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2005
Acrylic on Panel 5 7/8 x 14 in. |
Acrylic
"Verge"
"Building Empires"
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“David Jay Spyker’s ‘Building Empires’, which won the second place prize, is a meticulously detailed image rendered with a quasi-Renaisannce style and palette. The viewer looks through a crumbling window, the ledge of which swarms with bugs and fruit. In the distance is a timeless city on the water’s edge, below an oddly menacing sunset. It’s a strong allegorical painting that, unlike straightforward realism, mystifies more than it clarifies.”
– Amy Sult, from an exhibition review published on Sunday, April 4, 1999 in the Kalamazoo Gazette |
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1998
Acrylic on Canvas 34 x 40 in. Private Collection: Holland, Michigan
2nd Place Award, 1999, Regional Fine Arts Competition, Carnegie Center for the Arts; Three Rivers, Michigan 4th Place Award, 1999, 20th Michigan Artists’ Competition, Art Center of Battle Creek, Battle Creek, Michigan
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"A Light Against the Dark"
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1997
Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 12 in. Collection of the Carnegie Center for the Arts, Three Rivers, Michigan detail – click to enlarge
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"The Haven (In Memory of Martin Maddox, 1954-1997)"
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2nd Place Award, 1998, 19th Michigan Artist’s Competition, Art Center of Battle Creek; Battle Creek, Michigan |
| “Particularly impressive is ‘The Haven’, a piece that employs the most severe of Midwestern weather phenomena as allegory. The piece was painted in response to the passing of Spyker’s friend and mentor, Martin Maddox. It shows a simple farmhouse, windows lit but shades drawn. Its white clapboard seem to glow in the dark scenery, and it’s anchored in a field with grass that swirls like waves beneath a boiling, menacing sky that is spouting twin tornadoes. It’s hard to decide whether the occupants of the house are truly in a state of guarded safety or if the shades are drawn in a state of obliviousness to the impending danger, an uncertainty that adds an extra air of mystery and edginess to a compelling painting.”– Amy Sult, from “Regional flavor prevails in Carnegie Center competition”, published on Sunday, April 12, 1998 in the Kalamazoo Gazette |
detail – click to enlarge
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"The Isle of the Dead"
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1997
Acrylic on Panel 12 x 12 in. Private Collection: Holland, Michigan |
"Pomegranate"
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1997
Acrylic on Panel 9 x 12 in. Private Collection: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Study for the painting “Building Empires“
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"The Dance"
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1996
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard 11 1/4 x 5 7/16 in. Private Collection: Kalamazoo, Michigan |
"The Dying Light"
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1996
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Panel 3 3/16 x 1 3/4 in. Private Collection: Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
"The Enigma of Space"
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1996
Acrylic on Canvas 32 x 50 in.
Best of Show, 1998, Carnegie Center for the Arts, Three Rivers, Michigan |
| “The purpose of art is mystery.”- René Magritte |
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"The Stone"
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1999
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard 9 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. |
"Heartland (Prospecting for Gold)"
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2000
Acrylic on Canvas 32 x 48 in. Corporate Collection: Pfizer |
| Pharmacia Corporation Purchase Award, 2000, Michigan Artist’s Competition, Art Center of Battle Creek; Battle Creek, Michigan |
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"The Return"
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2000
Acrylic on Hardboard 7 x 10 in. Collection of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Companion painting to “The Retreat“, 2000, Acrylics on Hardboard, 7 x 10 in., Private Collection: Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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“It is the secret sympathy, The silver link, the silken tie, Which heart to heart and mind to mind, In body and in soul can bind.”-The Lay of the Last MinstrelSir Walter Scott (1771-1832) |
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"Tuesday (May 13, 1980)"
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2000
Acrylic on Canvas 12 x 20 in. |
"Waiting for the Tide"
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2000
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard 12 x 10 in. Private Collection: Saugatuck, Michigan |
"The Retreat"
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2000
Acrylic on Hardboard 6 x 10 in. Private Collection: Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Companion painting to “The Return“, 2000, Acrylics on Hardboard, 7 x 10 in., which is in the public collection of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
"Remnant"
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2000
Acrylic on Hardboard 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. Private Collection: Hinsdale, Illinois |
"The Lost"
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2000
Acrylic on Hardboard 5 x 3 3/4 in. Private Collection: Chicago, Illinois |
"The Curator’s Choice"
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2000
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard 7 x 9 in. Private Collection: Dexter, Michigan |
"Asylum (The Refugee)"
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2000
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard 10 x 12 in. Private Collection: Highland, Indiana |
"Homestead"
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2000
Acrylic on Hardboard 9 7/16 x 8 3/8 in. Private Collection: Wilmette, Illinois
“If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” - St. Francis of Assisi |
"The Parting"
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2000
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard 10 x 12 in. Private Collection: Chicago, Illinois |
"Glimpse"
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2000
Acrylic on Hardboard 2 9/16 x 7 in. Private Collection: Gobles, Michigan |
