Wave Reflections
An Immersion in Light & Sound
John Spears & Jeff Talman
New Hope Arts Showcase, November 4 through December 3, 2023
John Spears’ visuals and Jeff Talman’s sound create a sensory environment in a collaborative exhibition featuring visual art in an enveloping sound matrix.
Listen to Jeff Talman's interview on WDVR's Let's Talk show.
Jeff Talman, composer and sound artist, creates work that is known for its unique timbres, spatial gesture, harmony, expression and resonance in an extended symphonic form. These compositions are experienced as traversable gallery/alternate-site installations, in 4-D quasi-concert style. Jeff frequently collaborates with scientists and audio specialists creating works within cosmic, natural and spiritual contexts.
NASA, The New York Times, BBC, NPR, Wired Magazine and German national television have recognized his broadcast, print and internet work. The Los Angeles Times named his Mt. Wilson Observatory installation Of Sound Before the Stars as a Best Classical Music of 2019 selection. Awards include over three dozen artist residencies domestic and international, Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and funding from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Noted as a pioneer of resonant and ambient sound composition by Italy’s Neural Magazine, Talman began programming computers in 1972 and owned his first synthesizer as a teen. He studied music composition and visual arts at the City College of New York and continued his composition studies at Columbia University, including work in the world renowned electronic and computer music studios. Composition teachers included Jan Meyerowitz, Jack Beeson, Lester Trimble, Chou Wen-chung, and Mario Davidovsky.
John Spears has been making art since the mid seventies. His work uses the silk screen process and ultraviolet pigments viewed as an installation with LED and ultraviolet lights. His method transcends any particular school of thought and might be considered a stream of consciousness approach to using the silk screen as an open door to painting and multi-media art. The resultant visual effects transform the work into a stunning new image. Over the course of his forty-five year career, he acknowledges his influences as both Joseph Albers and Nathan Olveria, among others. Spears installations are collected by numerous corporate and private collections. His museum exhibits include the San Jose Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Morris Museum of Art.
New Hope Arts welcomes the return of John Spears. In January 2021 his exhibition Illusions of Light, John thrilled gallery goers in the first gallery show after the return of live exhibitions (remembering the pandemic shut down).
This pairing of media by John Spears and Jeff Talman was conceived and curated by Rita Romanova Gekht. Installation with Scott Reamer. Sound engineering by Jeff Talman with contributions by Kevin Bulger.
Gallery Hours : Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5pm and by appointment. Reception for the artists Friday November 10, 5-8 pm
New Hope Arts 2 Stockton Avenue, New Hope PA 215 862 9606 www.newhopearts.org
