Buzz Spector

Buzz Spector is an American artist and critic. Born in Chicago in 1948, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art (BA) from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1972. He received his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Chicago in 1978.

His work has exhibited in museums throughout the United States and Europe, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Mattress Factory Art Museum (Pittsburgh), Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art (Prato, Italy).

Art In his art practice, Spector uses the book both as both subject and object, and he focuses on the relationship between public history, individual memory, and perception. As an object and a carrier of language, the book has potential for double meaning. Spector's art examines the content of books and the relationship between author and text, while also turning the books into sculptural objects. He modifies books through stacking, tearing, re-binding, and arranging. The show focused on works in a state of continual incompleteness.

Spector's 2020-2021 show at the Saint Louis Art Museum, titled Buzz Spector: Alterations, included postcards, drawings, altered books, and collages. Curated by Gretchen L. Wagner, the show also focused on Spector's torn paper works, where he methodically tears pages of books. In Spector's practice, the destructive act of tearing paper becomes a constructive energy.