SPEAK EASY 01

Spectral Nation is a London-based multidisciplinary studio founded by Luke Frost, Therese Vandling, and Jon Rundall. Their experimental practice is rooted in a process-driven approach, encompassing screen printing, abstract collage composition, moving image and sound.

Emerging from the dynamic interplay of natural phenomena and the actions of the artists, their unique screen prints are an exercise in colour interaction and the manipulation of irregularities within the print process. Compositions evolve across each series of work, with shifting details playing out on a larger scale. With layers applied in a painterly manner, their aleatoric approach builds up visually distorted textures, echoing psychedelic states of consciousness, and showing parallels with layered audio recordings.

Their recent series of works ‘Eraze Phaze’, use an amalgam of masking techniques, monoprinting and hand pulled raw gestural first passes contrasted with smoother blended gradients, creating visual tension and discordant colour combinations in increasingly complex scenes that are ambiguous and open to suggestion by the viewer. These deeply layered compositions evoke psychedelic landscapes, immersing the viewer in distorted, dream-like visions.

The Ambient Haze works are meditations on colour. Using a diffusion dither stencil technique, layers of gradients are built up, leading to expansive colour interactions. The central line provides a reference point alluding to a horizon creating a sense of atmospheric perspective.

Spectral Nation formed in the early 2000s in East London. They’ve exhibited extensively across the UK and internationally, amassing a cult following. Early stalwarts in the DIY arts and music community in East London, their unique, improvised, and experimental works have since become highly sought after.

Between them they have studied at Royal College of Art, London College of Printing (LCC), and Croydon Art College.