Jack Spencer Storyteller

Describing his photographs as ‘metaphors that represent something primal in all of us’, photographer Jack Spencer is a grand storyteller. Douglas Flanders & Associates newest gallery exhibition displays iconic examples from four of Jack Spencer’s masterful photographic series: Native Soil, This Land, Apariciones, and Florals.

Beginning in black-and-white, Spencer accomplishes each softly tactile print through selective hand-coloring and unique technical processes devised by him. From subtle control of the camera’s focus to projecting his negatives in the enlarger through various transparent materials, Spencer then sometimes coats his prints with up to three coats of oil varnish medium, and even further distresses them with coats of asphaltum that is applied then removed. Some prints are slightly torn and dented. The process creates a patina that suggests age.

Jack Spencer has photographs in many collections, including The Houston Museum of Fine Art, TX, Berkley Museum of Art, CA, and even Sir Elton John’s Photography Collection, reported to be one of the largest photography collections in the world.