Allison Spence on her current exhibition 'Spread'. Spence is joined by author and science writer Sam Kean to discuss her sculptural paintings, video work, and overall practice.
Allison Spence presents an installation of paintings, archival matter, and video in her latest exhibition 'Spread'. Drawing parallels between Tomie--a Japanese horror manga with an infinitely regenerative femme fatale as its protagonist--and Pando--a prodigious and clonal forest colony in Utah that revitalizes itself in the wake of wildfires--Spence considers the potential for destructive acts to give rise to additive, creative, and infinite forms. Operating in a fluid space that confounds medium, language, and planarity, Spence's work overlays reality with a gloss of its abject and sinister undercurrents.