I make paintings, drawings, and installations that abstract the landscape, investigating the precarious relationship between nature and technology. These works wrestle with the beauty and complexity of the environment and how we as humans engage with the world, both directly and indirectly mediated through digital tools. I hunt and gather images of flowers, thick forests, sun-dappled foliage, seeking images that evoke wonder, depicting natural beauty and the immensity of the world. As I paint, I interpret these images through visual filters that emerge out of our technology. In the paintings, I weave together multiple images creating a technologically abstract tapestry of natural forms, evoking both beauty and trepidation. The underlying grid in the paintings pushes and pulls at the imagery, as flowers and forms emerge and are pulled back into the flickering tangle. Here the painting’s highly touched surface evokes glowing digital screens while remembering sunlight’s gentle caress. 

EDUCATION                                  

1999   BA, Concordia University, Seward, NE

2001   MA, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

2002   MFA, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024   Monument of Dirt & Air, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA

2024   The Space Between Earth and Sky, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2023   Wonder & Dread, Whitespace, Atlanta, GA

2021   House of Leaves, University Art Gallery, University of the South, Sewanee, TN

           Summer Noise, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

2018   Divided Light, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY

           Grammar of the Ground, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA

           Still We Move, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2017   Outside In, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

2016   Now & Not Yet, Marxhausen Gallery Concordia University, Seward, NE

           Jered Sprecher: Recent Work, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN

2015   The Hollow That Echoes, Gallery Protocol, Gainesville, FL

2014   Half Moon Maker, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA

           Stacking Stones, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA

           Beats/Breaks, Staple Goods, New Orleans, LA

           Here & There, Tops Gallery, Memphis, TN

           Jered Sprecher, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY.

2013   Jered Sprecher, The Locker Plant, Chinati Foundation Marfa, TX

           I Always Lie, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY

           Dreams of Architects and Poets, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

2012   Fraktur, Times Club/Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA (catalog).

2011   Als Ick Kan, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA

           Shadows of Friction, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA

2010   Monumental Dust, Kinkead Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

           Jered Sprecher Solo Project, VoltaNY, New York, NY

           Wen U R Luvd it iz t% much, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN

2009   Digging in the Dirt, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY

           Jered Sprecher: Recent Work, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA

           Drift, Cress Gallery of Art, the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN           

           Truth in Tension, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA

2007   Furniture of the Universe, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY

           Jered Sprecher, The Art Gallery of Knoxville, TN (catalog)

           Jered Sprecher, Process Room, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland

2005   Never Finished, GFL Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

           The Cabinet, Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago, IL

TWO + THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2022   Brian Jobe & Jered Sprecher: Serious Play, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA.

2022   Heather Hartman & Jered Sprecher, Strange Light, Channel to Channel, Chattanooga, TN

2015   Michael Jones McKean & Jered Sprecher: Three Carbon Tons, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2010  Pictures Hold Us Captive: Carrie Moyer & Jered Sprecher, Downtown Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

           Mark Holmes, Britta Bogers, & Jered Sprecher, Devening Projects, Chicago, IL

2004   New Spaces: Dan Attoe & Jered Sprecher, Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago, IL

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023   Currents, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

           December Show, Whitespace, Atlanta, GA

           Summer, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece

2022   Eraser, Ground Floor Gallery, Birmingham, AL. Organized by Brian Edmonds.

           Public Interiority, Ewing Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.

           It’s Never Over, St. Charles Projects, Baltimore, MD

2021   Re: Representation Part II, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

           A Flowering, Binder Projects, Memphis, TN

           Undercurrents, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

           Little Ritual, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA.

           The Violets in the Mountains Have Broken the Rocks, Pt. 2, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA

           Seconds, Minnesota Street Projects & Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA

2020   Mirage, Sawyer Yards - Sabine Gallery, Houston, TX. Organized by Tommy Taylor.

           Knoxville Local, East Tennessee Foundation, Knoxville, TN.

2019   Appalachia Now, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC. Organized by Jason Andrew

           Decoy, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR

2018   Anxious Abstraction, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

           Weekend, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL. Organized by Ezra Johnson

2017   New New York: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century, The Curator Gallery, NY.

            Esho Funi, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA. Organized by Lizzie Kurita.

            Life’s Rich Pageant, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY.

            Drawing Performance: Gallery Inga Kondeyne, Berlin, Germany

            DNA Residency Artists, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2016   Touch Between Image and Surface, University of Akron, Akron, OH. 

            trans_late, PLUG Projects, Kansas City, MO.

            Geometrix: Line, Form, Subversion, Curator’s Office, Washington D.C.

2015   After Living in the Room of Réalités Nouvelles, Sonce Alexander, Los Angeles, CA

            Currents, Knoxville, Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

            New on View II, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN

            Hither & Yon, Fuel & Lumber Company, Birmingham Alabama.

            New New York: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century, The University of Hawai’I at

            Manoa Art Gallery, Manoa, Hawaii.

2014   Hunter Invitational III, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN

            Genesis Forward Battery, Underdonk, Ridgewood, NY

            Higher Learning, Lehman College CUNY, New York, NY & Hamilton College, NY

            Collection, Ecole Superleure d'Art et de Design Grenoble/Valence, Grenoble, France


            Everyday Abstraction, Anderson Gallery, Drake University, Des Moines, IA

2013   5 x 5 Castelló 2013, Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castelló, Spain

            wintergarten, Rasche Ripken Berlin, Berlin, Germany

            The New Picture Plane, Leslie Heller Workspace, New York, NY

2012   wintergarten: paperworks, Rasche Ripken Gallery, Berlin, Germany

            Art on Paper 2012, 42nd Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

Gray Full, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY, organized by Geoffrey Young.

            Abstract Kansas City, Nerman Museum, Kansas City, KS.

            Liquid Light, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN.

            WAVERS, Studio 204, Brooklyn, NY, organized by Rob Nadeau and E.J. Hauser.

2011   FAX, Knoxville Museum of Art, (organized by The Drawing Center, Independent

Curators International, and Joao Ribas)

Ruptures, Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, St. Louis, MO

            Working Title, Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY

2010   Geometric Progressions, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY

            Precarity and the Butter Tower, CTRL Gallery, Houston, TX

            Playing Fields: Contemporary Painting, School of Art Gallery, University of Indiana,

Bloomington, IN

2009   Abstract Painters, Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN (catalog)

            Drawn, Kinkead Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

            Art Actuel France-Japon, Aoyama Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan

            Give Them What They Never Knew They Wanted, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY

2008   Ultrasonic III, Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

            Gouache and Gouache Only, Andrea Meislin Gallery & Jeff Bailey Gallery, NY     

2007   Non-Declarative, The Drawing Center, New York, NY (catalog)

2005   Hot Tamales, ArtLA, Los Angeles, CA      Curator: John Yau

            Dual Vision, Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago, IL Curator: John McKinnon

            New American Talent, Arthouse, Austin, TX Curator: Dan Cameron

            Next Next Art, (BAM) Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY

2004   Ordinary Aura, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI

2002   Iowa Artists 2002, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA

COLLECTIONS

            Aslan Foundation, Knoxville, TN

            Black Halo, Los Angeles, CA

            Museum of Modern Art/ Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, NY, NY

            Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

            Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN

            Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

            New York Public Library, Special Collections, New York, NY

            Progressive Corporation, Cleveland, OH

            Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

            Tama Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

            The University of Iowa, Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA

            The University of Tennessee, Ewing Gallery of Art

HONORS + AWARDS

2023   Affiliated Fellowship, American Academy in Rome, Italy

2022   Faculty Development Leave, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.

2019   Individual Artist Fellowship, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN

2018-21   Jefferson Prize, Office of the Chancellor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

2017-18   Ann & Steve Bailey Opportunity Grant, Arts & Culture Alliance, Knoxville, TN

2017   Grant Recipient, National Endowment for the Arts, Challenge Grant

2017   Artist in Residence, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA.

2013   Artist in Residence, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.

2013   FINALIST,5x5 Castello 2013, Premi Internacional d’art Contemporani

            Disputacio de Castello, Spain.    

2009   FELLOWSHIP, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

2007   Artist-in-Residence, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland

2003   FELLOWSHIP, Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, New York, NY

EXHIBITION CATALOGS + PUBLICATIONS + DOCUMENTARIES

2020   Joan Waltemath ed., Nancy Princenthal, Raphael Rubinstein, Jutta Koether,

Barry Schwabsky, contributors, Re Thinking Painting, Maryland Institute

College of Art, Baltimore, MD. (reproduction of painting)

2019   Jason Andrew, Appalachia Now!: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Contemporary Art in

            Southern Appalachia, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC. 58pgs.

2019   Marc Ethan Mitchell, Decoy: Tauba Auerbach, Trudy Benson, Tara Donovan,

            Corin Hewitt, & Jered Sprecher, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 16pgs.

2018   Amos Oakes, “Friday Artisans featuring Jered Sprecher”, Community Television of

            Knoxville, https://vimeo.com/257751971

2017   Artist to Artist, Vol. 2, Sharpe-Walentas Foundation, New York, NY, 480pgs

2017   Stephen Wicks & Jered Sprecher, Jered Sprecher: Outside In, The Knoxville Museum

            of Art, Knoxville, TN, 48pgs.

2017   Paul Harrill & Jered Sprecher, Jered Sprecher: Outside In, video 9 minutes 33 secs.,

            Documentary video filmed and edited by Paul Harrill.

2015   Michael Wilson, Memory Device: Jered Sprecher, Open Studio Press, 48pgs.

2014   Bill Donovan, Stacking Stones, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA. Published by ISSUU,

            28 pgs.

2012   Scott Anderson, Jered Sprecher: Fraktur, Times Club/Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA

2011   Jon Lutz, Working Title, Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY

2007   Luis Camnitzer, et al., Non-Declarative: Drawing Papers: Vol. 71, Sept. 2007

2007   Chris Molinski, Jered Sprecher, & Wendy White, Jered Sprecher: Truth in Tension, The Art Gallery of Knoxville, Knoxville, TN

LECTURES + VISTING ARTIST + WORKSHOPS

2023   Interview with Joe Thomas, Whitespace Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2022   Visiting Artist, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA

2021   Visiting Artist, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

2021   Visiting Artist, University of the South, Sewanee, TN

2019   Visiting Artist, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR

2018   Artist Lecture, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

2017   Visiting Artist, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

2016   Visiting Artist, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

            Visiting Artist, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI

            Visiting Artist, University of Akron, Akron, OH

2015   Visiting Artist, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

            Visiting Artist, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

2014   Visiting Artist, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN

            Lecture, Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN.

2013   Lecture, Chinati Foundation & Marfa Book Company, Marfa, TX

            Visiting Artist, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

            Visiting Artist, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

2012   Visiting Artist, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

            Visiting Artist, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

2011   Visiting Artist, Ox Bow Artist Residency, Saguatauk, MI

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA

Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA

Whitespace, Atlanta, GA