Light & Shadow by Norman Spencer

Sheherazade
January 27 - March 1, 2018

The following statement was written for the first exhibit at Sheherazade -- Light & Shadow by Norman Spencer -- in January 2018:

 

Sheherazade is an experimental gallery space located inside an Old Louisville garage. 

 

The installations will be viewable night and day from the sidewalks of Magnolia Avenue. There are no open hours. The intent is to create a non-commercial art experience that interrupts the boundaries of public and private space in a way that makes outsiders feel like insiders, insiders feel like outsiders, and that causes personal introspection. The first exhibition, Light and Shadow, is a new work created specifically for this space by Norman Spencer, a 28-year-old self-taught artist who lives less than a block away. 

 

Sheherazade is also an extension of my personal studio space. 

 

Norman Spencer did not know me when I asked him to create a new, large-scale work of art for this space. I first became aware of his work when I bought a print from him at a street fair years ago: a small, simple image of a pink shotgun house. Both the image, and Norman, are quintessentially “Louisville” in my mind. Just as Norman did not know me, neither did I know what Norman would choose to create in my space for the inauguration of Sheherazade. I am interested in this collaboration and in this mutual risk. In inviting artists to transform the garage according to their visions, I am benefitting from the unpredictable energy that their work might bring to my own studio practice in the next room. The energy emitting from Norman Spencer’s installation—with its street art vernacular and rhythmic symbols of transformation—feels joyous. 

 

 

Thank you for coming,

​

Julie Leidner

January 27th, 2018