SPECTOR Gallery
For seven years, from 1999 to 2006, SPECTOR was a South Philadelphia gallery and vibrant community space showcasing the work of Philadelphia’s emerging artists. SPECTOR championed engaging, accessible contemporary artwork and provided a supportive platform for Philadelphia’s art community.
Ben Woodward installing LMNOP in 2005 while gallery assistant, Carrie Powell prepares the gallery for opening night.
SPECTOR was born in a South Philadelphia storefront in 1999, the lovechild of the artist Shelley Spector. Since then, it grew into many things—an oasis, playroom, community center, launching pad, salon, and a home away from home—while nurturing a generation of artists who span the breach between art and life with paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photographs, music and installations. In 2006, the gallery closed its physical space and continued its mission to champion emerging talent and new concepts in the visual arts as SPECTOR Projects, this time working outside the traditional gallery format. SPECTOR’s artists have shown in the streets, museums and galleries from Tokyo to Milan and Paris, and their works have entered the permanent collections of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and MOMA in New York.
Opening for Thom Lessner’s, Thumbs Up Immediately in 2004
SPECTOR and its artists—an evolving cast that includes stalwarts such as Jim Houser, Whitney Lee, Ben Woodward, Randall Sellers, and CW Wells—affectionately ignore the boundaries between popular culture and fine art, between insider and outsider.
Installation of Rebecca Westcott’s, Homemade in 2004
They stepped boldly into the lives and onto the walls of hundreds of new collectors and new audiences, thanks to a shared commitment to making and presenting art you can afford—and can’t live without. Both artists and collectors bask in the love. SPECTOR has a brilliant record as a prophet and champion of emerging talent, recognizing individuals who have gone on to national and international acclaim, providing them a place to show their work and, most importantly, connecting artists with the patrons and fans whose support allows them to continue creating.
Annual Red Dot show (Art Under $100), in 2001
SPECTOR is a recognized spark and emblem of Philadelphia’s cultural and civic renaissance, and remains focused on making its hometown a Mecca for contemporary art. Rooted in the insights and obsessions of its artists and the quirks and glories of Philadelphia, SPECTOR’s vision has captured the zeitgeist and engaged passionate audiences worldwide.
Matthew Singer
Sandcastle installation by Oliver Vernon, included in Far by in 2004
SPECTOR Gallery show list:
Art World, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, April 21 - May 20, 2006
Philadelphia Print Collaborative's, The Big Block Juried Show, January 20 - February 11, 2006
Red Dot 6 - Art Under $100, Group Show, December 16, 17 and 18, 2005
Drawing For It 2, Group Show, November 18 - December 9, 2005
LMNOP, Ben Woodward, October 21 - November 11, 2005
Babel, Jim Houser, April 22 - June 18, 2005
Red Dot 5 - Art Under $100, Group Show, December 17, 18 and 19 2004
The Great (re)Masters, Group Show, November 19 - December 10, 2004
New Lows, Randall Sellers, October 15 - November 6, 2004
Homemade, Rebecca Westcott, September 10 - October 2, 2004
Far, Oliver Vernon, May 21 - June 19, 2004
Thumbs Up Immediately, Thom Lessner, April 16 - May 7, 2004
Red Dot 4 - Art Under $100, Group Show, December 19, 20 and 21, 2003
De'Classe', Andrew Jeffrey Wright, November 14 - December 6, 2003
Bourgeois and Loving It, James Rosenthal, October 10 - November 1, 2003
Fiber Friends, Group Show, September 12 - October 3, 2003
Drawing For It, Group Show, June 13 - July 12, 2003
Parts Per Million, Installation by Jim Houser, April 25 - May 31, 2003
Red Dot 3 - Art Under $100, Group Show, December 20, 21 and 22, 2002
Philly; People, Places and Things, Group Show, November 15 - December 7, 2002
Everyone Has 15 Minutes, Paintings by Chie Harashima, October 18 - November 7, 2002
But the Earth is Already in Space, Prints and Paintings by Ben Woodward, September 13 - October 4, 2002
Smells Awesome, Paintings by Thom Lessner, April 26 - May 24, 2002
Red Dot 2 - Art Under $100, Group Show, November 30 - December 22, 2001
More Reasons to Stay Inside, A Mural by Eric McDade, October 12 - November 8, 2001
Tom +Tomo, Tom Carey and Takatomo Tomita, September 8 - 28, 2001
Paint and Destroy, Jim Houser, August 11 - 22, 2001
Burning Houses and Other Things, Marc Manning, June 29 - July 27, 2001
Undertow, Daniel Schimmel, May 11 - June 8, 2001
Snailbooty, CW Wells, March 30 - April 27, 2001
Red Dot 1 - Art Under $100, Group Show, December 15, 16 and 17, 2000
Gaper Delay, Jim Houser, November 10 - December 8, 2000
Goods, Elena Bouvier, Andrew Clark, Chie Harashima, Thom Lessner, Richard Metz, James Rosenthal, Adam Wallacavage, September 22 - October 20, 2000
For Love and Spite, Ben Woodward, July 14 - August 18, 2000
Works, Paul Santoleri, May 26 - June 23, 2000
Family Reunion, Anne Bourassa, April 7 - May 12, 2000
Spector Group Show Award, Yvonne Cassel, Sarah Goldstein, Chris Kendig and Makoto Morimura, February 25 - March 17, 2000
Impie Mania, Chie Harashima, January 21 - February 11, 2000
More Is More, Lauren Ashley, Nick Cassway, Michele
Corbman, Jim Houser, Kent Latimer, Jeff Schaller, Rebecca Westcott, Ben Woodward, November 19 - December 23, 1999
Le Monstier, Adam Wallacavage, September 17 - November 6, 1999One Huge Drawing, Twelve Photographs, Nine Paintings and Eighteen Cats, Lauren Ashley, Jim Houser, Paul Santoleri, Adam Wallacavage, August 9 - September 3, 2000
Earthman, Jim Houser, June 18 - July 23, 1999
Jim Houser’s Babel in 2005
SPECTOR Projects list:
Portraiture Now: Communities, Rebecca Westcott, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, November 6, 2009 - July 5, 2010
Beautiful Human, Donald E. Camp, Matthew Fisher, Laura Graham, Rob Matthews, Joshua Mosley and James Mundie, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery/Haverford College, September 11 - October 9, 2009
Philadelphia Complaints Choir, November 1 -12, 2008
Am The Rhythm, Jeanne Jaffe, Isaac Lin, Jackie Tileston, Laura Watt and Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, April 4 - May 17, 2008
Artjaw.com, Artworld Digital Anthology
The SPECTORCollection, Jim Houser, Matt Fisher, Elizabeth Haidle, Randall Sellers, Keith Shore, Thom Lessner, Ben Woodward, CW Wells, Rebecca Westcott and Zoe Strauss, Print Portfolio, Fall 2007
This Beating Heart Acts As A Timer, Jim Houser, April 6 - May 19, 2007
Spector at night