sHANE SPECHT
@shanespechtartI am often arrested by a particular scene that I see: a mountain, a car on a rainy street, or even a person sitting at a bus stop can snap me out of my routine. In moments like these I am suddenly overcome by a sting of mindfulness and joy for the natural world, and yet these moments are easily forgotten as I forge on with my day.
Even if I remember that moment until I come home, I probably won’t remember it tomorrow, or next week, or next month. It is for this reason that these fleeting moments are so bittersweet. I might recall the emotions I experienced, but they grow duller with time, and somehow a photograph can never do them justice. If you have ever tried to spontaneously photograph a blood moon with your iPhone, you will know how inadequate photos can be.
The goal, then, of my paintings, is to make these moments permanent. I want to seize them, examine them, and translate them into an image. What begins as a flash of contemplation becomes a small painting, anxiously rendered before the light changes. I then create a larger composition, which can—more so than a photograph or a written description—authentically translate and share points of ephemeral joy.
Commonwealth Ave. Study, 2024. Oil on panel. 5x7 in
Here and There, 2024. Oil on canvas. 36x54 in