Sean Sprague
Sean Sprague (born 1981) is a Canadian artist and photographer. Sprague's practice is focused on photography and the space it occupies between the real and the fabricated.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Sprague was born and grew up in Toronto, Canada. He was educated at Ontario College of Art and Design and received in 2004 an AOCAD in Photography. Sprague moved to Los Angeles in 2016 to attend the University of California Los Angeles, where he studied with artists Cathie Opie, Barbara Kruger, and Russell Ferguson. In 2018 and received his masters in fine art.
Background[edit]
From 2013 to 2015 Sprague collaborated with anthropologist Alex Blanchette[2] working in a 100-mile area in the Great Plains region that is economically dependent on farming. During this time Sprague initiated his compositing method where he would record thousands of images taken at each scene; they reflect the vastness of the region's farming network, which raises and kills millions of pigs, is powered by the labor of thousands of immigrants and utilizes millions of pounds of antibiotics each year. [3] This work was featured in Time[4] and has received wide recognition from organizations including American Photography[5], Photo District News, and the Magenta Foundations[6] for the Arts. It was recognized by the Toronto Arts Council and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
“The decisive moment is a great concept, but we don’t experience the world that way," says photographer Sean J. Sprague. "Life is a montage of occurrences that comes together overtime. By spending several hours shooting a scene and merging elements from each into a single frame, I create, in some way, a truer depiction of that space because I’m not capturing an outlier moment."
After a first trip documenting the inner-workings of a factory farm in 2010 that left him dissatisfied with the outcome, the 33 year-old returned to spend several days taking thousands of close-up shots. Months of editing and careful consideration of where each person – and pig – should be positioned resulted in striking and extremely detailed prints that effectively conveyed the feel of such large operations.[4]
Sean Sprague also contributed to various editorial projects and commissions including work for The Globe & Mail's Report[7] on Business, IBM, ING Direct, Maclean's, Molson Coors, Nike, Sportsnet, Toronto Life, the University of Toronto, and Volkswagen. [8]
Work[edit]
Sprague's work focuses on photography as a medium, and how it occupies the space between the real and the fabricated within the documentary genre. The December 2017 issue of Photo Life expands on sprague's thinking.
“But while Sprague’s technique may present the viewer with a theoretically accurate depiction of a scene, his approach works in stark contrast to the standards endorsed by most current authorities on documentary practice (including World Press Photo)—a clash that he sees as a non sequitur in the argument for accuracy. “I’m not interested in adhering to rules that have been set out by an establishment. I make pictures in a way that I think is best and am forthcoming about it… In terms of photography evolving, I’d say I don’t think many things evolve unless they’re in an environment that is conducive to taking risks freely. Contradictorily, I think the rules of documentary may end up being a good thing in the sense that it sets up a framework to be broken. You need picture-makers willing to break them, and I think we’re seeing more of that willingness. It’s not going to work all of the time, but that process moves the medium forward even in its setbacks.”[9]
In 2018-2019 Sprague exhibited at New Release Gallery in New York, Human Resources Gallery in Los Angeles and the Houston Center for Photography Museum. [10]
Awards[edit]
- 2011 American Photography 27 Winner[11]
- 2011 Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Winner[12]
- 2012 Toronto Arts Council Visual Arts Grant
- 2013 Wenner-Gren Engaged Anthropology Grant[13]
- 2014 American Photography 29 Winner[14]
- 2015 The Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward Winner[15]
- 2015 PDN Photo Annual[16]
- 2015 American Photography 31 Winner[17]
- 2016 Ontario Arts Council Emerging Visual Artist Grant
- 2019 American Photography 35 Winner[18]
References[edit]
- ↑ ""New Work" Exhibition". www.nyartbeat.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
- ↑ "Tufts University, Department of Anthropology: People". ase.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
- ↑ "PDN Photo Annual 2015". PDN 2015 Photo Annual. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Butet-Roch, Laurence. "Meet the Artists Who Play With the Rules of Documentary Photography". Time. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "AI-AP Slideshow". www.ai-ap.com. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ Foundation, The Magenta. "Flash Forward 2015". The Magenta Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "Timminco: How Eric Sprott got solar burn". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ Cornell, Michaela (2015). Flash Forward Forward 2015. Toronto: Magenta Press. pp. 70–71, 247. ISBN 978-1-926856-08-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Edmonds, Sam (Winter 2017). "Objectivity or Objectification Photography's Struggle with "Truth"". Photo Life: 46–49 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "2019 Center Annual | Houston Center for Photography". hcponline.org. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "AI-AP Slideshow". www.ai-ap.com. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ Foundation, The Magenta. "Flash Forward 2011". The Magenta Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ Daniel. "Engaged Anthropology Grant: Alex Blanchette and ""Factory Hog Farming, Capitalist Natures, and the New Rural American Frontier" – The Wenner-Gren Blog". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "AI-AP Slideshow". www.ai-ap.com. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ Foundation, The Magenta. "Flash Forward 2015". The Magenta Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "PDN Photo Annual 2015". PDN 2015 Photo Annual. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "AI-AP Slideshow". www.ai-ap.com. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ↑ "AI-AP Slideshow". www.ai-ap.com. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
External links[edit]
- Official Website
- Human Resources Gallery: Every Unlikely Story
- Tufts University Department of Anthropology
- Toronto Arts Council Report 2012
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