Spencer Cheek: Arms and Ornament

Arms and Ornament Exhibition Statement:

This exhibition includes a series of wall pieces, both prints and ceramic wall shields. The prints are taken from photographs of sculptures I have made which themselves reference ceramic figurines. These fix a perspective upon these 3D forms in a way that evokes the ways advertising and propaganda frame content. Across from them are shields based on the town coat of arms for former Soviet closed cities. These cities required special paperwork to enter or leave and often dealt with the extraction or enrichment of material for the military complex, including uranium and plutonium. Alongside these are several amalgamations of ceramic figurines which have been warped and bonded through the firing process, pushing these tchotchkes into a longer, more geological timeline. 

Artist Statement:

My practice is both a mode of expression and investigation, existing as a way of analyzing our relationship to figurative objects, both publicly and personally, mainly through the ceramic process. The ceramic figurine has been under particularly intense scrutiny recently. They represent a form of tangible mass media, communicating and holding so much as cultural products. What do these commercial objects reveal about what we do and don’t value? 

Spencer Cheek is an artist originally from Boston, MA. He holds a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a post-bachelor's certificate from The University of Colorado Boulder. Currently in graduate school, he will graduate in Spring 2024 with an MFA degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

Exhibition curated by Robert Rusch.