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Meet spOOk.
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spOOk's art
is owned by Jeremy Lee, a Canadian, currently living in Australia.
Jeremy has been drawing and painting for as long as he can remember.
Jeremy grew up in various parts of England including the picturesque
Cotswolds. He picked up a camera before 10 years old, and distinctly
remembers starting his first significant artwork at the age of six.
Fascinated
by colour, Jeremy spent many long nights and evenings learning the
physics. It seems easy at first to explain why something is 'red' or
'green' but the more you look into it, the harder it becomes. As
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it happens, the
study of colour leads you deep into
quantum physics. This created an interest in electronics and he built
an electronic organ at age 14. Around the same age, he sold many
picture-sculptures to friends and family. While still at school, he
created glass engravings and distributed them as wedding presents and
sold them. He worked for several years as an assistant at Winchcombe Pottery
run by Ray Finch. At the end of his tenure, Ray offered Jeremy an
apprenticeship. At a crossroads in life, with opportunities as a full
time potter or to pursue the Olympics as a gymnast, Jeremy decided that
a long term career would be best served pursuing his love of science.
Jeremy now has a degree in electronics and is a certified
internet security professional. This is what pays the bills and looks
after his dependents and a large pole house that he built by hand over
the last sixteen years; but his wife, children then art
craft, and working with wood and generally "making things" takes the
most prominent place in his life.
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While in
his early teens, he was disqualified from a local art and craft
competition for 'cheating'. This, being a mystery and great source of
irritation caused his parents to try and find out why and it turns out
that the judges truly believed that the work was pre-bought and not
constructed by a young man. Jeremy considered this a lesson in life,
but is yet to work out what it is. Certainly, "Don't try your best"
comes to mind, but that will never happen. A closet perfectionist at
heart, he has to work at balancing effort and result.
in 1988, a painting of Jeremy's on display at a local shop was stolen.
On the one hand, he considers that something of a back-handed
compliment but on the other wonder's why the customer felt that it was
worth stealing but not paying-for.
"spOOk",
"IamSpOOk" and "ButIamSpook" are usernames that he has used
for years on the internet. It's almost become a brand, except there are
more "spOOks" out there than you would expect which is why IamSpOOk was
born, quickly followed by "ButIamSpOOk" when that got pinched too.
Currently, Jeremy specialises in graphite portraiture and has built an
international reputation among graphite portrait artists but also uses
acrylics and
oils, having learned many skills with oil paint from an artist from
Brisbane in the late 1980s. Jeremy also likes to take photographs. "Window
Face" (Right) was accepted into a prestigious art festival in Manly.
Now that his major project is nearing completion - that is, the house
which itself is a work of art, he is, once again turning to drawing and
painting. Jeremy is offering portrait commissions at a typical market
price, but acknowledges that supply and demand may well cause a price
increase. This, of course is good news for early buyers.
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