On May 02, 2015, Derek Mathew Elmore – an artist and art conservator working in New York – presented a talk at Catland in Brooklyn NY on Austin Osman Spare’s Life, Methodology, His Influence Today, and the Conservation of Two of His Paintings.
This informal talk took inspiration from Elmore’s earlier talk at Catland in December 2013 and a subsequent article published in Clavis Volume 3. It delved into the life of the artist, and each of his very distinctive and contrasting periods with commentary in Spare’s own words. Derek also explored Spare’s influence into the modern day, including many living legends in visual art and music and more personally, how Spare has influenced Derek himself. Lastly there will be some fundamentals of conserving works of art and the techniques Elmore used as a conservator to repair the damage to the paintings while remaining true to Spare’s integrity.
As an artist Derek’s work is highly influenced by the subconscious as well as visionary artists such as Gustave Dore, Caravaggio, William Blake, Giorgio de Chirico and Austin Osman Spare. During his Masters degree in London he had the opportunity to conserve two paintings by Austin Spare for his final project.
Thanks to Soror Hypatia for the tip!
