Bandstands

Experimentation with material gathered at the mysterious hilltop bandstand of Arnold Circus resulted in the process of layering elevations of each face of the bandstand. With this process the symmetrical form allows the structure of the bandstand to register as coherent against a melee of backgrounds and foregrounds. The ethereal nature of the final image creates a tangible sense of the passage of time, with contemporary figures appearing as ghosts of their Victorian or Edwardian forebears. Here we see the bandstands absorbing and reflecting the changes in their surroundings, whether as active centres of attention, or as dis-used and perhaps mis-used relics of the past.

“Jon Spencer has created photographs that are ethereal, at once very specific and yet so universal that the connection with the viewer is multifarious. The bandstands are indeed “silent sentinels”, but they also call out ever so majestically.”
Debra Klomp Ching, The Klompching Gallery, New York, writing in Troika Editions.

Work in this series is generally available for sale in the following formats:
- 59 x 42cm (A2) archival inkjet prints in a limited edition of 25
- 21 x 15cm (A5) archival inkjet prints in an open edition

Please contact me for more info. Three of the bandstands are available exclusively from Troika Editions in a different format - read more here.

Video by Troika Editions

Jon Spencer

Bethnal Green