About

Spencer Farrell is a queer artist currently based in Chicago, IL, working with moving and still image photography in both analog and digital forms. Their work is concerned with the intermingle of environment, space, ritual, and self. They were born in Altus, Oklahoma in 2002, and were raised in San Antonio, Texas, where they fell in love with photography, the act of documentation and the beauty of the small details around us. At the conclusion of grade school, they moved to Lawrence, Kansas where they would gain a love for design and combine their design and photo skills in high school journalism. Their work was featured at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kansas, for the school district-wide art exhibition (2018) as well as at the Tim Murphy Art Gallery in Merriam, Kansas, as a part of a group exhibition for their annual High School Visual Arts Competition (2019). They received honors for being ranked amongst the top five in the Branding category for the eMagine Media Festival in Olathe, Kansas (2019) and third place in Student Life Photography for the Kansas Scholastic Press Association Regional Contest (2020). In the fall of 2020, Spencer moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in pursuit of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art; they are currently a senior and plan on graduating this May. During their final year in school, they have shown work in exhibitions at the Institut für Alles Mögliche in Berlin and at Art on The Mart on the Chicago River during the Merchandise Mart’s inaugural collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

CV

EDUCATION

AWARDS

SELECTED GROUP

2024

2018

2020

2019

2024

EXHIBITIONS

2023

2023

2019

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Summer Pre-College Design Program

University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

3rd Place in Student Life Photography

Kansas Scholastic Press Association: Pioneer Regional (5A/6A)

Top 5 in Branding

eMagine Media Festival, Kansas City, KS

(0H) (-0N02): 16mm Projections

No Nation Art Lab, Chicago IL

Analog

Art on The Mart, Chicago IL

ZEITGEIST

Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany

High School Visual Arts Competition

Tim Murphy Art Gallery, Merriam, KS