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Street Artist Spotlights JCC's 'Idyllic' Community

By Leslie Albrecht | January 13, 2012 2:20pm
Pre-K students watch Gabriel Specter work on his temporary installation at the JCC of Manhattan.
Pre-K students watch Gabriel Specter work on his temporary installation at the JCC of Manhattan.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

UPPER WEST SIDE — Street artist Gabriel Specter wasn't sure what to expect when he took a commission at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.

Specter, 33, whose previous work includes life-sized outdoor portraits of homeless people on the streets of Chicago and billboards about gentrification in Brooklyn, said he had "no clue" what a community center was when he took the JCC assignment.

But after immersing himself in the JCC for a few weeks by observing everything from mahjong classes to nursery school to staff meetings, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that the organization was devoted to serving everyone, young and old, especially people with special needs, he said.

Specter realized that the assignment to create a portrait of the JCC in the building's lobby would fit in with his other work, which he said spotlights marginalized people and ideas.

"I have very idealistic views about things and I feel like this JCC in particular almost has an idyllic quality to it," Specter said. "Everyone seems to put their best foot forward and leads by example. They do a great job of facilitating for people with special needs."

This week Specter, whose work is reminiscent of the British street artist Banksy, took over the Laurie M. Tisch Gallery in the JCC's lobby and created a temporary installation to celebrate the JCC's 10th year on Amsterdam Avenue and West 76th Street.

The 14-floor facility, which has a health club, nursery school and theater, offers a boggling range of programming, including art and dance classes, cooking lessons, singles events and after-school programs, to name a few.

Specter's installation is based on thousands of photographs he shot during his time studying the JCC. He couldn't use all the material he gathered, so he focused on moments and people that told a larger story about the JCC's inclusiveness, he said.

Specter selected a handful of the pictures and painted larger-than-life copies of them on parachute cloth. On Wednesday, he and two assistants unrolled the parachute cloth portraits and stuck them to the gallery walls with wallpaper paste.

One of the portraits shows a group of men with Parkinson's disease doing tai chi, while another shows Jenny Gordon, a JCC regular who uses a wheelchair, and her service dog, Indy. One picture depicts a moment Specter witnessed at a JCC class: a young boy with special needs who'd been scared of touching paint put his hands in paint for the first time.

"It was a great image and a great story," Specter said. "It really exemplifies what happens here. There's a lot of firsts that happen here. It's special in a lot of ways."

Before the installation was even finished, Specter won approval from passers-by in the bustling lobby, where a parade of strollers, nannies, moms and kids streamed past Specter as he worked.

"Is that Gabriel?" one woman asked as she walked by. "I want to tell him I love it already. It's fabulous."

Specter's installation will be on display until March 1. On January 18, the JCC is holding an opening event that includes a lecture on street art by the founders of the Wooster Collective.