/11/94
- McQuaid, Kate. "Tree-lined formula", The Boston GlobeThe Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, Boston, 8/22/03 - Meadows, Gail. "Artist exhibit takes on a golden tint". Miami Herald, 5/24/03
- Montane, Diana. "Spreng: feliz en sus lienzos", Exito, Miami, 21/10/92
- Morsella, Astur. "Spreng: los colores de la paz", Selecta Magazine, Miami, November 1992
- Mosella, Astur."Buscador del absoluto", Diario de las Americas, Miami, 25/10/92
- Morsella, Astur. "Spreng: arte que libera", Miami Mensual Magazine, November 1989
- Novo, Mireya. "Sueños de un mar azul turquesa", Exito, Miami, Florida, 22/3/95
- Pau Llosa, Ricardo. "Bien merecido el exito del arte hispano", Exito, Miami, December 1991
- Ricardo Pau-LlosaRicardo Pau-LlosaRicardo Pau-Llosa is a Cuban-American poet, art critic of Latin American art in the US and Europe, and author of short fiction.-Life:...
. "Sebastian Spreng", ArtPapers, Atlanta, Georgia, December 1991 [6] - Pau Llosa, Ricardo. "Sebastian Spreng", Revista Imagen, Caracas, Venezuela, March 1992
- Pau Llosa, Ricardo. Centro Euroamericano Caracas 1994, Exhibition Catalog
- Ponsowy, Mori. "El Silencio de Spreng", El Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela. 29/11/94
- Puzzovio, Dalila. "Sebastián Spreng: un espíritu libre", Revista Cuisine & Vins, August 2011
- Santiago, Fabiola. "DC exhibit celebrates Miami". Miami Herald, February 24, 2008
- Scott, Mercedes. "Spreng; Imagenes del alma", Revista MarieClaire USA, November 1992
- Segal, Horacio. "En Busca Del Paraiso Perdido", El Nuevo HeraldEl Nuevo HeraldEl Nuevo Herald is a McClatchy newspaper published daily in Spanish in Miami, Florida, in the United States. El Nuevo Heralds sister paper is The Miami Herald, also produced by the McClatchy Company.-About El Nuevo Herald:...
, Miami, 1/10/92 - Silva, Patricia. "Swimming in Landscapes", Latin Finance Magazine, Florida, September 1993
- Tischler, Gary."Redefining Boundaries". The Washington DiplomatThe Washington DiplomatThe Washington Diplomat is an independent monthly newspaper.It features one-on-one interviews with foreign ambassadors. It also contains articles examining international relations, politics, trade, U.S...
, DC. April 2008 - Theran, Susan. "Leonard's Price Index Latin American Art at Auction", Page 105/443, 1999, Newton Massachusetts
- Tomb, Geoffrey. "Art celebrates passage to independence", Miami Herald, 14/7/95
- Turner, Elisa. "Sebastian Spreng". ARTnewsARTnewsARTnews is an arts magazine based in New York, founded by James Clarence Hyde in 1902 as Hyde’s Weekly Art News. It is published 11 times a year.ARTnews covers all art, from ancient to Post-modernism...
Magazine, September 2011 - Turner, Elisa. "CRITIC'S PICK | Sebastian Spreng: Recent Works", Miami Herald, May 4, 2007
- Turner, Elisa. "Sebastian Spreng: Recent Works", Arte al dia internacional, June 200
- Turner, Elisa. "Spreng Celebrates the Richness of Ocean", Miami Herald, 15/10/89
- Turner, Elisa. "Writing and Painting about Chamber Music", Miami Herald, 27/3/95
- Turner, Elisa. "Striking Miniatures in Spreng Exhibition", Miami Herald, 14/10/92
- Turner, Elisa. "Landscapes evokes places of the mind", Miami Herald, 3/6/92
- Ycaza, Cindy. "Paintings Reflect Fascination with Sea", Miami Herald, 18/8/91
- --- PeoplePeople (magazine)In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine – Triunfadores: El color de la genialidad -page 66-April 2000 - --- CHRISTIE’S Catalog, The Latin American Sale, page 148, New York, November 1998
- ---"Mirada transparente", Revista Life & Fitness, Buenos Aires, 12/31/89
- ---"Reencuentro en plena libertad", Revista La Nación, Buenos Aires, 11/28/89
- ---"Cuando la pintura es libertad", La Razon, Buenos Aires, 12/6/87
- ---"Un llamado inequivoco, fuerte e inconfundible", Revista Cronista Comercial, Buenos Aires, 12/87
- ---"De Miami sin escalas", Revista Noticias, Buenos Aires, 12/3/89
- ---"Pintura de soledades, lirismo de la luz", Revista Caras, Buenos Aires, 5/9/2006
- ---"Speak for the Trees", Marquand Books, Seattle 2009 ISBN 978-0-615-31547-8
External links
- Official Site
- Reviews in English
- Artnexus Magazine Review 2010
- International Auction Results
- Music Reviews (in English)
- File Spreng Music Interviews (in Spanish) [7]
- http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/05/2249455_p2_sebastian-spreng-moves-forward.html#storylink=addthis The Miami Herald Profile June 5, 2011