THE UNDERSTUDY is a visual memoir created in memory of my father. It traces an inheritance from t...THE UNDERSTUDY is a visual memoir created in memory of my father. It traces an inheritance from t...
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Spencer Shefts
• Aug 19
THE UNDERSTUDY is a visual memoir created in memory of my father. It traces an inheritance from the segregated New York poolrooms of the 1960s, where my father learned beside billiards legend Cisero Murphy, through my own decades at Jerry’s Artist Outlet, and finally to an empty clubhouse pool table in Orange, New Jersey.
The central idea is that my father taught me more than pool. He taught me to read a room, understand the people sitting at the table, notice relationships others overlook, calculate the angles, and find the shot where everybody wins.
I wrote the original 800-word essay and adapted it into a twelve-part graphic narrative. I developed the concept, structure, narration, visual direction, and recurring imagery. The artwork was produced with generative tools under my creative direction.
This project combines personal memoir, local history, retail experience, and the business philosophy my father expressed in one sentence: “Everybody goes to the bank holding hands.”
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