Jack Spencer began by making subtly toned photographs of people and places off the back roads in the deep South; his images were atmospheric, but they were subject-centered. In 2003, Spencer abandoned chemical printing and took to painting on his digital photographs, which freed him to indulge his imagination. In “Hombre Sin Tiempo” (“Man Without Time”) from his “Apariciones” series shot in Mexico, a cadaverous old man sits bent over a table on which are spread old-fashioned, cheap alarm clocks. Spencer has bathed the entire scene in a wide range of finely differentiated sepia tones so that the man and the clocks fuse into the rigidity of a sculpture. Spencer’s later series continue working out the suggestions of his pictorial imagination, but he let himself go in “Apariciones.” (Michael Weinstein)
Through July 12 at Catherine Edelman Gallery, 300 W. Superior. (312)266-2350.
