Yes, you were expecting an ad. Maybe one from News Channel 3 and charming Chuck and beautiful Belinda and that wacky weather guy and the whole 6 O’clock News Team. Instead, you got a glowing abstraction, a few seconds of calm on your way down the stairs into the subway. Artists continue to take over the ad space that continues to take over our public space, and these new backlit missives are from Specter.

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“They use color, form and light to draw you in but offer little to the viewer who is expecting a product,” he told BSA when contacted to find out what he’s up to. He says these abstractions are not meant to feel like ads and “even though the imagery is relative to each neighborhood it is placed in its more an homage than a direct meaning.”

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Really, these are related to each neighborhood? Yes, he says. “They are all collage/paintings and the references are from my travels. The one with the squares, for example, references the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, and that’s why it’s placed in Greenpoint.”

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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