Description
This painting is part of a series of Brooklyn Boxers by the artist George Spencer. Spencer was born and raised in NYC and has made his home in Brooklyn. He has shown work throughout the city, including as part of the group show Pop Authentic at Recession Art.
Spencer describes his home as “a traditionally a rough and tumble borough, always striving to be better (or best).” For Spencer, boxing is a metaphor that captures this striving. Boxing is simultaneously a thinking man’s and a working class sport – both are traits that define him and his work. He credits two Brooklyn-based sources with inspiring him to create these boxer portraits. The first is ‘On the Waterfront’, the celebrated film about a Brooklyn boxer. The second is the World Famous Gleason’s Gym, which is where so many boxers have practiced and fought – both the winners and the contenders. Spencer’s work focuses on the contenders, the bloodied yet unbowed.
This boxer is painted in black acrylic on a rough-edged and torn poster, found in Spencer’s neighborhood. It measures approximately 18″ x 24″ and comes unframed. It is signed and dated on the back, and stamped “Great Boxer” on the front.
