Tag Archive "shelley-spector"

Kvetcherfest

Post by Shelley Spector Photo of the Philadelphia Complaint Choir rehearsing. Photo: Talman Koots I wrote to you earlier about the Philadelphia Complaint Choir, a project that I (SPECTOR Projects) am working on in collaboration with First Person Arts. This weekend we begin our performances in and around the city. The choir, which has grown to about 80 people will perform eight times during three days. (see below) The performance is ten minutes long. I highly recommend it and it’s free. Check out, Complaints Choirs of the World Home, where our performances, once documented will presented as part of this international project. Here are the scheduled performaces: Saturday, November ... More » »

Complain, complain, complain–Letter from Shelley Spector

Budapest Complaint Choir Dear Libby and Roberta, I am writing to invite you and and your friends (readers of Artblog) to participate in SPECTOR Projects’ newest work. It’s called the Philadelphia Complaints Choir. To put it simply, it’s a homemade Philly choir (no experience necessary) that  performs a  song created from complaints collected from Philadelphians.  Composer, Evan Solot is creating an original piece for the choir to sing,  and he and I will work together on the lyrics. We will meet to practice four times beginning this Thursday, September 25th and following the rehearsals we’ll have two performance dates in Novmeber. Complaint Choir, St. ... More » »

Am the Rhythm– zingy psychedelic Pop

Jeanne Jaffe, Polygenesis-Progeny, detail, Resin and acrylic paint Am the Rhythm at the Painted Bride riffs in unexpected directions by grouping a somewhat unlikely quintet of artists–Jeanne Jaffe, Isaac Tin Wei Lin, Jackie Tileston, Laura Watt and Andrew Jeffrey Wright. Curator Shelley Spector asked the artists to respond to the space and to one another’s work, improvising, sort of the way a jazz combo improvises and riffs. The end result goes beyond the metaphor of music, turning the combo into something bigger and better. First of all, the artists in the show transcend the generational divide and the genre divide– ... More » »

Lots and lots of stuff at Fleisher Challenge 4

Shelley Spector, installation at Fleisher Challenge 4. Palms Open, oil, acrylic and enamel on wood and mixed. 28.5x8x34″ 2007Balls and Chain. oil on wood, paper and clay with chain. 14x14x34″ 2007Red Eagle, oil on paper, wood and clay and metal, 14x20x34″ 2008 Accumulations — of words, pencils, birds, people and memories sit at the table in the Fleisher Challenge 4 exhibit. The 3-person exhibit by Judy Gelles, Erica Zoe Loustau and Shelley Spector is by turns energetic, nostalgic and dreamy. Spector‘s mechanized sculptural objects made from scrap wood and found objects (or in several cases digital prints laminated onto objects) ... More » »

The American dream Dufala style

Billy Blaise Dufala and Steven Dufala Brothers and collaborators Billy Blaise Dufala and Steven Dufala have to be the two most unlikely PAFA grads ever. Their surprising art about the world around us–the homeless, bad taste and inflated lawn ornaments, the beauty of tools, and the dehumanization of the medical system and the body–is in this year’s Fleisher Challenge 3, up until Feb. 9. In the past, the Dufalas brought us toilet tricycles, a giant grater that looks like clumsy armor from a Monty Python skit, and a rusty dumpster with mendhi-like decorations and an upholstered interior. Each of the ... More » »

Mezuzah love at the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art

Image of Mezuzot from the show, A Kiss for the Mezuzah, curated by Matthew Singer of the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art. Not long ago Matt Singer, Curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art emailed to ask me if I’d write an essay for a show he was putting together at the museum called “A Kiss for the Muzuzah.” The exhibit is all new commissioned works — each a Mezuzah — by a Philadelphia artist. Not all the artists are Jewish and together they represent a power team whose works I’ve long admired: Candy Depew, Jeanne Jaffe, Isaac Lin, ... More » »

Annals of dealing–Shelleyware

Matt Fisher, Ghost Rider Imagine my pleasure in seeing former Spector Gallery gal, Shelley Spector, in Philadelphia Magazine. There she is, the feature creature in the Good Life section, which (like most of the magazine) pitches consumer goods. She looks great, but not at all like her bouncy, energetic herself (although there’s a more characteristic little image in the table of contents). The photo is a marketing image, by gum, Spector in a black preppy top, representing the new Spector Projects. She looks poised and posed to sell you her art products in your own livingroom–or someone else’s. It’s the ... More » »

Local matters globally, a response

[Ed note: Shelley is commenting on a recent post by James Rosenthal.] Post by Shelley Spector I am writing in response to James Rosenthal’s recent entry about Philadelphia’s art scene being positively featured in the New York Times.To put it in a few words, Rosenthal said, “We still suck.” He cited his ongoing problems with the city and used the closing ofSPECTOR, as an example of the city’s failure when it is actually just the opposite. I opened SPECTOR seven years ago to “act locally, think globally.” Its agenda was to promote Philly artists and start a ripple by being ... More » »

Weekly Update – Spector on the move

This week’s Weekly has my Q&A with artist/gallerist Shelley Spector whose gallery is closing after a 7-year run on Bainbridge St. The copy’s below and here’s the link to the art page. We on artblog are massive Shelley-philes so you will find reams of reports about her and her gallery in our index on the left. Shelley Shock After seven years at the forefront of Philly’s art scene, Spector Gallery shuts its doors. Shelley Spector at the 2-floor-spanning installation of her own work at Painted Bride in September, 2005. After running the hippest art space in the city for more ... More » »

Big changes–Spector moves on

Shelley, Libby’s camera strap and some guy We’ve known for several days that Shelley Spector was going to shut her gallery, one of our favorite spots for viewing hot new talent in the city. But for us it’s also the loss of a place where we liked to go to just hang out. Because, like all the other people in her circle, Shelley made us her friend. Ooops. Too maudlin. Sooooo—- On the up side, however, she’s still our friend. And Shelley is a risk taker–a calculated risk taker–an entrepreneur who will find new ways of making things work with ... More » »