Hold Me
According to writer Simon Grant, "Spiller's works exist as love letters.... [he] wears his heart on his sleeve." This is evidenced by his patchwork paintings, hand-sewn on the floor of his London studio, often overlaid with song lyrics and the artist's musings about life, love, and longing. In his text-based paintings, Spiller's letters and words are often nonlinear, wrapping around the sides of the canvas. About this, Spiller shared: "A big influence for me was seeing those beautiful blue advertisements on the sides of old French barns as you drove along. I’d never seen anything like it back where I came from in Kent. They couldn’t always get the whole message into the space, so they’d wrap it round a corner or run a word vertically. They stood out like beacons in the landscape, and I guess that’s what I’d like my paintings to do."
Year: 2015
Medium: Acrylic and pencil on stitched canvas panels
Hand signed, dated, and titled on verso
Size: 34 x 36 in (86.36 x 91.44 cm)
Frame size: 36 x 38 in (91.44 x 96.52 cm)
Provenance: From the artist's Estate to Long-Sharp Gallery