Project Space Resident

Artist Statement

It was around the same time that I began making large photographs out of tape that my landlord began construction on the unit next door, and I soon found myself duking it out with a small but formidable mob of German cockroaches in my old apartment. It was also during this time that I wrote down this line in my notebook: “Photographs with the spirit of a glue trap.” I wrote this mostly as a joke, a joke that became more serious when, days later, I came home to find a baby roach caught in one of my tape prints. This got me thinking. Could one actually make a photograph with the spirit of a glue trap? Could this be a model for an artistic practice, one committed to using the tools at hand, and that investigated photography’s haptic potential? A picture that is open to the world and its debris.

Bio

Spencer Vazquez (b. 2000) is a Chicago-born artist currently based in Queens, NY. His debut solo show, Glue Traps, was on view through June 2026 at Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York. His work has been featured by publications such as ARTnews, Hypebeast, Interlocutor, and Musee Magazine.

Vazquez’s work explores the intersection of memory, digital media, and the everyday image. Using a variety of cameras and photographic processes, his work spans music videos, adhesive tape transfers, panoramic pinholes, and scans of his phone screen. He received a BA in Film & Electronic Arts from Bard College in 2022.