Gunhild Kübler: Überblendungen, In: Kirsten Claudia Voigt, Leonie Beiersdorf: Inventing Nature – Pflanzen in der Kunst, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe 2021
Susan Cross: An Introduction to the Work of Spencer Finch, in: Spencer Finch. The Brain is Wider The Sky, Prestel, 2015
Kennedy, Randy, The Searing Blues of the 9/11 Sky, The New York Times, May 15, 2014
Mark Godfrey: Spencer Finch. Measures and Pleasures, Parkett, 29, June 2007

Color Notes (Summer) 2020, I, 2022, watercolour on paper, set of 25 works, 17.8 x 17.8 cm each

Spencer Finch

Spencer Finch was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1962, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

He has participated in the Folkestone Triennial, UK (2011), the 53rd Venice Biennial (2009), the Turin Triennial (2008) and the Whitney Biennial (2004). A survey exhibition titled What Time Is It on the Sun? was on view at MASS MoCA, North Adams in 2007-2008. In 2017, he returned to the museum with his long-term installation Cosmic Latte. Spencer Finch has exhibited internationally since the early 1990s.

Solo projects and exhibitions include The Hill Art Foundation, New York (2022); Arcadia University Spruance Gallery, Glenside (2019); The Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Turner Contemporary, Margate (both 2014); Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (2012); The Art Institute of Chicago; Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst (both 2011); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC and FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou (both 2010). A long term installation of his work Moon Dust (Apollo 17) is on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (since 2018). Finch participated in the Folkestone Triennial, UK (2011), Venice Bienni-al (2009), Turin Triennial (2008) and the Whitney Biennial (2004).

Spencer Finch was chosen to create the only work of art commissioned for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, New York, which opened in 2014. In 2018, he created Fifteen Stones (Ryōan-ji), a site-specific installation for the reflecting pond of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona. His installation Lost Man Creek, recreating at a 1:100 scale, a 790-acre section of the Redwood National Park in California, was on view at MetroTech Commons, Downtown Brooklyn until May 2018. His commission for the Elizabeth Line Paddington Station in London titled "A Cloud Index" opened in 2022. Other recent public commissions include: The Western Mystery, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum; Newton’s Theory of Color and Music (Goldberg Variations), Steinway, New York (2016); Kentucky Sunlight (Lincoln’s Birthday), Speed Art Museum, Louisville (2016); the glass façade design for The Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore (2012); and The River that Flows Both Ways, High Line Park, New York (2009). In 2023 he is realizing a substantial commission for the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing’s new building in Cambridge, MA.

Detail: Color Notes (Summer) 2020, I, 2022

Installation view: Bring me the sunset in a cup, 2023. Commissioned with MIT Percent-for-Art funds. Photo: Dario Lasagni

Installation view, 'Bring me the sunset in a cup', 2023. Commissioned with MIT Percent-for-Art funds. Photo: Dario Lasagni

Installation view, 'Bring me the sunset in a cup', 2023. Commissioned with MIT Percent-for-Art funds. Photo: Dario Lasagni

After La Grande Jatte (Spectrophotometric #1: butterfly, pipe, sailboat reflection, tree leaves / Spectrophotometric #2: Baby, sky, pipe, parasol) / Spectrophotometric #3: trumpeter’s hat, girl’s hair, grass in sun, monkey), 2023
acrylic on birch plywood panel, group of three paintings, each 50.8 x 50.8 cm, 20 x 20 in

After La Grande Jatte (Spectrophotometric #3: trumpeter’s hat, girl’s hair, grass in sun, monkey), 2023, acrylic on birch plywood panel, one from group of three paintings, each 50.8 x 50.8 cm, 20 x 20 in

Cumulus fractus (Andalusia), 2023, Scotch tape on matboard mounted to Dibond, 61 x 81.3 cm, 24 x 32 in

Autumn Haiku (leaves on stone wall), 2022, 3 LED lamps, filters and fixtures, 122 x 40.6 cm x 5 cm

Atlantic Ocean, Del Ray Beach, February 8, 2002 (afternoon effect), 2009, watercolor on paper, 55.9 x 76.2 cm, 22 x 30 in

Installation view: Lux and Lumen: Spencer Finch. Hill Art Foundation, September 16 2022–March 4 2023. Photo: Matthew Herrmann

Following 3 Bees (Zinnias), 2023, pastel and pencil on paper, 75.6 x 104.8 cm, 29 3/4 x 41 1/4 in

A Cloud Index, 2016. Paddington station (Elizabeth line). Commissioned as part of The Crossrail Art Programme. Photo: GG Archard, 2022

A Cloud Index, 2016. Paddington station (Elizabeth line). Commissioned as part of The Crossrail Art Programme. Photo: GG Archard, 2022

Falling Leaf (Beech), 2019, watercolor on folded paper, 4 x 4 cm each square

Detail: Falling Leaf (Beech), 2019

Spring (3,563), 2016, watercolour on paper, 228.6 x 355.5 cm

Detail: Spring (3,563), 2016

Fog (Penobscot Bay), 2017, pastel and pencil on paper, 98 x 127 cm

Study for Goldberg Variations 21, 30, 29, 2021, 6 fluorescent lights, fixtures, filters, 122 x 43.2 x 5 cm

RGB (Yellow), 2021, LED Lightbox and Fujitrans, 81.3 x 81.3 x 10.2 cm

Gutter (San Francisco) straw, cigarette butt, feather, cucumber slice, banana peel, syringe, coffee cup, 2019, watercolour on paper, 53 x 74.5 cm

Fifteen Stones (Ryōan-ji), 2018, 15 granite stones, site-specific installation for the reflecting pool, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona

Fifteen Stones (Ryōan-ji), 2018, 15 granite stones, site-specific installation for the reflecting pool, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona, photo: Anna Mas

Fifteen Stones (Ryōan-ji), 2018, 15 granite stones, site-specific installation for the reflecting pool, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona, photo: Anna Mas

Shadow of Orange Tree (After Lorca), 2019, fluorescent fixtures and filters, 320 x 420 x 5 cm

Fresh Snow (morning effect), IV, 2021, silver leaf on paper, 55.9 x 76.2 cm,

Crawford Path up Mt. Pierce, NH (after a spring snowstorm), 2021, Pantone swatches and pencil on paper, 74.9 x 104.8 cm

Cloud (Cumulus Mediocris, Mexico City), 2019, Scotch tape on blue matboard, 50,8 x 76,2 cm

Atlantic Ocean from Isle au Haut, 2017, watercolour and pencil on paper, 75 x 102 cm

Pacific Ocean, Noosa, Australia, April 1, 2008 (afternoon effect), 2009, watercolor on paper, 70.2 x 104.8 cm, 27 5/8 x 41 1/4 in

Installation view "Spencer Finch – The eye you see is not an eye because you see it, it is an eye because it sees you", Galerie Nordenhake Berlin 2017

Pollen, 2017, watercolour, Ink, pencil, colour pencil, marker, soft pastel, gouache on paper, and archival inkjet prints, overall dimensions installed 151 x 361 cm

Smell of Spring, detail of the work Pollen, 2017

Still Life (Bouquet) morning effect, noon effect, afternoon effect, evening effect, 2019, watercolor on paper Set of four drawings, 70 x 53.3 cm each

Bamboo Grove (Arashiyama, afternoon effect, May 23, 2017), 2017, 50 Fluorescent lights, fixtures, filters, 21x 120cm, 18x 90 cm, 11x 60cm
Overall dim. installed approx. 340 x 280 cm

Blooming Calendar (my garden), 2020, watercolour on paper, 102.9 x 152.4 cm

Play Video

Spencer Finch and Daniel Birnbaum (Director of Moderna Museet Stockholm) in conversation during Gallery Weekend Berlin, April 28 – June 24, 2017, .

Sunlight in an Empty Room, West Wall/East Wall, 2020, 2 fluorescent lights, fixtures, filters, overall dimensions installed: 122 x 34 x 6

Following 3 Bees (Zinnias), 2023, pastel and pencil on paper, 75.6 x 104.8 cm, 29 3/4 x 41 1/4 in, framed 81 x 109.9 cm, 31 7/8 x 43 1/4 in

Following a Bee (Zinnias), 2020, pastel and pencil on paper, 75 x 104 cm

Trying To Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning, 2014, 2,983 watercolor squares. Commission for National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Each of the watercolor squares is its own shade of blue – one for each of the 2001 and 1993 attack victims.

Study for Times Square Boogie Woogie, 2019, 11 Fluorescent lights, fixtures and filters, overall dimensions installed approximate 300 x 280 cm

The Outer — from the Inner (Emily Dickinson’s bedroom, dusk), 2018, 7 archival inkjet prints, each 39.5 x 39.5 cm

The Outer — from the Inner (Emily Dickinson’s bedroom, dusk), 2018, detail

Red (Lock of Emily Dickinson’s hair), 2018, Ambrotype on glass with velvet backing, 22.9 x 17.8 cm

Sunlight in a Room, 2017, 11 archival inkjet prints, 8 photographs 35 x 26.6 cm, 3 photographs 26.6 x 35 cm

Installation view "Moon Dust (Apollo 17)", 2009, 150 light fixtures and 417 incandescent light bulbs, Variable dimensions, Baltimore Museum of Art 2017

Light in an Empty Room (Studio at Night), 2015, Mixed Media, Dimensions at Art Unlimted Basel: (H)400 x (W)1000 x (L)750 cm

Light in an Empty Room (Studio at Night), 2015, detail

Light in an Empty Room (Studio at Night), 2015, detail

Study for Light in an Empty Room (Studio at Night), 2015, Watercolor on paper, 56 x 77 cm

Installation view "Spencer Finch – Passing Cloud", Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 2010, Fluorescent light fixtures and lamps, filters, mono-filament, and clothespins, dimension variable

Lump (of concrete) Mistaken for a Pile (of dirty snow), 2010, Secar 71, white Portland cement, white sand, black marble dust, Translucent Frit, Brooklyn street dirt, 34 x 41 x 29 cm

Installation view "Spencer Finch – Moondust (Apollo 17)", Venice Biennale 2009, 150 light fixtures and 417 incandescent light bulbs, dimensions variable, Fare Mondi/Making Worlds

Installation view "Spencer Finch – Moonlight (Venice, March 10, 2009)", Venice Biennale 2009, filters, tape, dimensions variable

A Walk Through Berlin (with Claudia), 12. November 2013, 252 Pantone Color Swatches, Dimensions variable (individual elements 4,3 x 3 cm each)

A Walk Through Berlin (with Claudia), 12. November 2013, detail

Mars Black (3Fe2O3•FeO), 2003, 60 fixtures and 255 light bulbs (15 units, á 4 fixtures), dimensions variable

The River that Flows Both Ways, 2009, Transforms an existing series of windows with 700 individual panes of glass representing the water conditions on the Hudson River over a period of 700 minutes in a single day

Orion, 2008, 17 hand painted glass globes, fixtures, LED-lights, overall dimensions: approx 151 x 300 x 300 cm

Brain scan study (color objects), 2013, Water color and pencil on paper, 38.8 x 55.9 cm

West (Sunset in my motel room, Monument Valley, January 26, 2007, 5:36-6:06 pm), 2007, 9-channel synchronized video installation with 9 TV monitors, 9 DVD players and sync unit, Running time: 31 min, 5 sec, Dimensions variable, shelving and monitors: 182 x 206 x 73,7 cm