Like an Op Art painting, the vibrant image of the light box "RGB (Yellow)" challenges our eyes, while filling the whole second room of the gallery in warm yellow light. On a conceptual level the work explores the complexity and paradoxes of color vision and display. The myriads of red, green and blue dots that create the yellow light were chosen in analogy to the workings of the three types of photosensitive cone cells in the retina. Albeit being each primarily susceptible to only one wavelength of light, their combined stimulus makes us perceive a continuum of various hues.

Given Finch’s conceptually grounded practice, it comes as a surprise to encounter a recent triptych of monochrome paintings. Here color is achieved by mixing pigment instead of light. Inspired by a long and deep investigation surrounding color problems, Finch noticed a certain disdain for the color brown in art, which in turn propelled him to explore the color in this work. The paintings are based on combinations of the two hues that Ludwig Wittgenstein's refers to as "impossible colors" bluish-orange, reddish-green, and yellowish-violet. By mixing each combination of colors together, Finch arrives at three hues of a deepness and richness, which we may call for lack of a better term, "brownish".

The fluorescent light installation "Autumn Haiku (sunset through pear tree)" is taking up the idea of Japanese Haikus, consisting of three lines and using the 5/7/5 syllable structure. This Haiku is based on the artist’s observation and a color reading of a sunset through a pear tree in his garden. With 17 colored filters that refer directly to the scene observed — the sky, the tree, the changing color of the leaves, and the warmth of the sunset colors coming through — he re-creates the autumn light. Akin to poetry, where the sound and meaning of a word come together, the work depicts what it enacts.

"Color Notes (Winter)" were inspired by Emily Noyes Vanderpoel’s book on "Color Problems". They catalog various colors from Finch’s daily surroundings, that he over the course of last winter had noticed for their interesting, unexpected or beautiful interplay. Similar to a Haiku, each one translates three hues into a lyrical triad. Altogether the 25 paintings form an abstract record of the artist’s daily life by season. As we learn about the mundane sources of his observations, which are duly noted on each page like "shoe/curb/pumpkin", it is surprising to see where Finch finds beauty.

Spencer Finch is essentially a collector of colors and attests to its autonomy. Not without a sense of humor and wonder, Finch expands the limits of our awareness for the enchanting nature of the close world around us.

Spencer Finch was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1962 and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His recent solo exhibitions include: Arcadia University, Glenside, PA (2019); The Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Marfa Contemporary, Marfa, TX; Turner Contemporary, Margate (all 2014), Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (2012), The Art Institute of Chicago; Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst MA (all 2011); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC and FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou (both 2010). His survey exhibition “What Time Is It on the Sun?” was on view at MASS MoCA, North Adams 2007-2008. The light installation “Cosmic Latte” is on view at the museum as a long-term installation since 2017.
Finch has participated in the Folkestone Triennial (2011), the 53rd Venice Biennial (2009), the Turin Triennial (2008) and the Whitney Biennial (2004).
In 2018 he realized “Fifteen Stones (Ryoanji)’, a site-specific installation for the Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Pavilion. Other public commissions include: “Orion,” San Francisco International Airport, CA (2020), “A Cloud Index”, Crossrail Paddington Station London; “The Garden in the Brain,” Brown University, Providence, RI (both 2018) “The Western Mystery“, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum; “Lost Man Creek”, MetroTech Commons, New York (both 2017); “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning“, the only work of art commissioned for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum (2014); the glass facade design for the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore (2012) and “The River that Flows Both Ways,” High Line Park, New York (2009). This is Spencer Finch’s eighth solo exhibition at Galerie Nordenhake.