Kirk Bear Canyon Library invites you to an exhibit by Michael Speir, on display until October 31, 2025.
Artist Statement
This body of work revisits the language of early modernist painting through today's digital tools. Each image began as a digital construction, some modeled in 3D software, others generated with Al. Each digital reference became the basis for a traditional oil painting.
I've long been drawn to the clarity and boldness of early 20th-century modernism. The clean geometries of Edward Hopper, stylized landscapes of Georgia O'Keeffe, and the structured compositions of Paul Cézanne all embraced essentialism and an emphasis on form, distilling the subject to its essential elements.
The digital origins give each piece an artificial sharpness and a perfection that can feel uncanny. I hope to achieve a dynamic tension between the mechanical and the handmade, the virtual and the material.
Ultimately, I aim to bridge eras, bringing early modernism into conversation with 21st-century tools to create work grounded in tradition but attuned to the present.
Images courtesy of the artists
