Richard Sprengeler
Local photographer Richard Sprengeler defies categorization,” wrote Jeff Daniel, art critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1999. A comparison of the two covers of this magazine provide a glimpse of his extreme versatility: a precise presentation of the dramatic Barnes-Jewish Hospital Center for Advanced Medicine versus an abstraction completely devoid of recognizable subject matter.
What the two images have in common is Sprengeler’s painstaking treatment in PhotoShop, a digital tool he’s mastered and employs routinely when working on clients’ architectural and commercial images and his own fine art. Sprengeler explained how he manipulated the Center for Advanced Medicine image in PhotoShop: “I showed up at dawn to shoot the building, and about half of the lights in the windows were off. In PhotoShop, I turned the lights on in every room. I also removed some of the stop lights and street lights because they detracted from the image of the building.”
PhotoShop is just one of the myriad tools and talents Sprengeler has cultivated during his 20-year career in photography.
After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, he worked from 1984 until 2001 for one of St. Louis’ leading commercial studios. By day, he created large-format images of consumer products, food, industrial locations and corporate executives. Evenings and weekends, he devoted to architectural photography, drawn first to St. Louis’ most familiar landmarks, e.g., the Arch, Old Courthouse, Eades Bridge, Union Station, St. Louis Basilica. In 2002, Sprengeler left the commercial studio to devote more time to architectural and fine art photography.
Sprengeler is best known for his powerful color images of St. Louis monuments, which have been widely exhibited, distributed by the National Park Service and published in The Story of the Gateway Arch (1992). They are also featured in St. Louis: For the Record, a hardcover book in the Urban Tapestry Series. One of Sprengeler’s panoramic riverfront views graces the book cover. Favorites among interior designers and corporate leaders, these same St. Louis images can be viewed in corporate lobbies, executive offices and conference rooms throughout St. Louis.
Sprengeler’s fine art portfolio includes several distinct bodies of work, most of which have been exhibited in area galleries: ordinary parking garages in stunning black-and-white, decaying antique cars imbued with dignity, the aftermath of the Flood of 1993, rock cuts as geometry, common rust elevated to an art form, industrial materials rendered graceful and mysterious. Jeff Daniel also wrote, “Sprengeler looks for inspiration in everyday things that often escape our notice ¼ brings his camera close and lets available light work its magic ¼” His collection also contains images of beaches, forests, mountains, canyons, deserts and volcanoes in Northwest and Southwest; vintage signage and other American memorabilia; Midwestern covered bridges, cemeteries, churches and landscapes; urban warehouses and gritty street scenes; Mardi Gras revelers; and more.
March 2004 will bring another opportunity to view Sprengeler’s artistic talent: The Wydown Gallery has offered Sprengeler a one-man show featuring a new collection of color abstractions not previously exhibited.