Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(December 27, 2006)

This week, check out Christina Gibbs as she takes the center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase.

And one more thing from curator extraordinaire Graem Whyte: Jan 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of twia, and we will be having a group show to celebrate, with an open
call for submissions due to space, no piece can be larger than 4" x 4" x 4", and only one piece per artist. drop off will be anytime during open hours the week prior to jan 3
(include title & price info). feel free to contact me with any questions.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

An Exhibition of Soft Sculpture Installations
CAID
Through December 30, 2006

While for many art students the end of the semester means a group critique limited to one’s classmates, professor, and maybe a guest or two, Denise Fanning’s CCS soft sculpture class took the work out of the isolation of the classroom and into the field for an exhibition of soft sculpture installation at CAID. It’s a great experience for the students and a visually engaging treat for visitors. Like the Detroit Industrial Project’s recent installation show at the Russell Industrial Center, it’s great to see work of this nature, not just for the individual pieces inside but for the way in which it allows the viewer to examine the space itself from a transformed perspective. As much time as I’ve spent at CAID, Gary Elson’s “Cloud Formations” composed of hundreds of hand sewn together dust masks got me to look at the rafters of this storied old building in a whole new light.

Each student chose a section of the gallery to build their work around. The aforementioned ceiling piece is a good example of this, as, in a strange way, is Carlton Potts’ outdoor (keep in mind it’s December!) installation of fictional “Walking Trees”. It’s a quirky piece, featuring these squirrel-sized creatures he fashioned, cordoned off in their “natural” habitat, complete with a placard providing detailed information about their existence. The theme of squirrelly animals was picked up as well by Megan Harris with her stop motion animation “Tripes,” that appear to have something in common with “Tribbles,” (for all you Trek fans out there), and Korin Sanderson presented a wriggle of wormlike cloth critters, electrically animated on the floor.

Renay Masters’ oversized “mold” appeared to grow out of the building (all too disconcerting for a frequenter of the space), and Ashley Wightman’s anthropomorphic cushion-like shapes sat vigilantly in their corners.

Crystal Lupo took it so far as to inject herself into the installation, putting on a performance piece throughout the night in which she wore a nurse’s outfit made from paper sheets of candy buttons, which she dispensed in plastic cups to willing participants. In addition to the interaction, the piece brings up issues of medication and consuming another’s, umm, exfoliation. And exfoliation is something Lupo picks up in her second piece on exhibit, “Renew Overload Bedset,” a bed covered with spreads all made from a myriad of brightly colored scrubbing pads. This quilt of many colors is beautiful in color and sparkle, relating to the candy “pills” in color, and perhaps the bed as a symbol for restoring health, while its components speaking to cleanliness. Ambitious projects both, and quite successful.

As with Lupo’s use of scrub pads, Nate Morgan weaves together toilet paper to create a very sturdy looking rope, “To Cross the River,” and Leigh Ann Foshee knitted together plastic bags (the use of such materials seems to be a growing trend) to create an upside down funnel shape stretching floor to ceiling. Zachary Barozzini’s wall of soft plastic, air-filled “cinder” blocks suspended from the ceiling speak strongly to the tradition of soft sculpture as championed by Claus Oldenburg and others. All in all, these pieces worked together well, providing the viewer with a variety of approaches, though all linked enough to feel related. The installation nature of the work asks us to look not just straight ahead, but up, down, to explore the corners, thus making the entire space truly come to life.

This was a very whole concept, thoroughly explored. In her excellent statement about the show, teach and curator Fanning graciously acknowledges what her students taught her in this process. Fanning too, must be credited for creating the environment to enable such an expression of care and creativity. It’s great that CCS offers such a class, and we certainly hope that the community encourages and enables more such efforts. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Notice of full disclosure, Sousanis is the board chairperson of CAID.

A group exhibition depicting Patron Saints of Christianity.
CPOP
Through the end of 2006.

An exhibition of artworks depicting recognized as well as newly imagined patron saints seems perfectly appropriate for the artists of CPop to put their own stamp upon. That is, these are the recognizable icons of the past, now supplanted by Marilyn Monroe, Godzilla, superheroes, and impossibly long, finned cars. As people once paid respect and asked guidance from their patron saints, today pop icons have similar cult status, and there is certainly a form of worship towards these figures.

The Saints were chosen or invented by each artist, who then created the imagery in whatever manner with which he or she works. It does make for a bit of a disparate show. There’s plenty of strong work, taken individually, but despite the overarching theme there’s nothing to unify the assorted artworks. Perhaps writing from the artists about their saint, something to clue viewers in as to why Saint such and such was depicted thus, or perhaps establishing tighter guidelines on the work – not necessarily of materials or methods, but as far as a more specific conceptual focus.

That said, it’s cool to see Tyree Guyton’s “Patron Saints of Urban Art,” Saints Polka-Dot the lesser, the middle, and the greater, not far from Niagara’s Patroness of Pharmacists. Both artists are giants in the Detroit art scene, yet not so frequently viewable side by side. Guyton’s ubiquitous polka-dot is an icon in Detroit, and his broad, grinning, raw drawn maws speak to our power to create and the common bond between us that the circle represents. Niagara’s Patroness is, as to be expected, glamorous and dangerous, encircled by pills of all colors, all within an ornate frame hung against a red velvet backdrop. This is an artificial world, enhanced or perhaps better described as obscured by makeup, clothing, and drugs. The image is everything.

The surrealists get in the game here too. Mark Dancey offers an appropriately disturbing patron saint of attorneys, while Renata Palubinskas and Matt Gordon offer views into their own imagined worlds, not so differently bizarre than long past depiction of such saints. The new kids on the block of Detroit pop art continue to make a big splash. Chris Dean’s large lenticular piece has parts leaping out at the viewer, while other pieces spin quickly as the viewer moves. The imagery is well chosen, a papal figure as part praying mantis, it works on multiple levels, and it’s exciting to see more from Dean. Meanwhile Topher Crowder (who interviews CPop artist Glenn Barr this week for thedetroiter.com right here) offers up two separate visions of saints, interpreted through his expansively imaginative vision. A description will be inadequate, the works are literal explosions of figures, bodies flying apart into machine parts which then coalesce into cars other bodies. Figure, landscape, and object weave into one insanely dense image. If you haven’t seen what Crowder dreams up and renders with obsessive and detailed linework, each image of his alone is worth spending time with, remembering to be careful and not get completely lost in what’s going on in the composition.

This is a fun show, no doubt an interesting exercise for the artists, and definitely will offer everyone something to check out. And perhaps, to start thinking of our own personal patron saint – and how we too envision he or she to be. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Interview by
Topher Crowder

Seedy comfortability. Kind of like having a tender medium rare porterhouse at Carl’s Chop House on a late rainy Thursday night. Or, if you prefer, how sweet the dollar fifty Pabst was at that greasy little bar on Michigan Ave, you know the one that had that jukebox that only had about ten songs in it; dancing with that one ex-girlfriend who always smelled like cigarettes and Aqua-Net, but looked so damned hot in fishnets and leather. Glenn Barr’s collection of works are so well executed and feel so comfortable, so familiar, that one can’t help but to become enveloped within them. Using layer upon layer of thin acrylic glazes, Barr creates an ambiance and communicates a mood that invites the viewer to step closer and simply enjoy.

While it is probably true that most artists are born with a certain amount of talent, most in their lifetime never experience that right mix of influential ingredients to allow their mash of experiences to ferment and distill into a rare and intoxicating vintage. As a child, thanks to older brothers and their friends, Glenn Barr had ample exposure to wide array of influences and experiences that he would later use as part of a broad artistic foundation. Exposure at a very young age to Mad Magazine’s Jack Davis and Harvey Kurtzman, breathing in the intoxicating aroma of Testors plastic cement while building the latest miniature plastic automotive offering from Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, and of course the scheduled Saturday morning appointments with Mr. Hanna and Mr. Barbera and their mini-skirt and pink tight clad animated dolls, all sparked a wild imagination within him and a drive to create.

Today Glenn Barr is involved with almost every facet of artistic creation, from painting and printing, to design and publication. From his Detroit studio, Barr took a break from his daunting schedule and set aside an afternoon to talk about his art and the release of his third book in as many years, Glenn Barr’s Haunted Paradise. Upon entry, his studio overflows with a lifetime of influences, from an army of vintage toys, samples of pulp art, to antique furniture and shelves of literature; all used in some assistance as reminders or mile markers to what has past and what still may lie ahead. The first impression one receives is that Barr doesn’t rest, he must always be working, there just appears to be too much for one person to do. In one corner an almost finished 4 x 5 foot commissioned work rests on an easel while a pallet of wet acrylic paint dries in the warm air, a small just completed painting rests on a table next to a small painted wooden character that is begging for attention. Barr offers, “My contemporaries are getting into toys, Baseman, Tim Biscup, and I even have my toys in the works right now. The toy I’m having made right now is a very primitive toy, I was really influenced by really crude wood toys.” If you know Barr’s work, you are sure that you know the small bug-like wooden character and it will seem familiar and friendly. That is how Barr likes to work, getting into your psyche via subliminal imagery; using things that you are sure you have seen before, but just can’t finger when and where. For this reason, Barr’s abilities as a commercial artist are still at a premium, “I’m still involved in commercial illustration because I have a lot of friends in business and music and whenever they call me to do rock posters, CD covers or t-shirt designs, I love doing that stuff. While there is no money in it, I like the medium a lot.”

An alumnus of the Center for Creative Studies, Barr was fortunate enough to study under the legendary Russell Keeter, but also found himself lured into the realm of the school’s strong design departments. Barr admits, “Yeah, I used to like going into those classes and learn their tricks they use to make their drawings look cool. I liked it because there is a certain beauty in them, the shiny curvy lines… I really love design and I love composition. Anytime I’m asked to design something, I really get off on that. I have even been asked to design furniture by gallery patrons.” Fresh out of college, Barr began a journey upon roads less traveled by young artists, “I was really into comics and loved the medium. So, I got into it and did some work for Marvel and DC. But I found that after a couple years I grew to hate it because I wasn’t into the stories they were giving me… I was simply a ‘hired wrist’ and I didn’t like that aspect of the job. It’s one thing to do a story you really like; you want to make it really cool. But if it’s like a bunch of talking heads and you don’t really want to do it, you realize that you are just a hired hand just to do it and not put anything into it.”

Barr appreciates these early experiences though, “I tell people not to go out there thinking you are going to be a painter. Go and get a job in the field and see how it all runs. That’s how I got most of my chops… Russell Keeter once said to me ‘Glenn, you have them all fooled. You took all those fine art classes but you are in advertising.’” Barr took the advice to heart and seriously began to consider exhibiting his work. Barr remembers, “I was just beginning to try out this gallery thing. Initially I had absolutely no ambition to do anything like that, because I never really liked anything I’d seen in the galleries around town. Also, I had thought that none of the galleries around town would want to put my crap on the walls… At the time I didn’t know of anything that was around town. But, I was beginning to watch California though and beginning to notice the newer art magazines, like Juxtapoz. The artists I started to notice were from California and I felt comfortable in wanting to put my spin on it. It was about this time that the car culture was at its height and I was really looking at the iconography of the culture, the flames, the skulls and all that stuff. No one was really capitalizing on that and I thought I could have something to say with my Car Crash themes. I did my share of those paintings and then I decided to move on and I am now, pretty much beginning to edit the car out of my current works altogether and went onto other story telling motifs. My newer works have become more internal. I have tried to catch the mood and tone with color, because that is the most important part to me.”

Every aspect of Barr’s work has been successful. In fact completing commissioned works are occupying more and more of his efforts, “At the moment I would much rather work on a commission because there are a lot of them and I can work at my own pace. In contrast, the gallery stuff you have to kick out X amount of pieces for a body of work to show. Sometimes that can be a little stressful.”

But, while his work is popular from California and New York to Australia and Europe, Glenn still works hard to maintain local roots. Glenn states, “People here have this idea that I’m so successful that they wouldn’t even consider call me to get involved in any local shows. A lot of people don’t even think I live here… I like the Detroit culture, the music culture. There is a certain enthusiastic passion for being creative, especially for music. Of course, Detroit also has a certain texture or grit to it that I like. I know that if I were to have moved out to LA earlier on in my career that my paintings would look completely different because you are influenced by your surroundings. I may even still be working in animation.”

L.A. will never have a Carl’s Chop House, New York will never have a Bill’s Blue Star Disco Lounge and neither city will ever have Glenn Barr as a residing artist. Those cities are nice to visit but Barr sees Metro-Detroit as home for him and his family. For Barr, Detroit has a certain comfortability that you can’t find anywhere else.

Glenn Barr’s new book, Glenn Barr’s Haunted Paradise is a compilation of drawings, sketches and photographs and is available through numerous retail outlets, including CPop Gallery. Check him out on the web at www.glbarr.com.

ChrisTopher Crowder is a local artist whose work is most recently seen in “Saints Preserve Us” at CPop. He was profiled in these pages here, and has also contributed an earlier interview with Chris Dean here. He can be reached at www.myspace.com/tophercrowder.

by Gary Eleinko

It numbers over 600 galleries, 5 museums, 2 private collections, 2 garden installations, art spaces and studios, from 4 continents, plus performances, parties, and more. All in all, it’s an art endurance test for the stalwart, physically, and impossible to see it all time wise. What the North American Auto Show is to Detroit, Art/Basel is to Miami Beach. Now in its 5th season it has become the premier art event in North America, its scope encompassing convention centers, neighborhoods, museums, temporary tent exhibition halls, hotels, and the beach front. With a crowd numbering 36,000, it is a nonstop gluttonous feast on art for 4-6 days.

Detroit Connections include: Dana Schutz’s canvas of a large naked man ; Several small Ray Johnson collages - $10,000 to $20,000: Barcelona’s Galerie Senda showed Bernado Jordi’s photo of a crumbling brick home, titled “Detroit series 01”; In London’s Trent Gallery, Chunie Reed’s photo blowup of a rock article “ Detroit Grand Pubahs” duct taped to the wall,; numerous works by Mike Kelly; Michele Oka Doner’s works in Fairchild Gardens, and Detroit’s only official representation, paulkotulaprojects at the Bridge Art Fair, showing Heather McGill, object orange photos, and Christian Tedeschi’s foot high, 90 lb. egg shaped, luminescent object made entirely of saran wrap. Socially, print collector Mark Schwartz’ cocktail reception at the Sagamore hotel for all visiting Detroit collectors, artists, and gallerists was a respite. The Sagamore, an official Art Bar/hotel, sponsored a video lounge featuring Yoko Ono, and art hung extensively through its white marble lobby, halls, restaurants, and video screens at the outdoor tables leading to pool area and beach front.

Some observations, thoughts, and images, all colliding together in a kaleidoscopic bombardment of culture, money, egos, images, senses, business, fashion, and status:

~The Miami Herald featured front page articles on Basel, alternative papers had 15 to 20 pages devoted to it, tv and radio coverage daily - while in Detroit our major daily papers barely acknowledge the existence of the visual arts
~ Traffic jams of art destined charter buses, yellow cabs, limos, autos, and bicycle rickshaws, clogging the Wynwood art district
~ differences between mediums and style are all blurring, whether it be photography and computers, computers and painting, realism and surrealism / fantasy
~ Stylistic differences between artists from the different nations here, likewise, are minimal
~ Art made from every conceivable material from toilet brushes to toilet fixtures, diamond dust and glitter to astro turf, and shopping carts, found objects to the technologically sleek and slick - (so far no MWD’s , e -coli or polonium art)

~Eyes – Eyes on video, eye videos as components of pieces, eyes and mouths projected on sculptural pieces
~ Disembodied limbs, floating arms and legs or limbless torsos
~ Video and film was pervasive, from Ipod screens to 20 feet – in DIVA, a train container show on the Beach, digital and video art was the focus. One container’s interior was swathed in gauzy fabric, plaster buttocks mounted on the wall, with one viewing the video through an appropriately placed hole - Miguel Angel Rios’s stunning video of tops was going for $26,000
~ Celebrity sighting - Eva and Adele, two bald performance artists, of some gender, dressed in pink patterned frocks , from Germany, but known as the hermaphrodite twins from the future
~ “LoBrow art” using imagery from x-box games, comics, hello kitty, Japanese anime, stuffed toys, lots of kids with big eyes, (time for a Margaret Keane revival?)
~ Overheard conversations between dealers and clients. Generally private, deals were quite open, with prices quoted freely, from the $1000 dollar range to the 5.5 million Basquiat sold on the first evening - Some prices baffled logic, a 16 x 20 photo $1500 unframed, $3000 framed
~ Gallerist is the au current term for gallery owner, dealer, art monger
~ Martha Rosler’s photo collages contrasting American live style and the Vietnam War are as pertinent today
~ Lots of Warhols and other dead guys
~An extravagant installation by Richard Jackson “Ducks in the Mens Room” consisted of 4 full size and equipped lavatory stalls, occupied by 7 foot plastic duck with breasts for eye, and metal tubing inserted and extruding from their lower regions that then sprayed the site with vivid coats of paint
~ And the list goes on.

Of particular note, day long excursions in themselves, were two private collections in warehouses. The Rubell collection- featured “Red Eye L.A. Artists”, Baldesarri, Mike Kelly, Sterling Ruby, and others, with ample nudity, soft porn, and art pushing the envelope, such as Paul McCarthy, a cause celebre, with his videos and life size installation, “Cultural Gothic”, of a proud wasp father, watching his young prepubescent son bugger a goat. The Margulies collection, at 45,000 sq. feet, emphasizes sculpture and their extensive holdings in photography, often political or environmental, from 1910 to contemporary video from around the world.

If only Miami Beach could be an inspiration to the money, the collectors, and the media here. With added support for our local galleries, artists, and museums, perhaps a healthier and more interactive scene could exist in Detroit.

After a long career in education, Gary Eleinko is now enjoying a life solely devoted to hedonistic pleasures and art. He is currently serving on the exhibition committee for the Detroit Artists Market, and also volunteers on the "Art for Life" artists committee for MAPP. He maintains his studio at the Alternative Worksite, 2000 Brooklyn, Detroit. He has his B.F.A. and M. A. in painting from Wayne State.

by Tom Carbone

From December 8th to the 10th this year’s Fashion Party Weekend spread style and parties across the city. I was lucky enough to attend and participate in Sunday’s Grand Finale runway show at Orchestra Hall. Held in a first class venue and organized by a team of seasoned professionals, this event showcased much of the best fashion that Detroit has to offer, and offered a great opportunity to network, support several worthy charities, and party in the “D,” all in style to be sure.

Fashion Party Weekend started on Friday night with the kickoff event hosted by the Independent Retailers Association. Saturday night was entitled the "Dramatic Effect, Celebrity Designers' Party," a meet and network for the fashion designers and those who just love strutting their own fashion.

Sunday’s runway show entitled, "The Climax," consisted of 15 different designers and design oriented retailers was hosted by Next Vision Foundation & rbi experience. For the gracious and charitable guests the lobby of Orchestra Hall contained all the best food and drinks. And to top it off Azzure & Indigo Red hosted the after party at Elysium.

The Runway Show

There were lots of outstanding colors, crisp shirts, and jeans at every level of distress for both men and women. Fashion from casual, to club, to evening, up to and including furs from Silver Fox. Lots of really great stuff I especially liked the jeans and shirt combos; jeans of every conceivable style, shade, and finish, and shirts with the very popular 70’s color schemes.

Local designer and director of the newly opened Detroit Fashion Incubator Michael Delon participated as well. Delon created more than a dozen new looks for the show, which coupled with my own newest footwear creations, came together for what I felt was a great team. Delon is developing his own line of high fashion women’s wear as well as helping to promote local fashion talent through the DFI. I am beginning my career as a designer and maker of shoes. In this show I placed ten pair representing the best of my 2006 works.

Delon and I were able to watch the first half of the show with the audience and then darted off to the back stage area during intermission for the second half, when our work was to be shown. We staked out a place for Delon’s outfits and my shoes amid the frenzied mayhem of models and helpers just behind the giant Orchestra Hall stage curtain. As on the fly changes were made regarding the models and the runway timing, we helped the girls assigned to Delon’s collection on and off with clothes and shoes. It was great to experience the show from both sides of the curtain.

The very capable young men and women of the modeling staff were a mix of experienced folks and those new to runway work. One sign of professional models is that they make their clothing changes quickly while still strutting the runway confidently and patiently. The difficulty comes in calming down and posing at the beginning and end of the runway for the photographers. This seems obvious but in the heat of the moment (all that mayhem) a model can easily rush the catwalk part and lose what it’s all about: the audience’s attention and the photographer’s shot. With 36 models the event takes on a life of its own and can only be tamed with experience and organization.

I’ll give credits to several of the organizers that I worked with directly: Kim Harris of Maxxim Development was responsible for the great modeling talent. Alysyn Curd of Art Impact Marketing thanks for the hand holding. Ambros photographed much of the show and did a fine job. Latice Delgado, Lead Stylist Coordinator, and president of Fashions Off the Runway, was cool under fire and sensitive to both Michael’s and my unique needs. The ever sweet, La Keyla McCaskey, knew everything that was happening all the time. And a special thanks to everyone else that made this event possible and to those who donated time and funding.

I have complained about the quality of Detroit fashion shows in the past; they are often too “street” or too sleazy but Fashion Party Weekend showed us how it can be done correctly. So if you have been disappointed in the past please look, listen, and come to the next Detroit fashion event soon.

Tom Carbone is the Arts Calendar Editor of thedetroiter.com and an avid supporter and contributor to the worlds of fashion and design.

by
Maria Carolina Baulo

Buenos Aires, Argentina: a big city that never sleeps, not even for a little while; a blend of local culture with European cosmopolitan centers such as Paris or Rome. Buenos Aires is seducing people from all around the world; tourists love the never ending possibilities that its art and culture have to offer. There are hundreds of exhibitions in art galleries presenting retrospectives as well as brand new contemporary artists; first class lyric shows such as Turandot, Carmen, Don Giovanni; movies in every neighborhood; theatres presenting all types of comedy, drama, music hall, cabarets, tango; several of the most important museums of the Americas opening their gates and presenting master pieces by Rodin, Manet, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo… the list is overwhelming.

Buenos Aires’ reputation is increasing in popularity. But what is popularity anyway? Popularity, popular, pop…is it the same thing? Certainly not. We cannot deny this beautiful city is getting used to these new friends from overseas that come and mix with the local population, and is starting to enjoy this “popularity” thing. But even though art and culture could be popular, they aren’t necessarily part of some marketing strategy that connects them to such concepts as popularity. Pop art denounced that back in the 60´s.

On the other hand, Buenos Aires also participates in the scary story where insecurity and poverty take the leading roles. No big city is excluded from this, but for sure, the “Third World Countries” are sadly far ahead in this category. Tourism is also interested in these kind of pathetic shows and, believe it or not, popularity associated with snobbism makes “popular attractions” out of social strikes downtown or city tours to the poorest sites as if visiting the zoo. Buenos Aires is capable of presenting such a contradiction, denouncing that popularity sometimes highlights situations that people should be ashamed of, not only for creating them to make some money out of it, but for consuming them. When artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein showed the world the consequences of serial activities, the absolute lack of personality and sense of loss growing in the 20th century where individuals vanished and mass media capture the attention, they introduced the terrifying idea that originality no longer existed; we became replaceable.

I love Buenos Aires, its smell and variety. It’s amazing how such different stories could arise from the same place. Art is sometimes elitist and sometimes popular, compromised with the social suffering as well as with the aesthetic demands of the Beaux Arts. The message art carries is sometimes more powerful than words, and certainly more subtle than creating a Roman circus for the audience to applaud. For those willing to capture the “popular” in the middle of the “elitist”, for those who love the shinning lights of “popularity” but still believe there are other ways to see, art offers different points of view, and some of them never turn their backs to the awful truth no matter how hard it is. Buenos Aires is an example of that.

I guess only art could make the beauty and the beast participate in the same dance, and even yet, behind the glam, the conflicting essence resists.

Argentinian writer Maria Carolina Baulo is versed in Art History, Cinematography, Photography and Theatre. You can contact her the author at: macabaulo@hotmail.com

Pics by Nick Sousanis, ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(December 20, 2006)

This week, check out the fabulous Faina Lerman as she takes the center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase.

Last week saw Brad and Vaughn Taormina in the spotlight, for a really different Wednesday night approach. They transformed the makeshift gallery space into a fanciful, raw scene, with mountainous backdrop of torn cardboard, simple tree forms, and a comical, gangster meeting in the woods. It was different, and it worked. Sorry, I don’t have images, for those of you who missed it.

And one more thing from curator extraordinaire Graem Whyte: Jan 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of twia, and we will be having a group show to celebrate, with an open
call for submissions due to space, no piece can be larger than 4" x 4" x 4", and only one piece per artist. drop off will be anytime during open hours the week prior to jan 3
(include title & price info). feel free to contact me with any questions.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

dec 27 christina gibbs

Silent Auction Fundraiser
Paint Creek Center for the Arts

“I don’t have time for this.”

That’s the first thought I have when I get the request to be in the “Tick Tock” fundraiser exhibition at Paint Creek Center for the Arts, right on the heels of requests to participate in similar fundraisers – a block, a box, and now a clock. Oye vey! As with the other two, I’d like to help out, they’re good causes, and I like the idea of forcing myself to make work, instead of never finding time to do so. So having received the invitation, I think about it from time to time, and it really goes no further until exhibition director Mary Fortuna calls me to confirm my involvement. (I’m a fan of Mary’s for a lot of reasons, including the fact that she ran “Ground Up” back in the late 90s, with which I feel thedetroiter shares a certain kinship.)

It’s only in mulling this over at length, that I’m finally struck by the irony of my utter lack of time to work on a time piece. An idea starts to emerge for an illustrated essay about Time, or the lack thereof, of which I’ll integrate the clock parts into it. It should be fun, right up my alley, and a good exercise. Finally, with only the tiniest bit of hesitation, I say, “I’m in.”

Now that I’ve agreed to do this, ideas start flowing like mad. My process for making comic books (illustrated essays) is akin to visual DJing, I weave together disparate elements to riff on a single theme. So I’m compiling song quotes, sayings, all related to time. When I get a minute, attending a lecture or something, I work double time – on one page of my notebook I’m taking notes, while on another I’m jotting down ideas – flipping back and forth all the way.

Tick Tock. Time passes.

As ideas start to percolate, I get really excited, I don’t quite know how it’s all going to come together, but I can imagine that it’s going to be really cool. It’s growing into a manifesto of sorts, and I’m really pleased with how it might take shape. Now, I really, really want to do it.

But as the idea grows, the time I have left to do it shrinks, and now I absolutely don’t have time to make this even larger project happen.

Tick Tock. Running out of time.

Summer has turned to Autumn, daylight is dwindling. Time is quickly shrinking here. At this point in time, I still haven’t opened up the package with my clock in it yet. I don’t even know what it looks like.

My thoughts keep expanding, I still keep thinking I can do this, I’m going to find time to get to all of it. But it never happens. Each day, I’m running around like the white rabbit, sans watch (I never wear one); repeating, “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late,” and I never seem to catch up.

Tick Tock. Crunch time.

I have an idea to save some face that can be done in no time flat. Conceptual art – not really the way I work (though I appreciate it.) I think of turning in my still unopened envelope with the clock parts in it, and write on it, “Sorry, No Time.” Well, I think it’s clever, though I can’t imagine it will help raise much money at all. Besides, I’m compelled to make work that I have spent a lot of time on, it’s hard to let that go. So I’m still convinced that I can piece together a minute here and a part of an hour there to start drawing, to cull together pictures of sundials, gears, hourglasses, the lengthening of shadows, and integrate these images with my clever quotes about saving time in a bottle and the days of our lives to create something interesting. I may have to shorten the scope of it considerably, but there’s still plenty of time.

“Time is on my side.” Maybe that’s true for the ageless Rolling Stones, but it seems it’s fighting me at every turn. As the countdown ticks ever closer, I think of just turning in my conceptual sketches and notes, with the promise to transform these fragments into a complete, fully realized story at some later date.

Tick Tock. Time’s up.

I get an email from Mary. I’m out of time. “Tick Tock” reads the subject line. (I’d forgotten this was the name of the exhibition, and just assumed this was a not so subtle way of reminding me that I’m on the clock, so to speak.) I can almost hear Captain Hook’s Crocodile hunting me. (“In a while crocodile.”) I imagine the clock inside it ticking like the theme from “Jaws.” I dread opening the email, but I have to face up to it. It’s a request for the finished object in order to get images for the catalogue. Catalogue? Images? Right. I don’t even know where the envelope is that I haven’t opened with the clock in it. The only images I have are basically back of napkin sketches. The clock’s struck midnight and my ride’s turned into a pumpkin.

But fortunately Mary is more than understanding and together we hatch a solution, which more or less lets me off the, umm, hook. I write an essay, run it in these here pages, and send in a picture of the unopened envelope. All of which is pretty much what I wanted to do in the first place – except with a lot more drawing and planning behind it.

Tick tock. Time Flies.

“Where did the time go? Can you tell me where did my life go?” (Johnny Clegg and Juluka.) Really though, where does all our time go? It seems to me that being busy has become a badge of honor. We ask one another what’s going on, and it ends up becoming a comparison of who’s busier. But just what are we doing with all our time?

While Einstein may have showed that time is relative, here on Earth, time waits for no one. Seasons change, the sun and moon rise and set, our hearts beat – time passes. These things are true whether we’ve clocks to record them or not. With the invention of the first mechanical clocks we could mark off precise amounts of time independent of nature, entirely dependent on the movement of a series of gears. Our lives have then in some ways been structured to fit around that Tick Tock of the mechanical clock. We eat and sleep when it’s time, not necessarily because we’re hungry or tired. For many of us, we punch into work as the sun comes up and punch out after it’s set.

Tick Tock. Starved for time.

All of us need to make time to create. We all have our ideas, our dreams, the expression of which keeps us healthy. Trapped inside, those ideas eat at us, try to fight their way to freedom, as we keep them at bay by saying things like, “soon”, or “if I only had a little more time.” If we started thinking of creating as important as we do eating or sleeping (which, yes we neglect as well) would we then find more time?

I think Jim Croce spoke for all of us with, “But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do.” The demands on our time are many, and yet in our all too brief lives, do we take the time to linger on what’s really important? Do we hold a kiss long enough? Stay wrapped in an embrace ignoring the world racing all around us? If time has become money, but money can’t buy you love, maybe time is better spent on other pursuits.

It’s high time we stopped thinking about ways we’d like to spend our time, and started doing them. Life’s short and time is a precious commodity.

Tick Tock. Times a’ wasting.

So take a few minutes of your time to check out the Clock Show. A lot of folks have put their time to good use, to help other folks keep track of time in style, all in support of a good cause. I hope these words and their works serve as an inspiration and a reminder to find time to get going on our own projects, our own dreams.

And when I say get going, I mean let’s get going on these things right now. After all, there’s no time like the present.

Tick Tock.

– Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Sousanis wrote about the DAM’s Box Show here, which borrowed text from his block project about being “in the box, and stepping outside of the box.”

Tick Tock
Silent Auction Fundraiser
Friday, December 15, 2006
7:00 – 10:00 pm

Paint Creek Center for the Arts (PCCA) presents Tick Tock, a fundraiser to benefit our exhibition program. PCCA staff and exhibition committee members have worked with artists from all over the Metropolitan Detroit area to secure donations of fabulous artist-made clocks. We’ve invited over 100 artists, working in all media, to show their support by creating unique and beautiful clocks for every taste. We’re only beginning to see these creations come through the door, but we can promise there will be something for everyone!

These artful clocks will be auctioned off at a festive reception on Friday, December 15, 2006, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. Lucky bidders may pick up their clocks the night of the auction, just in time for Holiday gift giving. Any clocks that have not been picked up will remain on display through Friday, December 29.

Please be our guests at this exciting fundraiser. In addition to the silent auction, you’ll indulge in wine and soft drinks, a bountiful spread of delicious hors d’oeuvres and desserts, and live music. Come ready to enjoy the art and take home something special, for your own collection or for someone you love.

Paint Creek Center for the Arts is located at 407 Pine Street in Downtown Rochester, at the corner of Fourth and Pine. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 9:00 pm, and Saturday, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Note that we will be closed for the Holidays December 25 and 26. For additional information, contact Mary Fortuna at 248-651-4110, or check our web site at www.pccart.org.

Arts Calendar editor Tom Carbone was in New York again reconnecting with friends, trying to make business connections, buying materials, and mostly continuing his quest to keep learning new things.

Fly in over lower Manhattan.

Saturday night I managed to get to some gallery openings. One “big block O’ galleries” is located on the 500 block of W 25th this is just a few; there are hundreds of galleries in this neighborhood.

“PEEPERS, NOGGINS & KISSERS” opened at the New York Studio Gallery, artist Kristen Copham used a Neiman-esque color scheme to create hundreds of portraits. Big deal, right? But wait, there is a little more to the story. These 10” x 10” straight on head shots were done in one hour each over a period of a few weeks through a process that I’ll call, “a reverse call for entries.” The word was put out for people that wanted to have their portraits painted. With 150 or so completed the portraits were tiled into tight groups on the walls of the 6th floor gallery. Gazing at the paintings from close and afar one similarity became apparent: almost all of these people were smiling. There was a distinct air of optimism emanating from them. But let’s think… what kind of person would want their portrait painted, what kind of person would call, make an appointment, and sit for an hour? Fifteen minutes of fame, Leroy was here, friend of the artists? Doesn’t matter, I came away with the great feeling of optimism, and it turns out I could use shot of that on a daily basis.

The other great show “Pale and blue at 14” was at the 10 foot wide (typical NY) Giant Robot Gallery on 9th near 1st Ave, in an area called Little India. A very cool & trendy neighborhood with shops and boutiques everywhere you look. Jeana Sohn displayed a series that draws you in like a sitting cat, with eyes blinking slowly. Every image is painted with a very delicate touch on a sheet of unfinished veneer. She brings to life a world occupied by a few solemn characters; a man with a mustache, a woman often wearing a peasant dress, a wolf, and other forest dwellers too. In every instance the characters interact with each other or nature, as we all do, in good, bad, and indifferent ways. Sohn’s language is that of floating and flying, characters, objects, and even mustaches. This series had a calming effect for me. I have seen the paintings in print and on the web but the tactile nature of the real thing is breathtaking; the paint is often so thin it barely covers the grain of the veneer. The quietness and delicateness of craft is so fitting to the dialog of Sohn’s works.

Comparing the two shows is a case of opposites; the brightness of Copham’s work came off the wall to the viewer as each portrait tried to tell their story, like a room full of people at an opening. While Sohn’s work draws the onlooker in to a fine mystical little world, one I wish to visit again.

Other cool NY sightings:

On Second Avenue one especially outstanding graffiti laced door caught my eye.

Macy’s all dressed up for the Holidays; the legendary street level windows lived up to their reputation too.

Apple’s 5th Avenue underground store.

Pinkberry on W 32nd cool 70’s style décor and great yogurt.

Fashion

For my fashion friends in the D, I scoped out the FFANY at pier 94, but the most interesting find of the week was Te Casan. Located on in SOHO in a beautiful, and truly first class building Te Casan has invented a completely unique approach to shoe marketing, and the development of emerging designers. For the lucky seven that are prominently featured in the tri-level venue it’s the chance of a lifetime. These however are no lottery winners they are experienced designers striking out on their own. Another unique aspect to the beautiful dream is that all of the shoes are limited editions; I would guess that if and when some of these superstars really take off they would leave the nest and strike out alone. Sadly the web site does not show the shoes, but I saw some stunning really well designed and creative works of art. These are only for the serious aficionado’s, well worth a visit to this museum of modern shoes when in the Apple.

After a sight-filled trip, Tom’s back in town, and we’re glad to have him keeping track of all, and we mean ALL, the art-goings on about town each and every week in the pages of our arts calendar.

Unpublished Poems: New Drawings and Paintings
11 November 2007 – 27 January 2007
Sherry Washington Gallery

by Dolores Slowinski

In “Unpublished Poems: New Drawings and Paintings,” Shirley Woodson’s exhibition at the Sherry Washington Gallery, the artist displays an overall increased complexity in the work that makes for a very, very satisfying experience.

The interplay of the figures with forms surrounding them; the layering of the colors allowing textures to work up to the surface; the understated touches...the angel's wing in “Niagara Bather with Angel Wing” is rapturous! No heavy-handed literalism here. Oh no. Just a tiny, tiny, wing---hanging like a whisper in the air---telling us to look and see.

“Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries---stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water.” - Herman Melville

Woodson, like Melville, understands our enchantment with water. Water represents baptism in life; the crossing of the Middle Passage; the soothing, relaxing, meandering of beach walks. Her painting of a sturdy pair of legs from the thighs down stands out from all the rest because of its solitary subject: legs so strong, supporting the history of a whole nation of people; holding up all we could possibly imagine walking along a shore.

The Niagara Bathers series also caught my attention with the activity of swirling water splashing until a brush stroke of color lands near the face of one bather. Who, but the most courageous, would dare to swim the Niagara River?

The Red Pool in the painting of the same name is hard to find when your attention is focused on the remarkable figure in that bubbly pink outfit that just makes you want to squeeze her! If she is so frothy, the red pool may be the source of her energy or her nemesis.

A little blue and purple gem, Blue Wave, above the guest book is pure, juicy, yummy color. It stands out not only because of its diminutive size, but also because of its deep, rich colors that depart from the color palette in the rest of the works.

“Four at Sea,” a large canvas with fish, figures and a single flower above them, strikes me as an ancestral portrait about journeying from one place to another; the school of fish as younger generations swimming to another place in the ocean of life.

The “Flight Into Egypt” and the diptych “At the Crossroads” speak to me about the African Diaspora; movement from the known to the unknown, and adaptation. The diptych presents two contrasting figures; one contemporary mounted on a horse the other, its legendary counterpart, standing like the present facing the past and listening to the words of oral tradition taking form and coming to meet it.

“Reflections and Flowers” is a gorgeous self-portrait. A stoic figure, Woodson, holds a paintbrush poised above pots of flowers. The blossoms are her children...her family...and all the school children and their teachers for whom Woodson cares so very, very much in her day job as Head of Fine Arts for the Detroit Public Schools. The reflection in the mirror could easily be a combined image of her two sons, both teachers in the DPS, one of whom is an accomplished artist. That strong, dark figure in the background could be a representation of the love, encouragement, support and inspiration she received from both her deceased husband and her father. This painting is a symbolic record of Woodson’s life. No matter what happens, she makes it more beautiful for the experiences she has had, for the rich colors she offers our eyes to absorb and challenges us to reflect back to the world. These are the poems she not only carries in her art, but also lives by example.

Dolores S. Slowinski is an artist and erstwhile art reviewer. Her visual work has recently appeared in Dispatch Detroit, Vol. 8. Her writing has been published in American Ceramics, Art in America, Ceramics Monthly, Dialogue: An Art Journal, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The New Art Examiner, and numerous catalogues. Her most recent work for thedetroiter.com concerned the graphic novel, "Pride of Baghdad" and can be found in our lit section here.

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(December 13, 2006)

This week, check out Brad and Vaughn Taormina as they take center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase.

And one more thing from curator extraordinaire Graem Whyte: Jan 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of twia, and we will be having a group show to celebrate, with an open call for submissions due to space, no piece can be larger than 4" x 4" x 4", and only one piece per artist. drop off will be anytime during open hours the week prior to Jan 3 (include title & price info). Feel free to contact Graem with any questions.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

dec 20 faina lerman
dec 27 christina gibbs

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

Detroit Industrial Projects
Even Clean Hands Leave Marks and Damage Surfaces
Installation exhibit by Detroit artists Kevin Beasley, Miroslav Cukovic and Curtis Glenn
Through January 13, 2007
Artist Talk: Sunday, December 10, 2-3pm

In “Even Clean Hands Leave Marks and Damage Surfaces,” Kevin Beasly, Miroslav Cukovic, and Curtis Glenn, collaborate to transform a vacant, raw studio space within the Russell Industrial complex by very subtle means. It’s likely at first glance a visitor might dismiss the room as having had nothing done to it at all. The project is installation, yes, but not as in major construction, yet it is still completely transformative. By manipulating the smallest aspects throughout the room – the entire space becomes activated – everything becomes an integral element of a three dimensional composition. Room becomes art object.

So what’s inside? There are obvious pieces, clear signs of intentional intervention: A flywheel attached to a wheel, mounted directly inside the entrance. A pullout couch bed frame serves as a third wall of sorts for a tent frame nestled in a corner of the room. Inside the makeshift structure: a bed of plastic air-filled packaging bags. There’s a light, and images of a toilet – a likely reference to Marcel Duchamp’s “fountain,” a readymade urinal exhibited as an art object, quite appropriate for an installation of this sort. A long, curved pipe is place purposefully, leaned against a wall, rust spilling out from its floor end, depositing a striking red stain on the yellow painted cement floor. A small blue painting is hung askew on one wall. Nearby, elements of representation adorn the wall – paintings of a fish. A drafting table is mounted high on the opposite wall, an element of the architecture now, rather than a tool to help design the architecture. A plastic power strip serves as the hypotenuse of a triangle whose legs are the floor and wall.

The work becomes in a way an elaborate Easter egg hunt: A strip of red tape stuck vertically along a support column in the wall is obscured by a strategically stationed metal shaft. There’s at least one hook sticking out from the wall, power supply cords have their ends plugged into the walls and are arranged in a symmetrical formation. A bucket collecting water dripping from the ceiling presents a new question – what was done and what was already here before? Is a nail on the floor set out in a particular position or is left behind from earlier construction? Additionally, the bucket creates variable sound effects; both as it fills higher with water and as the dripping slows with lessening precipitation outside. A rickety wooden frame, hanging off the wall, falls apart at a touch, providing a means of interacting with the viewer quite actively. So what then of the cracked paint on the ceiling? Or the nearly invisible drawing in dust on the window panes? A strip of blue tape in a corner? It becomes almost impossible to know what’s intentional and what’s incidental. Everything in the room acts in concert – modified or not, each element matters to the entire composition.

And thus this experience makes us look differently at our own spaces – that cracked paint on the kitchen ceiling, flecks of blue-green tile revealed through chips in the black paint covering the floor, a yellow extension cord snaking across that same blue-spotted, black floor. Our own spaces take on greater visual interest. (In my case, raising the entirely separate question of whether it’s art or just poor housekeeping?)

It’s a lot of fun, it’s Easter Egg nature turns into a game of sorts, and perhaps one of the most engaging exhibitions in sometime – which is curious, as stated above, that on first glance, it’s nothing but a fairly empty room in a state of unfinished construction. But in looking, we start to see hidden depths, which open up further views, and soon a lot of time has passed, and it seems we’ve just started looking, and are ready to look some more.

As such, this connects the work to the mathematical concept of fractals – geometry able to more closely approximate the complexity of nature. We might see in a coastline, a naturally occurring fractal, within every inlet, smaller inlets can be found, and similarly within them smaller inlets, and so on. Infinite depths in limited area. The closer one looks at such objects, the more we see, as this installation seems to do. (Even in writing this, I’m finding new things – like, does the fishing rod in the entrance connect to the fish paintings across the room? If there’s a “bed” room in one corner, a drafting table in another, an area for seating and conversation, fish in the “kitchen?”, does this mirror someone’s studio/living space?)

This also connects to light and space installation artist Robert Irwin (as was pointed out to me). Irwin’s modifications of entire, otherwise empty rooms often included the placement of something almost unnoticeable – a single strip of black paper, an altering of the lighting. Yet these subtle, exceedingly minimal manipulations dramatically changed people’s perception of the space. This caused visitors to pay great attention, thus enabling them to see something they’d never seen before, and the whole space in an entirely new light. Irwin describes his practice as, “the gift of seeing a little more today than you did yesterday.” Beasly, Cukovic, and Glenn, too, invite us to pay greater attention to our surroundings and in the act of doing so be pleasantly surprised with what we discover in the act of looking. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(December 6, 2006)

This week, check out Tom Humes, Julie Russell, and Tom Dickinson as they take center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase.

Also this week, catch a special double-shot of “This Week in Art” with a Thursday night, December 7th, silent auction to benefit the school of San Pablo, Guatemala. Artists include: Lowell Boileau, Ray Katz, Karen Sepanski, Betty Bbrownlee, Diane Carr, Gilbert Pike, and more.

And one more thing from curator extraordinaire Graem Whyte: Jan 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of twia, and we will be having a group show to celebrate, with an open call for submissions due to space, no piece can be larger than 4" x 4" x 4", and only one piece per artist. drop off will be anytime during open hours the week prior to jan 3 (include title & price info). feel free to contact me with any questions.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

dec 13 brad & vaughn taormina
dec 20 faina lerman
dec 27 christina gibbs

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID)

The CAID presents two independent exhibitions on its two floors, bringing together two distinct cultures in one space: that of Mexico and Cranbrook. Downstairs check out “Tradition and Modernity of Mexican Culture” an exhibition of prints ranging from etchings to more experimental printmaking methods.

Curators Marie Alsace Galindo-Roel & Gerardo Macias-Garcia state this is “first important presentation of contemporary Mexican printmakers in Detroit.” This show is a first time exhibiting in Detroit and includes these artists: Alfredo Zalce; Manuel Felguerez; Martha Chapa-Benavides; Gerardo Cantu; Edgar Mendoza; Jose Luis Corral; Julian Diaz; Inda Saenz; Nicolas Moreno; Luis Filcer; Esther Gonzalez; Guillermo Ceniceros; and Raul Anguiano.

Tradition and Modernity of Mexican Culture
an Exhibition of prints by Mexican masters
November 25, 2006 – December 9, 2006

Upstairs recent Cranbrook grad, Laith Karmo puts together five Detroit-based artists including Ivin Ballen, Sara Blakeman, Britton Tolliver, Chris Williams, and Little. Bright colors, pop imagery fill this show which includes paintings, sculptural objects, and prints. Each works quite differently yet they all resonate quite well together, and altogether maintains a consistent dialogue, as is to curator Karmo’s credit.

November 25, 2006 - January 2, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 25, 2006 6 PM-10PM

Note the downstairs show ends December 9, and a new exhibition of soft-sculpture installations will open December 16, and this exhibition will be up until January 2, as will the upstairs. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com
(In addition to being editor-in-chief of thedetroiter.com, Sousanis is the current chairman of the board of CAID. That said, he really wishes he could. Good work to our independent curators, Nick)

Get Ready for TigerTown!

The Children’s Charities Coalition is seeking approximately 100 artists, designers and craftsmen to participate in a new fundraiser that will celebrate the fantastic season of the 2006 Detroit Tigers. The event, entitled “TigerTown,” will feature 100 fiberglass tiger sculptures that will be displayed throughout Birmingham, Bloomfield and the greater metro Detroit area from April-June 2007. National City Bank is the title sponsor for TigerTown.

Artist entry forms are available at The Community House, located at 380 South Bates Street in Birmingham. Entry forms can be accessed online at http://www.childrenscharitiescoalition.org. To request an entry form via email, contact kathien@communityhouse.com. Artists will be asked to complete a proposed design diagram detailing materials to be used. Design submissions must be received by December 15. The TigerTown Review Board will jury designs and The Children’s Charities Coalition will contribute $700 to each selected artist for material fees.

The tigers will hit the streets at the commencement of the 2007 baseball season in mid April and will continue to be displayed until they are auctioned in mid June. The fiberglass tigers will be approximately 3 feet long and 4 feet high.

The Coalition is also looking for area businesses to sponsor each individual tiger. Sponsored tigers will be displayed at local businesses and retailers throughout metro Detroit. Tiger sponsorships are available starting at $3,500. Sponsors can display their tiger inside or outside of their businesses. Each tiger will have a plaque that credits the sponsor. A portion of the sponsorship is tax deductible.

Proceeds from the TigerTown will benefit The Children’s Charities Coalition. The Children’s Charities Coalition was formed in 1997 to address the challenge of developing new sources of funding to help children through a synergistic effort of experienced leaders and combined resources. The Coalition is comprised of four not-for profit organizations based in Oakland County: The Child Abuse and Neglect Council of Oakland County; The Community House Children’s Programs; Orchards Children’s Services; and Variety The Children’s Charity. Each of these not-for profit groups has served as a leader in raising awareness, funding and support for the various needs of children in our community. Today, the voices of these children are united and growing stronger and more visible through the joint efforts of the Coalition.

Noel Night (Includes more venues this year!)

Start the holiday season by celebrating the yuletide wonder of this treasured community event, now in its 34th year. Noel Night will take place on Saturday, December 2nd from 5:00pm to 9:30pm in Midtown Detroit’s University Cultural Center Area. Over 20 institutions and businesses will open their doors to the public free of charge during this Cultural Center-wide holiday “open house,” including: the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), the New Detroit Science Center, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the newly opened Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD).

The night will feature many holiday shopping options, including fine art gifts made by local artists at the Detroit Artists Market, to the basement art blow-out sale at the Scarab Club. Noel Night will definitely not disappoint with its horse-drawn carriage rides, family craft activities, and performances by over 70 area music and dance groups. Headlining the event will be the Tartan Terrors, a Celtic comedy act performing both in the CCS Sculpture Garden and on the Woodward Avenue Bandstand. Then stay for the night’s main event and sing with your fellow mankind in Noel Night’s traditional sing-a-long on Woodward Avenue led by the Salvation Army Band. And there will be baked goods: don’t miss your chance to sample Avalon’s famous stolen rolls and spirits, or purchase a tasty holiday treat in the lobby of the Park Shelton.

Noel Night activities take place in and around Midtown Detroit’s Cultural Center institutions, primarily between Cass and John R and Kirby and Willis. Free shuttle service is offered between participating venues. Convenient parking is available in area lots.

Noel Night is produced by the University Cultural Center Association and sponsored by the Masco Corporation and Target. Call 313-577-5088 or visit www.detroitmidtown.com for additional information. Noel Night attracts over 25,000 visitors annually, making it one of the can’t miss feel good events of the season!

WHAT: 34th Annual Noel Night
WHERE: Midtown Detroit’s University Cultural Center District
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 2006
TIME: 5:00pm-9:30pm
COST: FREE

Thanks to Annmarie Borucki for information and images.

thedetroiter.com has been providing the most comprehensive arts listings in town for some time now, and we keep improving. In addition to our openings and galleries listings, the printable weekly openings schedule, we now offer a printable pdf map of downtown galleries, and an interactive map for locating galleries around town. Check ‘em all out in the arts calendar section.

And of course, reviews, interviews, and more, all available right here!

Some participating organizations:
http://www.dia.org/
http://www.detroitsciencecenter.org/
http://www.maah-detroit.org/
http://www.mocadetroit.org/
http://www.detroitartistsmarket.org/
http://www.scarabclub.org
http://www.detroitcathedral.org/index2.htm
http://www.tartanterrors.com/
http://www.ccscad.edu/
http://www.theparkshelton.com/

THROUGH: January 12, 2007
Wayne State University: Elaine L. Jacobs Gallery
Unembedded Website

A few days ago the headline read, “Deadly Attack Kills at Least 144 in Baghdad,” yesterday it was this, “U.S. Troops Kill 5 Girls in Assault on Insurgents.” Hardly a day passes where there aren’t headlines of these sorts since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This October, 3,709 Iraqis were killed, and it hardly seems to raise an eyebrow on this nation’s conscience. Perhaps it’s because we see them as people “over there,” or because we feel there’s nothing we can do. Or maybe it’s because the numbers are so overwhelming as to become meaningless. The human context is lost.

Art has the power to open our eyes, to offer a new perspective for looking at the world. While journalist are more formally tasked with uncovering the truth, increasingly there are limitations placed on their ability to do so. In embedding reporters and photojournalists within the troops, the military promised access to events impossible otherwise, yet simultaneously limited the perspectives possible. Nonetheless, there are those out there who have braved going it alone, taking on the added risks of no military protection as well as risking the ire of that same military, in order to uncover deeper truths. “Unembedded” features the work of four such photographers: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Thorne Anderson, Kael Alford, and Rita Leistner, each independent and unattached from the military stationed in Iraq, whose cameras capture violence, death, destruction, and occasionally, moments of normalcy amidst the madness.

All in all, this is a painful portrait of people’s lives torn apart by war and continual violence. The images depict all too close, all too real, death caused by both Americans and fellow Iraqis. Strong compositions show streets reduced to rubble, people on the run, bodies on the streets, dead and dying in makeshift hospitals. There are images of an American helicopter attack causing the death of multiple civilians and but a single insurgent, an errant rocket shattering a neighborhood. These photographers capture and thus humanize Iraqis taking up arms to fight the Americans and each other. In perhaps the most disturbing image, a child looks on intently as his relatives repair a rocket-propelled grenade. Last night, I helped my similarly-aged nephew assemble a toy car race track. The contrast is profound. But in Iraq these circumstances aren’t new, some photos concern those bodies uncovered killed during Saddam’s regime.

By not displaying the photos in a chronological timeline, there’s an emphasis that things aren’t getting better or worse. No matter who’s doing it, the constant state in Iraq (and other places around this globe) is that people do terrible things to each other, and death is persistent. If the headlines aren’t enough to bring this home, these images are. These are real people. They bleed like we do and they love like we do. There are a few glimpses that life persists, images from wedding preparation in particular, that show that even in the midst of chaos, people struggle to survive, to love, to live. Mostly though, the images are of life in rubble and funerals. Each photographer captures a slightly different aspect of existence in Iraq – all of them powerful images.

The iconic image representing the show is a bullet-shattered car windshield, through which we can make out ordinary Iraqis coming out from hiding after an attack. It’s a strong metaphor for the cracks in our own perspective, that we’ve been looking at things the wrong way and that needs to be changed. And we know photography can do this. The images from Abu Ghraib are one such recent example, which helped make people aware of the atrocities happening there in a way that words might not have. This show of artworks represents a tremendous dichotomy: as a people we are capable of such beauty, such empathy, such amazing acts of creation, yet at the same time we are prone to such horrific acts of destruction. The arts then have much to share and to teach. These works enable dialogue, a dialogue which promotes understanding, and from that understanding the possibilities for change and a better future expand greatly. Here we have a chance to learn to understand one another, and learn to create together, rather than destroy one another. This is an important, if difficult to endure, eye opener, not to be missed. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

The exhibition is accompanied by a book of the photographs featuring text and commentary from the photographers. It’s an important document, one that could be shared with friends, and perhaps have a copy to our elected officials. There is also a lecture Wednesday, November 29 at 6 pm, featuring photojournalists Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson. The pair have collectively spent eighteen months in Iraq, and will speak about their experiences.

“Their work documents issues often underreported by the mainstream media, including the insurgency as seen from inside the separate resistance movements, civilians affected by the violent battles between the U.S. and insurgent forces, growing conservatism and fundamentalism and their effects on women, and the devastating effects of civilian casualties.”

“Unembedded: Independent Photojournalism in Iraq”
Wednesday, November 29 at 6 pm
Schaver Music Recital Hall, Old Main, 480 W. Hancock
Wayne State University 0

Zeitgeist
Closing Reception: Saturday December 2 from 7 - 12pm, performance @ 9pm

The Mexican Day of the Dead festival, a cross between native and Catholic traditions, is a time to honor loved ones lost and celebrate their memory. In addition to the festivities and other activities that surround this event, people often create in their homes “ofrendas,” altar of sorts of offerings to help welcome the deceased spirit back into their home during this time of remembrance. Ofrendas thus include items for the departed to get cleaned up, foods which that person enjoyed, and pictures, objects, and other mementos from the person’s life. Celebration is the key word in all this. While in many cultures speaking of the dead is solemn and morbid, here it is celebratory, a time for the living to reflect on who the dead person was and why he/she was so special in their lives.

Zeitgeist offers a rich look at the Day of the Dead with an exhibition of ofrendas ranging from more traditional approaches to quite fresh approaches. Vito Valdez’ and Mary Laredo-Herbeck’s offerings are along the lines of what one might most expect from an ofrenda. Laredo-Herbeck devotes hers to her mother, laying out sweet breads, vegetables, and other staples of a healthy kitchen, images of her mother, hand painted traditional skull and hand imagery, and a painting by her mother, formally acknowledging her mother’s influence on Laredo-Herbeck’s own art making. The viewer need not know her mother to connect to this, and think of loved ones that we too would celebrate in similar fashion. Valdez’ piece is a sprawling tribute to a number of artists and friends. Most prominently Valdez recognizes sculptor Luis Jimenez with a series of images of Jimenez’ work, letters between him and Valdez, an article on his tragic death being crushed by a large horse sculpture he was working on. Valdez represents this incident by placing at the center of all the various items in the ofrenda a merry-go-round horse suspended above a sculpted male figure, who holds his arms up as if to hold it back. Valdez’ installation becomes truly educational allowing viewers to learn about the lives of these people and their importance to Valdez and beyond. It’s quite dense with information, curiosities, and the complexities of life that make these people real.

Maurice Greenia, Jr.’s ofrenda is to “Katrina” and it would seem more generally to those victims of mass tragedies in this country. It has the look of the traditional ofrenda, but this quite directly addresses the political making connections between events, objects, all with Greenia’s surreal sensibility. Monte’s piece is less ofrenda and more installation – a scroll rolling down the wall and along the floor with inked bare footprints imprinted upon it, a stated tribute to 9/11 victims.

Terry Burton’s “The Artist Taking Residence,” is an artist’s studio in miniature – filled with spray cans, beer cans, paint supplies, elements of collage, painted bits. On its own, it offers a fair amount to explore as an installation, almost 3-D painting composition. While this show is strengthened by the diversity of offerings, this one feels out of place with the consistent tone and context set by the other works. Dennis Jones’ “Ofrenda para el Artista” hardly resembles the typical ofrenda, yet it is such an outpouring of energy, a celebration of creativity – it’s quite a treat. The piece is inhabited by sculpted figures, Charlie Brown-ish in form, with wide grins and no other features on their rounded, smooth heads and bodies. These playful, shiny happy people, are covered in splatters of paint, behind them are painted portraits of them, monotone in primary colors, Warhol-esque in their repetitiveness. Balloons and confetti litter the ground around them, complementing the celebratory atmosphere, and there’re also a number of towers that inhabit the landscape. A final painting depicts two solitary similarly proportioned figures with facial features and party hats, but their mood is less celebratory. It’s quite involved and impressive in scope, and one might find some similarity between Jones’ commentary on the human condition and Jon Pylypchuk’s “Shanty Town” currently showing at MoCAD.

There’s a bit more to see, Karl Schneider’s winged female figure drawn from screws and other metal parts suspended in glass. It’s offered to loved lost – less about physical death, and more emotional. Nestled between Valdez and Laredo-Herbeck, Matt Hanna offers up a tribute to Colonel Sanders (yes, that Colonel Sanders), both the iconic larger than life image, and the real man. It’s quite fitting subject matter for Hanna, no stranger to mythic characters with his Paul Bunyan themed works. To say the least, images of the colonel are a bit surreal, but with a mix of paintings, a statue, flowers, candles, and a bucket of KFC, it’s quite a beautiful homage.

There’ also a moving tribute to infants and children by the kids of Casa Maria Family Services, as aided by gallery director Jim Puntigam.
Finally there’s one virtual piece, an homage to violence against women by female artists and writers put together by Mark(s) Zine creator Deb King. It’s on a monitor within the gallery, and you can check it out online here: http://www.gender-f.com/.

Zeitgeist tore out some walls to really connect their regular art space with the theater space, and it really works to allow this work to be given its proper space. In addition to their visual works, the Space Band will be offering a living ofrenda to past musicians at the closing reception (among other festivities said to include giant puppets) at their closing reception Saturday, December 2. This was such a joy for them to put on, curator Diana Alva says it is to be an annual event. For those uninitiated to the Day of the Dead and ofrendas, there is something quite healthy about celebrating the departed, rather than mourning, and Zeitgeist captures that spirit quite well. There’s lots to see and enjoy, so check out this one. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(November 29, 2006)

This week, check out Sioux Trujillo on the center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase. The most recent chance to see Trujillo’s work was her “Oil Drenched Sea Otter” as part of Scott Hocking’s menagerie at Susanne Hilberry Gallery. See what she’s up to in the solo spotlight this week.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

In collaboration with the Sharjah Biennial 8
STILL LIFE - Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change

The UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2007, organized in association with the Sharjah Biennial 8 on the theme of "STILL LIFE - Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change", is at the heart of the global dialogue on the role of art as a vital force for positive change to how we shape our environment, whether determined by spatial, geographical properties or by socio-cultural relevancies, and how we respond to our surroundings, immediate and global. Particularly in times when the concepts of space, time, and social relationship from every sphere of life experience are put in flux via communication technologies, artists are dynamically positioned to drive the questions related to contemporary social and environmental concerns with critical and creative thinking and artistic intervention using, among other things, digital tools.

With half of the world’s population now living in urban areas, creating the conditions of people-centred sustainable environments within an increasingly urbanized world is more and more accentuated across the globe. Cities are subject to innumerable pressures that affect their inhabitants, but could also be centres for expression of cultural diversity and places of vitality at the intersections of art, technology, and socio-cultural conditions. In this regard, young artists around the world are invited to reflect on how urban spaces and city environments could be transformed into creative outlets cultivating artistic innovation and new forms of expression. Potential applicants to the award are especially asked to conceive and design their creative project that is integral to the theme of sustainable urban development. They are encouraged to make up the artistic transformation and social representation of unique observations and reflections on urban environment and its communities.

The award is especially in conjunction with the UNESCO Young Digital Creators (YDC) Programme (http://www.unesco.org/culture/digiarts/ydc) and, therefore, applicants will use the online YDC application "scenes and sounds of my city" (http://unesco.sjsu.edu/) for submitting their creative project.

The "Scenes and sounds of my city" programme gives the floor to users to present their own urban dynamics, taking on a local flair or tone or making collective expressions of their ideas and visions related to urban environment through the digital medium of images and sounds. In the past, there has been an active participation in this programme of over 100 groups of creative learning communities from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Egypt, India, Moldova, Zambia, Zimbabwe, etc.

UNESCO Digital Arts Award
The UNESCO Digital Arts Award, which forms a special category of the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts dedicated to recognizing outstanding creative achievements by young artists in different fields of arts, aims at promoting cultural diversity and encouraging dialogue between cultures through innovative artistic ideas and forms using new media and technology.

The total award money is US $10.000, which could be divided and delivered to more than one laureate. It is provided by the Higashiyama Fund, managed by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ), and given by the Director-General of UNESCO.

General Guidelines
• Submitted projects should relate to the theme and topic of the award.
• The applicants must submit one project through the above-mentioned online YDC application (http://unesco.sjsu.edu/).
• The user name and password of the online application would be distributed to the candidates once they have sent their CVs and completed entry forms to the UNESCO DigiArts Team (mailto:digiarts@unesco.org).
• Collaborative participation from more than one artist is highly welcomed.
• Young, talented people from under-represented countries are especially encouraged to participate.

Deadlines and Submission Materials
Preparatory materials by 31 December 2006
• CV and biographies of participating artist(s)
• Completed entry form
Final materials by 16 February 2007
• One creative project submitted online at: http://unesco.sjsu.edu/
• Written documentation (word or pdf format) on the process of building the creative projects with supporting audio-visual materials

Jury
An international jury will be assembled representing the 5 geo-cultural regions (Asia/Pacific, Latin America/Caribbean, Africa, Arab States, Europe/North America) with the support of respective representatives of the co-organizers UNESCO and the Sharjah Biennial.

Contact
For more details, visit:
http://www.unesco.org/culture/digiarts/award
Or contact:
digiarts@unesco.org

The BBAC proudly announces the 2007 Michigan Fine Arts Competition, March 16-Apr. 13, 2007.

A panel of representatives from major arts institutions across the state will jury this year's competition. For more information about the jury panel, visit www.BBArtCenter.org.

Artists interested in applying may download the prospectus on the BBAC website (under Exhibition) and copies are also available at the Art Center.

The postmark deadline for entry is January 12, 2007.

For more information, contact Chelsea Romero, Exhibitions and Facilities Coordinator, at 248.644.0866 X 103 or ChelseaRomero@BBArtCenter.org.

Alley Culture
November 3 through November 25, 2006

As much as the name Alley Culture is a description of its actual location (yes, it is in an alley and hosts cultural events), it’s also quite apt in summing up its purpose. It’s a place for the community in which to showcase culture not on corporate logo lit streets of commerce, but from people of every walk of life, sitting around a fire as has been done since we first could create a fire, and engaging in dialogue about meaning.

To this end the gallery has always been about breaking down barriers between people, and this show is a strong instance of that. For “Hope through Darkness” a generation that’s been confronting issues of the environment, poverty, freedom, and more since the 60s, invites a younger generation in to curate, and share a sense of just what young people today are thinking. And it’s an essential dialogue, as those that have been there before can offer the advice of experience, while those just getting started can keep the perspective of their elders perpetually refreshed. Rather than dismissing the value of such views by saying, “young people these days,” by inviting 20 something curators Matt Shultz and Heather Campbell creates greater possibilities. Furthermore, this exhibition breaks still more barriers: in showing the works of some who would identify as artists alongside others who would definitely not claim such a title. This mix demonstrates that we all have this inherent need and ability for artistic expression, to find our voice, in whatever fashion it is manifested and cultivated.

Which brings us to the artwork itself. First up the work of Hong Chong, a doctor by day (and night), x-ray images behind glass, a collage of human and mechanical parts, with fragments of thoughts, poems, similarly burned into the black background. Each glass is cracked, spidery tendrils stretching outward across the surface. Lit from behind, these draw attention, we read them as if an x-ray, seeing through something, thinking of the context of body, of replacement parts, and read deeper into the collage of words. Many of the contributors share a techno connection, an influence of lyrics and imagery from that scene.

Paul Biondo’s “These People Are Using Your Eyes” is a haunting, barely visible eyeless face, painted, almost smeared, on cardboard with words scrawled upon it, all attached to a scrap of wood from some former structure – quite Detroit in material and execution. The reference to eyes is picked up in a series of odd – spooky, yet whimsical masks produced by the curators respectively. There’s a sense in these works of the alien, of a loss of our selves, a search for identity. Biondo also provides text for Campbell’s book of imagery – solarized plant structures, delicate in shimmering black on black pages. Really a gorgeous look, if at times impossible to read the text overlaid on the velvety images. Don Desander’s “Boy Kills Bird Kills Snake” is a series of birds and winged snakes pinned up as if flying across the beams of the galleries east wall – deceptively serious imagery, masked as a bit lyrical narrative.

Alana Carlson, offers up two distinct works: the first, a painting of a woman working behind a bar (a bit out of place given the rest of the works in the show) – which is warm and filled with rich light, though inconsistent in figuration, and the second, an installation of a homeless figure, draped in a blanket, apparently in a wheelchair with other familiar trappings. Cobbled together from bicycle tires, shoes, pants, and other props, it does create a definite uncomfortable presence – to be avoided in proximity and vision. Francis Brazeau’s nearby photo diptych with the words “Tis better to give” on the first and “than to receive” on the second, addresses confrontations with authority, as the play on words depicts people beating an authority figure, and in the second being beaten. The grainy, video-esque quality of the images adds to the impact of the likely reality of the scenes. Matt Demmon’s “Verses Line Verse” is poetry and photos glued onto a cardboard backing. It doesn’t look pretty in an art gallery sense – it’s raw, which adds to its authenticity. We learn that Demmon is entering the world of organic, urban agriculture, which connects to the sense of care present in his work, and the idea that this generation does think about their world, their place in it, and what they can do.

There’s no denying the work is uneven, as it must be, given the range of folks drafted in, but there is a consistency of language, of approach to this time in history. In their essay for the show, “Dark Future,” curators Shultz and Campbell write, “The hippie project has failed. …, the class struggle has failed. … Critical problems identified years ago have gone unsolved.” This show answers no more questions than it raises either. But it shows that thinking is going on, that young folk are recognizing what’s going on in the world. As Shultz and Campbell say, in accepting the current state of affairs, we can let go of fear and find a sort of hope. In giving a venue for these voices, Alley Culture creates the possibility for dialogue, and shows that in coming together, we can find hope for a bright future. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

POSITION TITLE / DEPARTMENT
Curatorial Assistant
Contemporary Art

CLASSIFICATION
Full-time contract position, Non-Exempt
Salary: $30,000 - $31,500

Qualifications
• Bachelor’s Degree in Art History or Museum Studies required, M.A. preferred
• Familiarity with one or more European languages
• Some museum experience preferred
• Demonstrable research skills
• Working knowledge of MS Office 2003 suite of programs
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent organizational abilities
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work on a team

Responsibilities
• Assists in reorganizing and maintaining collection records and database documentation in TMS
• Assists curator in compiling data and conducting assigned research in conjunction with exhibitions organized or under the direction of the curatorial department as well as for forthcoming scholarly catalogues of the department’s collection
• Participates in gallery reinstallation projects
• Conducts supervised research on objects in the collection
• Assists in organizing and administering patron-related activities including scholarly lectures and meetings
• Assists in the general administration of the department as required
• Assists in monitoring conditions of galleries and departmental art storage areas
• Assists to facilitate artist visits and projects
• Lifts and moves works of art weighing up to 10 lbs
Please note:
The position of Curatorial Assistant is NOT considered a “tenure-track” position, rather a position lasting eighteen months to two years.

CANDIDATE MUST BE A CITY OF DETROIT RESIDENT WITHIN THREE MONTHS
OF HIRE
If you are interested in applying for this position, please do so in writing to Detroit Institute of Arts, Organizational Development ad Human Resources Department, 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202, Fax 313/833-0343, e-mail: hrjobs@dia.org by November 15, 2006

THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

David Schutter
Haarlem, from the Northwestern Dunes
Paul Kotula Projects

Beverly Fishman
Chromophilia
Lemberg Gallery

October 21 – November 25

Next door neighbor galleries, Paul Kotula Projects and Lemberg Gallery, couldn’t be showing more different types of paintings, which make them the perfect pairing for a two-in-one review.

Upstairs at PKP, we find the spare work of David Schutter, consisting of three paintings and several gestural drawings on mylar. The paintings are solid gray, all hint of color or even shade removed, and at first glance they might also appear devoid of any content whatsoever. This is quickly seen to not be the case. In their subtlety the paintings ask the viewer to linger, to look for a while and up close. Before it is quite clear what is being shown, they exude the sense of being ethereal landscapes, without having the obvious look of such a thing. With the barest hint of line separate ground and sky, Schutter creates this quite distinct feeling of atmosphere.

As it turns out, each painting is a recreation of sorts of the landscape painting, “Haarlem, from the Northwestern Dunes,” by the 17th Century Dutch Master, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682). Schutter spent much time making multiple drawings of the painting where it is on permanent display at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. He then returned to his studio and began the process of representing the masterpiece through memories of making the drawings and observing the painting itself. The result is almost a dream of a painting – absent color, left with feeling, moments of certainty of place, and then, as we try to grasp for more specifics, that certainty vanishes into the ether.

What is often achieved with color, Schutter creates with texture, gesture, great and attention to surface. He’s activated the surface with such a variety of marks and methods; it’s as rich as if it were indeed infused with a grand palette of colors. At times the paint is thin enough to reveal the texture of the canvas, at others it’s built up, and even flattened to be perfectly smooth, and hence quite reflective. There are energetic marks, swirls for sky and clouds, and very solid, distinct single dabs of paints which serve as the solid of the ground line. He’s scraped and reworked. In areas, the surface has cracked, as if it’s weathered like the original subject. Congealed clumps of paint and marks scratched through the surface, bring greater depth and content. The surface is alive, and we can read the feeling of the environment without ever seeing the actual look of it. Our eyes work like fingers, it’s visual texture.

Schutter’s drawings, gestural marks on mylar, worked on and erased out, function in much the same way. There’s great energy for his subject, yet little specificity of imagery. Schutter created these sketches to work his way through particular sticking points in the painting process. As such, they served as studies, but hold their own as quite lively compositions in their own right. What the paintings achieve in layer upon layer built up and scraped down, these reach with the translucent surface of the mylar, filled with quick marks, a shaded ground, and erasures. Schutter’s work invites the viewer to slow down and really look and experience his paintings. From an almost imperceptible first glance, these become infused with great depths and dimension, and captivate perhaps a greater feeling of place, than a more “accurate” rendition might. In a way, in making them non-specific, they become more specific to anyone, as they evoke each viewer’s individual feelings of landscape.

If Schutter’s muted works eased the viewer in to take a closer look, then in contrast, Beverly Fishman’s works at Lemberg Gallery are loud, almost a visual assault (though by no means in a pejorative sense), that demand one to pay attention. On powder-coated aluminum, she applies brightly colored precision-cut vinyl in the form of stripes, letters, and other patterns, as well as more pattern-based imagery silk-screened directly on the surface. These compositions work together to elicit an intense optic response, which both draws the viewer in, and may make you turn away from overload, before having this imagery burned into your corneas.

More than her earlier versions of related work, which felt much more design oriented, these are very much paintings, only using quite different materials. There’s a back and forth between the layers, as she builds up color and pattern. Not only is there the play of contrasting and complementary colors at work, but it also extends to the introduction of reflective surfaces, which add another element to the visual dynamics – the composition shifts as the viewer’s position to the work changes.

The title, “Chromophilia,” or love of color, is apt, as these are all about color, which certainly, despite Schutter’s denial of color (in itself a response to color), lies at the heart of painting. These too, are landscape in form, bands of horizontal lines. It’s said that these are Fishman’s figurative works, in that the imagery Fishman uses are all symbolic of the human. EKG lines pulse intermingled with snippets of DNA code, and linear bands of color (almost streaks that an ambulance might make, lights flashing on rain soaked streets) all in movement – fast, racing at the speed of technology. All these are stand-ins for the body, our very existence stripped apart into linear bits – we can be catalogued by a string of letters and electric signals. And here perhaps is the twist in Fishman’s work, as much as they are indicative of these times, as products of a fast-paced design world, they also are so much about this love of color, and thus a love of art, this most human of traits. Even in the midst of speeding about, we can slow down, and just look and enjoy the experience that color brings us.

Two artists. Two quite distinct views of what it means to paint in the twenty-first century – both equally valid. And both worth spending time with, learning from, and enjoying. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(November 15, 2006)

This week, check out Golnaz Armin & Brad Richards on the center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase.

Last week saw Wendy Ross & Julie Hinzmann take the one night spotlight, and put it to good use too. Ross’s single piece occupied the floor – a soft sculpture of canvas, sewn together into almost landscape like form. She brought great variety both to its form – with cylindrical extrusions, hills, and valleys, and to its surface – folding material in upon itself, creating rumpled areas. It’s a pretty rich terrain, and offered the viewer much to take in and enjoy.

Hinzmann’s offered two wall-mounted installations. One, (“Quick Use”) of a number of girls’ underpants with bottle caps flattened and sewn onto them, and the other a spring mattress with material attached to it from old sheets. In both cases, she’s reinvesting some sense of vitality in the discarded. The form of the mattress, rectangular and canvas like, becomes a composition – a grid of circles, with bits of color, somewhat regularly in between, quite quilt-like actually. The sheets reference past inhabitants of a bed such as this one. They bring with them color and form, but also the memory of lives and moments occurring on this space. The circular holes in the pattern resonate well with the positive forms of the bottle caps on the underwear. All of it came together to read solidly visually, in concert with Ross’ work as well, and engaging conceptually.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

November 22 sam consiglio
29 sioux trujillo

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

December 8-23, 2006
Gala Reception Fri Dec 8, 7:30 pm

Entry deadline: Tues Dec 5, 6 pm
(( Please note that DTL submissions will be accepted from Wed Nov 22 - Tues Dec 5, so get your work in EARLY for a better chance at a prime hanging spot! Our walls fill up fast! ))

ELIGIBILITY:
Open to Windsor and Detroit area artists.

EXHIBITION REQUIREMENTS:
Paintings, drawings, prints, photographs (or a combination of these media), small scale 3-D works and artist-made gift items (books, toys, cards, "art-wear", accessories, xmas ornaments, etc.) will be exhibited. 2-D artworks do not have to be framed, but MUST be ready for hanging.

SUBMISSIONS DROP-OFF DATES:
* November 22 - Nov 30 from 12:30-5:30 pm
* Sat Dec 2 from 1-5 pm (remember! Santa Claus is coming to town that night--beware the parking snafus and traffic re-routes! Hint: come early!).
* Tues Dec 5 from 12:30 - 6:00 pm. And please--because DTL opens so late this year, please respect this FIRM deadline! (Please!) We'll need *some* time to hang the show, y'know?!?

A maximum of 10 works per artist will be accepted. Total combined dimensions of each work should not exceed 36" x 36" (3 sq. ft.). 3-D works must fit within a 36" cube.

ALL ENTRIES MUST be SALE PRICED $99.99 OR LESS.
(Hint: "less" usually sells more art...)

For this special fundraising event only, Artcite's commission is 30% for artworks sold. All entries must be accompanied by a $15.00 handling fee (this fee waived for current Artcite members) and be clearly identified with:
* artist's name, full address and telephone number;
* title, medium and sale price of work.

To save time when you drop-off your work, you can download our handy DTL entry form at: http://www.artcite.ca/ (Scroll down to DTL info).

Works accepted will be insured by Artcite during the exhibition ONLY. Due to restrictions of storage space, Artcite cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to unsold works not picked up by Friday, Dec 29, 2006.

Questions? Please call or fax us at:
(519) 977-6564 or e-mail us at: info@artcite.ca

Proceeds for this gala Christmas FUN(d)raiser® benefit the participating artists, and help support Artcite's programming and operations. Artcite is supported by the fundraising efforts of its members and volunteers, and by the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council & the City of Windsor (we'll see about *this* year...be sure to make YOUR ARTS VOTE count during the Windsor municipal elections this Monday Nov 13!).

Available to help w/ DTL INSTALLATION or w/ holiday decorating (afternoon and evening shifts available)? Have weirdo or vintage toys, books or decorations that you'd be willing to donate or lend (for a tax receipt) for our always-fabulous Xmas window displays? Give us a call!

Artcite Inc.
109 University Avenue West
Windsor, Ontario N9A 5P4 www.artcite.ca

Happy DTL, prep, y'all...and--hope to also see YOU at the gala reception of Doin' the Louvre (at the palatial world headquarters of Artcite) on Fri Dec 8, 7:30 pm. And--too, while you're in the Xmas shopping mood, be sure to also check out the ACWR's Xmas Toy show and sale; their show opens at 5:00 pm, on Fri Dec 5, so you can easily make the scene at *both* galas!

XX, Xtine & Leesa
--

* ARTCITE INC.
[ 1982-2006 ]
C O N T A C T :
* ARTCITE INC.
109 University Ave. W.
Windsor, ON
N9A 5P4 Canada
P H / F X :
* +01.519.977.6564
E M A I L S :
* Artcite General Information info@artcite.ca
* Christine Burchnall : Administrative Coordinator xtine@artcite.ca
* Leesa Bringas : Artistic Coordinator info@artcite.ca
* Oona Mosna : Media City Program Director mediacity@artcite.ca

U R L S :
* Artcite Inc http://www.artcite.ca
* House of Toast / Media City http://www.houseoftoast.ca
G A L L E R Y H O U R S :
* Wed - Sat, 12 - 5 pm or by appointment

CALL FOR ENTRIES-Deadline Extended!

All Media Exhibition
February 3 – March 24, 2007
FOR MORE INFO Contact info@thecaid.org

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) invites artists to submit applications for an all media exhibition juried by CAID’s Board of Trustees. This will be a group exhibition exploring the current pulse of contemporary art within the Great Lakes region open to artists from each of the states and provinces that border the Great Lakes.

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit is a community-based non-profit organization that fosters and promotes the essential link between contemporary arts and contemporary society through its exhibitions, performances, critical and public discourse, and the funding of contemporary arts and art related activities.

CAID was founded in 1978 by a visionary group of Detroit area artists including painters, sculptures, musicians and others. In the years since its inception, CAID has created a plethora of visual, musical and performance art events both in Detroit and abroad.

For the first 27 years CAID existed nomadically, hosting its unique contemporary art exhibitions and events in diverse venues that ranged from vacant warehouses to bars, from parks and festivals to galleries and museums including the Detroit Artists Market and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

In November 2004, CAID finally had a space to call its own when it moved into the former detroit contemporary near Wayne State University in the Woodbridge Historic District. The newly remodeled gallery serves as an exhibition and performance space as well as headquarters for the organization. In the spring of 2007, CAID plans to begin construction of a new 2,500 sq. ft. gallery in the back portion of its current sculpture garden.

CAID remains steadfast to its mission as it continues to present an eclectic schedule of exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and educational programs and events.

CAID’s Board of Trustees include visual and performance artists, musicians, writers, critics and other arts and cultural aficianados.

Submission Guidelines

Eligibility:

CAID is currently accepting applications from artists working in all media residing in Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Applicants must maintain a current membership in CAID in order to be considered for review by the jury. Works in all media are eligible, including but not limited to painting, sculpture, video, photography, performances, installations, music, ceramic, glass and fiber.

Jury Process:

The jury process will take place in two stages. ONE) artists submit portfolios for review by the Board of Trustees. TWO) Artists selected after portfolio review will be contacted for a studio visit by the Board of Trustees.

Portfolios:

Portfolios are to include either 5 to 10 slides or digital images on a PC compatible disk with a corresponding slide or digital image list or music or performance documentation in DVD, VHS or CD format. Each piece of documentation including image lists, slides, etc. must include the artist’s name. Works to be exhibited must have been created after January 1, 2006. Not all work that will be included in the exhibit need be represented in the stage one review of portfolios. Final selection of work will be done during stage two studio visits.

Resume:

A printed condensed resume (2 page maximum) is required and a brief bio is recommended. The resume should include the artist name and all current contact information.

Deadline:

Portfolios must be received at the CAID no later than 6 pm on Saturday, November 18, 2006. This is not a postmark deadline, but a deadline for the date and time submissions are due at the CAID. Please submit applications in person or mail to the address below. A self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) is required for return of portfolios.

Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
“All Media Exhibition”
5141 Rosa Parks Blvd
Detroit MI 48208

Artists will be notified of stage one result no later than December 1, 2006. The Board of Trustees is responsible for travel and room & board necessary for studio visits. Artists are responsible for transporting or shipping their works to and from the CAID for the exhibition. For questions or additional inquiries, please call 313-899-CAID, or email info@caid.us.

Sales:

The CAID receives 1/3 commission on all sales made during the exhibition.

Hours of Operation:
The galleries at the CAID are open on Saturdays from 12pm to 6pm or one hour prior to concerts, gallery talks and lectures or other special events and programs.

Application Fee:

Applicants must obtain a membership in the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit. Annual membership dues for artists and musicians are $25.00. For further membership information visit: www.thecaid.org/information/membership.htm. Membership dues are payable to the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit with personal check, money order, or cash. If selected for exhibition, membership with CAID must remain current through the duration of the exhibition.

Calendar:
November 18, 2006 (6 pm)………...Submissions due at the CAID
December 1, 2006………………...Notification of jury results
December 10-31….………………Studio visits
January 24-27, 2007..…………….Accepted artwork due at the CAID
February 3, 6:00 pm - 11:00 pm….Opening reception
Feb 4-March 24…………………..Exhibition
March 24-28……………………...Pick up artwork at the CAID

“Meditations in an Emergency”
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

The Cyclone

A puff of air and swirls of metallic paint, outlined in black, all in all the façade of MOCAD as transformed by Barry McGee aka Twist, is a whirling dervish of movement, quite in line with the whirlwind of activity that marked the final days of getting MOCAD up and running. After months (years really) of expectations, gossip, it’s really here, and at last we can talk about the art. With all the anticipation heaped upon it, it’s impossible for it to meet everyone’s expectations. That said, it’s important to look at all that it achieves in this inaugural offering.

The Storm Cellar

Curator Klaus Kertess gathered his merry band of artists in that they all addressed similar issues of contemporary culture, as he characterizes our current state, “Tornadic conditions prevail spiritually, mentally, and physically.” The title of the show comes appropriately enough from a poem of the same name by deceased arts writer and poet Frank O'Hara. MOCAD’s cavernous space does offer a solemn, contemplative place to come inside from the troubles of the world, and spend time reflecting in calm, as the world continues to spin outside.

I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas, anymore.

As so much work produced in Detroit addresses Detroit, it’s engrained in our consciousness to expect such a thing. And these works do present a Detroit connection, some more directly than others. There is perhaps, a more significant Detroit contribution in that the means of production that Detroit made possible, have also had an obvious impact on the arts. With the advent of the assembly line, the importance of the skilled craftsman would decline significantly, and so too is that true in contemporary art – it’s less about great dexterity and more emphasis is paid to the realm of ideas. Hence we see machines, video, found objects, in places where painting and sculpture once reigned. In a time when materials might be easier to master, creating meaningful, engaging work becomes that much harder, as it all hinges on the strength and presentation of the ideas.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

While there are connections that can be drawn between the works, they are in many ways quite disparate. The show holds together less by a binding thread, and more as a journey of exploration through a sampling of the broader contemporary art world, in which the viewer encounters new locales, and often strange and wonderful sights along the way. As the title implies, this work is not always terribly uplifting, it can be a bit gloomy, often more “dark side of the moon” than “over the rainbow.”

A Miracle in Technicolor©

Entering the MOCAD space, one first encounters Roxy Paine’s SCUMAK – a sculpture making machine. The connection to Detroit production is immediately apparent, as this behemoth of a contraption squirts out molten plastic onto a conveyor belt, as we might imagine a giant chocolate chip would be produced. The machine is programmed to deposit 40 layers of plastic, in between each there is a controlled cooling period, as well as agitation of the conveyor belt, with a complete sculpture taking two days to produce. After which the conveyor belt takes it away for a new one to be made with the exact same parameters. Despite the fact that each results from the exact same process they all end up quite different. Small changes in the room – temperature, humidity, a breeze created by a nearby observer, affect the output, making no two alike.

This is a wonderful visual representation of Chaos Theory, specifically the Butterfly Effect, more technically stated as a “sensitive dependence on initial conditions.” Meteorologist Edward N. Lorenz posed this idea back in the early 60s with a paper titled, “Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?” in response to weather simulations he was doing which produced dramatically different outcomes with only minor changes in the initial input. The actual pieces end up looking much like the melted wax from a candle. These that will be made in Detroit are ruby red in color – Paine assigns a specific color to each location the machine is installed. SCUMAK demonstrates that even with such tight controls, results are still subject to great variety. (Something people even keep in mind when buying a car, despite similar control over production methods, we know it’s best to not purchase one that rolls off the assembly line on a Monday, and instead seek one made on a Tuesday.) (More on Paine here.)

A land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

Although Detroiter Christopher Fachini’s work is a sound piece, the tower of vintage boomboxes he’s set up is a pretty sweet visual as well. Through this elaborate speaker system, he plays his original reggae compositions, for which he also performed all the instruments. Reggae is decidedly upbeat, yet the lyrics and art form arise in part out of struggles against repression. Think Jimmy Cliff’s “Struggling Man” and “Vietnam,” and Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” and perhaps we can see how valuable music, and this music in particular is, in a time when we need both joy and a means to resistance. Fachini is doing a number of scheduled performances throughout the exhibition, but it would be good to include samples of his work for those who come to the museum when he’s not playing. (Which might also encourage them to return and see him live.)

MunchkinLand

Entering the smaller of the three rooms of the exhibition, we come across Jon Pylypchuk’s little Shanty Town made of scrap, inhabited by his quirky almost sock puppet, part human, part stuffed animal-like creations. They’re drinking beer, hanging out on the “streets”, fishing in a drain hole, and peeing. It’s cute and fun, yet terribly sad at the same time. There are definitely humorous moments, but here in Detroit, whether intentional or not, this can become an all too powerful a depiction of the state of life for too many unemployed, undereducated folks, and could conceivably promote the very stereotypes it seeks to combat. Strictly in regards to this as an installation, while there’s a lot of figures and buildings, the space asks for even more, so as to throw the viewer in the midst of this little realm. As such it becomes most engaging when walking into the installation. Inside, the viewer can peer into all the various aspects of it, and the state of life that Pylypchuk has imagined into reality.

Scraps, the Patchwork Girl?

Mark Bradford offers the only “paintings” in the exhibition, which is a difficult role to fill in a space this large, when such things, as large as his collaged and mixed media works are (and they are enormous!) tend to get overwhelmed. His work on a whole integrates elements from his dual identity as a hairdresser, initially making use of rectangles of paper used by stylists for perms. For his pieces on display here, he uses the mesh of sports jerseys in one piece and other bits with paintings over the top of various forms of footwear. The pieces address issues of identity, in today’s culture built up layer upon layer by material goods and trappings, with such things as shoes, jerseys, and hairstyles, that perhaps conceal, as much as reveal who we are. Bradford’s work can function both as individual elements, and as something that congeals into a whole from a distance. These don’t read as strong from a distance in part because of the space itself, and really demand time spent up close to take in the multiple layers of meaning.

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Paul Pfeiffer synchs up a video of Michael Jackson making a public statement defending himself from accusations made against him with a video Pfeiffer directed of a choir of children in the Philippines, all dressed in white, voicing Jackson’s words. The juxtaposition is impressively sharp, as the former Motown phenom is sped up and slowed down to keep pace with the children, who deliver their words as if reciting something like the pledge of allegiance. It’s a bit of a one-liner, but it works. It points out well the ridiculousness and patheticness of the attention we pay celebrity, as well as the price celebrities pay for buying into that.

Poppies

Another video piece by Tabaimo, is nestled deep within a mass of black curtains, and features imagery simultaneously referencing Japanese woodblock prints and quite contemporary anime fare. We see a headless figure from the back, body covered in floral tattoos. As the animation progresses, petals fall, occasional fish and birds delightfully dance through the backdrop of flesh, until everything (including the body) has fallen away, except for the plant forms. It’s a light work, though elegant in its simplicity. To quote O’Hara’s “Meditations…”, “It is easy to be beautiful, it is difficult to appear so.” Although not created with Detroit in mind, it’s quite appropriate in a town that’s seen its façades fade, its buildings breakdown, which despite that still maintains a certain vitality, life in the form of nature and art that thrives in the decay.

Prisoners in a Strange Land

In Kara Walker’s much longer film, issues of slaves and masters, and the birth of the African-American identity, are addressed quite strongly. Shot in stark black and white, (and projected onto the wall in quite creative fashion) using intricate cutouts as silhouetted shadow puppets as her main forms, she works in a variety of styles, most often the silent film. The cutouts and execution of the filmmaking are often amazing. There are lovely moments, like the crossing of a ship across the ocean, which is also horrific, as this ship is carrying slaves. There’s sex between male slave and male master, lynchings, Walker holds little back in confronting the past. This is of course of particular impact in Detroit, and how times past continue to wreak havoc on the social and economic structure of today. It’s a tour de force aesthetically and conceptually, the imagery is as powerful as it is visually impressive. Perhaps it’s too much to ask of Walker to try to offer some solutions here, but perhaps in posing the roots of the problems as provocatively as she does, it forces people to engage in finding solutions and creating dialogues.

The Emerald City

Complete with offerings of green tea, Nari Ward puts forth the strongest achievement for this exhibition, with both a piece of recent work as well as a piece made and conceived right here. One difficulty in viewing the other artists is the lack of context for their work, which we’re happily provided with in Ward’s case. The past piece, “Airplane Tears,” covers a wall with the backs of TV sets, each with a tissue draped on it. Whether one knows the story behind the title or not, the sheer scale and the act of reversal Ward performs with this thing the country spends so much time looking at the other side of, grabs one’s attention and raises a host of questions to challenge the viewer.

“White Flight Tea Party,” made on site, is composed of ceiling tiles from MOCAD (before renovation), all painted white, and built into the form of a sculpture addressing the exodus of the white community from Detroit following the riots of 1967 with pieces of tile exploding off of it like a fountain. It’s pretty impressive visually, but with the addition of the tea, and the tables, it really serves to give people time to contemplate, perhaps even meditate on the art works and the state of the world. It’s common to see people drinking tea, (which serves as a health inducing agent and also a means of social engagement), sitting on the Japanese style ceiling tile benches, and for dialogue to spontaneously emerge. It’s another nice reversal, as acoustic ceiling tiles, designed to keep volume under control, have been subverted for the opposite purpose. The piece, as does the museum, counters white flight, in bringing people here to see, to experience what this is all about. This is smart, engaging, and the sort of thing that can both hold the space physically and conceptually.

If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!

We return again to the exterior of the building and McGee’s mural. On close inspection the swirl of letters reads “Amaze” (a reference to a fellow artist), with an arrow pointing upward at the end, which McGee writes everywhere. The silver and black fits well with a former industrial town, but as a mural/large graffiti it’s a bit underwhelming. Perhaps, what’s most important in a museum devoting this sort of attention to graffiti, is to offer a stamp of “official” legitimacy to the art form. As stated at the outset, the doors of what is contemporary art are open to new medias that speak to the world of ideas – the importance of a spray can has been raised to that of a paint brush, and perhaps beyond. Like reggae, graffiti too serves as an expression of protest. In this context “Amaze” is less self-referential, but instead a command to those who see it: you can do this. It’s about the expansion of possibilities for expression and hence for change.

These are things we know here. Whether painting polka dots, making art from abandoned buildings, erecting structures from old tires, or painting houses, this work is here, and the offerings at MOCAD one would hope, not only raise excitement about what’s inside, but also raise the profile of what’s happening in Detroit already.

It’s a fantastic space, but there’s still work to be done: for the expansive space that MOCAD has, the exhibition feels a bit thin. Empty space is fine to be contemplative in, but it’d be nice to see more work of the artists inside or more programming in the more empty spaces (some of which is here and more is on the way.) And there are picky things, which though small, do matter, like the informational flyer, which is super cool, but is rife with typographical and biographical errors (for the record, Bradford’s born in 1961 and Tabaimo is not 33.) But going forward, and continuing with brains, courage, and heart, this home for contemporary art represents great possibilities, and the road ahead looks quite promising.

“And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.” – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Past MOCAD Features:

MoCAD Arrives
Interview with Nari Ward
Interview with Klaus Kertess and Jon Pylypchuk
Introducing MOCAD
MOCAD Opening

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(November 8, 2006)

This week, check out Wendy Ross & Julie Hinzmann on the center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

nov 15 golnaz armin & brad richards
22 sam consiglio
29 sioux trujillo

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

It arrived. The flurry of cleaning and construction came to an end, and when the dust settled (or was mopped clean), the museum opened its doors wide, and people showed up. In droves. A diverse mix of folks came down for the opening affair - to take in the art, mingle, and at some point - party. The opening transformed into quite a party, and offered a nice mix of Detroit’s art folks and music folks coming together in celebration.

The weekend saw guided tours by curator Klauss Kertess and plenty more attendees on hand to take in the work.

We’ve been covering this for months now, but in next week’s edition, look for words about the exhibition and artwork itself! Stay tuned ….

Nick Sousanis,
ws@thedetroiter.com

MoCAD Arrives
Interview with Nari Ward
Interview with Klaus Kertess and Jon Pylypchuk
Introducing MOCAD

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(November 1, 2006)

This week, check out Ryan Lukas on the center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase.

Last week saw Joe Ferraro bring a series of works on an intimate scale. He put images on layers of glass microscope slides all in some way addressing water and pollution, whether images of organisms or chemical diagrams. This meticulous, tiny work, ensured that the viewer would look close and thus take a longer look at the imagery and ideas that Ferraro put forth. Pretty cool, and we look forward to seeing this body of work develop.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

nov 8 wendy ross & julie hinzmann
15 golnaz armin & brad richards
22 sam consiglio
29 sioux trujillo

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

"ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950"
Janice Charach Epstein Gallery and Shalom Street at the Jewish Community Center
Through December 14, 2006

(Article updated, new paragraph added 11/2/06)

As the Great Depression continued to bring dark times and war was breaking out in Europe, colorfully clad men (and a few women) often with great powers and abilities burst forth in the pages of the new medium of comic books. Comic books themselves had just come about, first as cutup reprints from the daily newspaper comic strips and borrowing from the themes of pulp novels and adventure strips. While not the very first of their kind, the appearance of Superman in 1938 followed by the creation of the Bat-Man the following year, touched off a boom of similarly garbed and powered costumed crimefighters. New characters were being created all the time, each with a unique twist or power on these first templates including Captain America, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, Captain Marvel (Shazam!), and the Justice Society – with a large cast of heroes.

These first superheroes and their creators are the focus of the exhibition at the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery. And one might ask, what’s the significance of holding such an exhibition at a Jewish Community Center? As it turns out, the majority of these characters were the brainchildren of young male Jewish writers, artists, and editors. The reasons behind Jewish dominance in this formative age of comics and the superhero genre are many. The Jews have always been storytellers, as comics master Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit and the modern graphic novel) wrote, “We are people of the book.” Jewish culture has long been involved and supportive of the arts, and at this time, comics were one field not closed off to Jews, as many of the publishers were Jewish. Thematically it makes sense for a historically persecuted people to create champions of truth and justice. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster would bring to life Superman, whose origin story mirrored Moses and powers surpassed even Samson. (Furthermore, Superman was an immigrant assimilating to a new culture, adopting a new name and identity as so many Jews did.) Bob Kane (Kahn) and Bill Finger created the Bat-Man, and would soon be joined by then 17 year old artist Jerry Robinson, who helped create the Joker, the first supervillain, and gave name to Robin, the first of what would become a slew of teenage sidekicks. Robinson, one of the last remaining figures from this era, served as curator for the show, which originated at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta. (From here it travels to Cleveland, the home of Superman’s creators.)

This time period in comic books is aptly named the Golden Age, as it witnessed enormous sales, up to 20 million books a month, with Superman reaching a peak of 2 million copies alone monthly in 1941. Dark times – bright escapes. A large chunk of readers were US soldiers, where 80% of the reading materials they got were comic books. Superheroes not only represented the battle between good and evil, they often confronted the Nazis and other Axis powers directly. It was not uncommon to see Superman destroying a tank or Captain America punching out Hitler himself. Tangentially, in a comic book from the late 80s, “The Question,” written by comic book legend Denny O’Neil, a character posits the idea that World War II was won by comic book artists, because of the thousands upon thousands of drawings they made of heroes defeating Axis villains. And furthermore, as the other side had no comics of their own, they were unable to tap into the mystical unconsciousness that helped the Americans and Allies prevail. Regardless of the veracity of such a tale, comic books and their tales of superheroes, did serve as stories of hope to triumph over evil, and wonder in dark times, and a strong source of moral.

I had the good fortune to check out two similar exhibitions at the Jewish Museum in New York City, Masters of American Comics and Superheroes: Good and Evil in American Comics (the latter seems to be a scaled down exhibit of what’s at Janice Charach Epstein). (See here for an interview with Jerry Robinson)
These shows focused more on the medium of comics itself and represented in great depth some of the individual former and current masters of the medium (from Jack “the King” Kirby and Will Eisner to Chris Ware.)

This exhibition does a great job of capturing that wonder and contextualizing the time period that gave birth to such characters. Newspaper headlines from the day posted at the beginning of the exhibition set the mood for what people must have been experiencing then. There’s a nice presentation of original comic book pages, covers, and behind the scenes sketches, featuring such characters still in print today as Superman, Batman, Black Canary, the Sub-Mariner, as well as now defunct characters like Dare-Devil (not the one from the recent film) Atom-Man and many more. Bios of the various creators and bits of historical information throughout the gallery offer insight into who these men were. The gallery went all out in dressing up the space to fit the content, beginning with the life-sized statue of Superman crashing through a wall right in the entrance, to a newsstand filled with papers with mock headlines of masked vigilantes busting crime bosses, and other nice touches.

There’s a drawing space set up for kids to try their hand at creating characters, and a great documentary interview with Robinson, Eisner, Kane, and others from this period, capturing this history in the artists’ own words. This video is shown in front of a background of a group of these artists in their shared studio, as well as objects like a drawing table and typewriter that they used. The upstairs gallery offers a booth in which to watch old Superman serials, and the rest of the room is filled with collectible items, including cells from more recent superhero animated cartoons and other cards and posters from the modern era.

And something must be said, of course, about the actual drawn artwork, a treat in itself. These men were terrific draftsmen, able to express a story simply and still capture a sense of wonder, and incredibly prolific – a small group of folks were producing a lot of comics on tight deadlines. Robinson recounts a challenge for his studio of creating an entire new feature from scratch over one weekend, and having it printed that same week. From the more spare drawers to those much more refined, these artists’ energy, enthusiasm, and imagination for their work comes through on the pages with the diversity of characters and situations they were constantly inventing. Some were standouts in anatomical accuracy, like Lou Fine, while Will Eisner brought his characters to life in line, and at the same time helped redefine the format of the medium itself. Pages from a young Joe Kubert are there, who would later go on to start the first school of comic book illustration. And then there’s Jack Kirby, while we don’t see a lot of him in this exhibition, his over the top dynamic figures exploded off of the panels, and would redefine comics for generations to come with his work building most of Marvel Comics in the 1960s with writer Stan Lee.

Right next to the gallery is Shalam Street, a children’s discovery zone of sorts for things Jewish. With the current exhibition, they’ve tweaked the interactive exhibits to address the mythology of superheroes, the Jewish role, and what it means to be a hero in real life. This is great for kids, and there are fun things to check out like a chunk of “kryptonite” (safely behind lead and glass), a phone booth (no doubt less familiar to children today than kryptonite), drawing stations, cape-making and more.

Renewed interest in this particular period has been sparked by such things as Michael Chabon’s novel “The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” which offered a fictionalized account of a writer/artist team much like Siegel and Schuster, and to a lesser extent, M. Night Shyamalan’s film “Unbreakable” which investigated the mythology of comics. While comic book sales have never matched this Golden Age, the medium and the genre persist, and the characters these men created over 60 years ago persist and are beloved by millions. Today the influence of the superhero genre reaches far beyond the medium of comics. Superman has returned to the big screen, along with Batman, and their cousins, cartoons reinvent the characters continually, they’re in video games, commercial items, and have infiltrated the more “grownup” primetime TV, with this season’s “Heroes,” which deals with the very pretty people who normally appear on primetime, only they’ve all got superpowers.

In another time of war and a beleaguered economy, not to mention terror and a sense of mistrust of our own government, the need for such characters may be strong once again. There’s a need to recapture that sense of wonder and hope dreamed up by these young artists so long ago. This exhibition is a lot of fun, and quite a comprehensive examination of the characters and the people who made them. It’s an educational and inspirational show for all ages – whether you’re mom threw out your first edition 50 years ago(!) or you’ve yet to own your first comic, check it out, and plan to spend some time taking it all in. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Future related events include cartooning classes, speakers, and a comic book convention. Check their website for more details.

(updated)

“I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.” Phil Collins

This week, the mad dash of construction and inspections will come to a standstill, and the newly installed glass doors of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) will open to the public.

It’s been a long time in coming to say the least. Detroiters have been clamoring for a contemporary art space on this scale for decades. Every other major city has an institution of this sort, and given the history and issues that face Detroit, a true contemporary space could create a necessary and meaningful dialogue in this city.

In hailing its arrival, it is important to acknowledge that there have been and continue to be significant contemporary projects and venues in this town. The need for a contemporary space was the impetus for Charles McGee to start up the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) back in 1978, and Jef Bourgeau has brought together an impressive array of local and international artists at his Museum of New Art (MoNA) in all its various incarnations. The DIA has thought about getting in the contemporary art business, and there are plenty of private spaces doing their part. But this is its own thing, at its own scale, with a different mission.

“You open the museum you have, not necessarily the museum you want.” (paraphrasing) Donald Rumsfeld

Will MOCAD be perfect? Will it answer everyone’s hopes and desires for these last decades? No, it can’t. Nor should it. We all have a different perspective on what our personal contemporary museum is. There have been complaints, some valid, some less so. By their own admission, the museum has had some operational issues. (For a truly comprehensive examination of the story, check out Rebecca Mazzei’s recent Metro Times article.) Certainly things could have been done differently, and perhaps better. But, to quote the ubiquitous phrase of the decade, “It is what it is.” We can only hope that as the museum grows and evolves, that the people behind the organization learn from this experience, entertain advice that helps and filter out what hinders, and really embrace the community they intend to serve.

The fact of the matter is MOCAD is here, in our community, and we’d like it to be here and explore the possibilities of contemporary art for a long while to come.

“If you build it, they will come.” Field of Dreams

All too often this city has placed its hopes on structures, from New Center and the Ren Cen, now to stadiums and casinos. The New York Times article mentioning MOCAD, states that part of the museum’s goal is toward, “revitalizing the city center.” This is too big a weight to shoulder. Presented as such, it can only fall short. A building, a museum alone can’t change a city.

But what happens inside that building, the ideas that are presented, the dialogue that is generated, that can be a catalyst. As Nari Ward wisely pointed out in our interview, that’s what separates the museum from the other building projects listed above. The building serves to bring people together, and that’s essential. Additionally, the location of this structure is quite good – it can help generate a true walking corridor in the cultural center linking places from the DSO, CPOP, through to G.R. N’Namdi and DAM, all the way to the DIA and Detroit Historical Museum. Having people on foot means more chances for interactions and a step closer to some critical mass.

And so a building becomes a symbol, in this case perhaps of ideas, of revitalization, and of hope, but ultimately it’s the people that matter. It won’t simply be about getting them to come, but about getting them to come back, and to start thinking about staying.

“Unearthing a great American city, one story at a time.” – thedetroiter.com

I’ve been asked if MOCAD represents competition, if it takes away from other arts organizations and their sources of funding. No. While it’s true funding is limited in these parts, if the museum can do well, it will bring a bright spotlight of attention on itself, but will also illuminate far beyond the museum’s walls. And there’s so much already happening here. We need to turn the lights on and let people see all of it.

In writing about the arts, I’ve been so fortunate to get exposed to so many of the people doing things in this city, from Scott Hocking to Charles McGee, things that could only happen in Detroit like sci-fi series InZer0, which also points out that Detroit is in fact the best city on earth in which to play laser tag, the entrepreneurial spirit of the folks behind Slows. And there’s so much left to report, in visiting the Russell Industrial Center recently encountered artists I’d never heard of, including the out of this world Adnan Charara, who lives and works here, but has only been showing out of state. (That’s a story we’re soon to tell.)

So what’s been unearthed thus far in MOCAD? Some things that have are up on my last walk through: Jon Pylypchuk’s playful and thoughtful shanty town, Kara Walker’s provocative video work, Roxy Paine’s sculpture making machine, Barry McGee’s transformation of the very façade of the building, and Nari Ward and a crew of dedicated Detroit artist volunteers hard at work on his installation. There will be much to engage our eyes and thoughts, long after viewing the exhibition.

What won’t be so visible on opening night is the strength of the people of the city that make this all possible. An army of volunteers turned up from the art community to make this all possible – not for pay, or recognition, but because they feel this is important for Detroit.

And it is.

And it’s here.

And it should be interesting. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Look for more stories about the art, artists, and reaction in these pages.

Interview with Nari Ward
Interview with Klaus Kertess and Jon Pylypchuk
Introducing MOCAD

CELEBRATE THE GALA OPENING OF MOCAD Thursday October 26, 2006

http://mocadetroit.org/
Patrons Preview 6 PM Food and drinks.

Tour the "Meditations In An Emergency" exhibition with curator Klaus Kertess. Experience live performances and meet some of the featured artists.
Contribution $125 per person advance
$135 at the door

Museum Preview 8 PM Hors d’oeuvres, cash bar.
Experience live performances and meet some of the featured artists.
Contribution $45 per person advance
$55 at the door

Afterparty, 9:30 PM
Ghostly International presents DJ’s Matthew Dear and Ryan Elliott (Spectral Sound) from 10-1 AM, cash bar.
Contribution $10 per person
To purchase advance tickets to the Grand Opening email info@mocadetroit.org or send a fax to 248-851-5179.

MOCAD Interview

New York based artist Nari Ward took time out from the hectic pace of assembling his piece for “Meditations In An Emergency” to talk with thedetroiter.com about his work, Detroit, and the importance of contemporary art. (For an interview with Jon Pylypchuk and Klaus Kertess please click here.)

Though he’s since been to Detroit several times now, his first trip here, was at curator Klaus Kertess’ request to be a part of this exhibition. On that inaugural trip, he was taken on the now fabled Scott Hocking Tour.

“Scott brought me around. There were so many materials that were accessible and available, and I’m always so engaged in the history of materials. But interestingly enough I got so overwhelmed with so much stuff, I just came into this space [the MOCAD building] and said, ok, let me just find something that relates to the space, something that I can be challenged to develop from here, something that might even be absolutely mundane and didn’t have any history in it. In a way, his tour made me want to go into something more sterile, and use a material like acoustical ceiling tiles, which are more kind of empty, as a challenge to see how can I load this thing up and make it meaningful somehow.”

The sculpture Ward is creating is an upright multi-faceted figure eight of sorts about 10 feet tall, with a surface made from these acoustic ceiling tiles. Projecting from it on flexible steel rods, are chunks of the tiles cascading away from the main object. Around the piece will be a number of low tables and ground level seats with ceiling tile surfaces.

The form is based on a sculpture by Detroit artist Jack Ward in a park on Rosa Parks and Clairmont.

“I was really interested in the dissonance between the piece and the small park that it was in. The park was in disarray, it was kind of untidy. The park was built to commemorate the 1967 riots. There’s something about power relationships that I thought was interesting in the park. There was this sculpture that was almost pristine and impressive, and then the space around it was in shambles, in ruins. I was thinking what a metaphor that became for Detroit at some level. This sculpture for me became a symbol of hope, in some ways, determined to stay put and not break down. I wanted to quote that sculpture, especially because in the sense that it is commemorating this event that’s in the conscious of the city.”

“I wanted to make a space that people would spend time in, and I’m not a video artist so I wanted to figure out how to do that. So I thought it best to make some activity happen.”

Inspiration as to how to accomplish this came from a recent trip to Japan for a project, where he witnessed the importance of the tea ceremony as a social activity. “That’s what I would do, create a tea bar. People could spend time in the space, reflect on material or what the artist might intend or what surrounds it.”

“I was using this material that was kind of mundane. Acoustical ceiling tile is about homogenizing something and making it atonal. I was thinking about this idea of what happened to the city in terms of people moving away out of fear of the crime scene and this social situation, violence, poverty, and this whole flight to the suburbs. I was thinking of this whole idea of homogenizing. I thought about materials in reference to this homogenization, and the title came to me and just stuck in my head, “White Flight Tea Bar.” That became the undercurrent for the piece, this element of homogenizing and maybe even repressing the sound, sort of the functioning element. I’m interested in one, it being, kind of mundane, and on the other hand, overlooked also, as material, and trying to give that material a whole loaded sense of meaning.”

“The fountain reference came to me because I want this thing to reference power, and I think fountains are metaphors power, in the way that the city or the people in power express their affluence, so I wanted to create my own version of power. But of course it’s more about this kind of flying, animation of these things that are quite mundane.”

Green tea will be served in Styrofoam cups at the small tables. While “White Flight Tea Bar” is site specific, Ward’s other installation piece “Airplane Tears,” a wall full of the backs of TV sets with tissue paper laid over them has been shown previously.

“For me it’s a metaphor of the power of the media, and the ability of the media to overwhelm you, or affect you on a psychological or emotional level.” The title stems from a story Ward had heard on NPR dealing with people’s susceptibility to emotional proddings due to extreme altitudes on transcontinental flights. “You find yourself looking at silly movies or reading a book and start crying and you’ve never done that before. It’s this idea of being really vulnerable to the media. I wanted to find a way to do that – TV was perfect. I was interested in the TV, especially the backs, because it’s something people see but never see. I wanted to take that space that’s invisible and load it up psychologically, emotionally. I just collect more and more, and make it an epic gesture to talk about our sense of vulnerability.”

As mentioned earlier, Ward, like many of the artists in this exhibition, had never been here before being invited to show. He commented on his evolving perspective over the time spent in the city.

“I’d heard a lot about Detroit, primarily the racial and class issues more than anything else. That was my prior experience, primarily the level of poverty and things like that. I come here now and I say, damn, there’re a lot of possibilities here, especially coming from New York. You see these huge spaces that are just empty that would be great studio space for artists. I just see it as possibilities. A lot can happen.”

This idea of possibilities extends to the museum itself.

“In general, I was wondering about this idea of a museum and what that means. I think that the nimbleness of an institution like this, where it isn’t bogged down by a collection and the normal infrastructure that more established institutions would have, can truly be a contemporary venue. It can really be a place of dialogue, it can be much more dynamic and not be so engrossed in its own history. It can be a meeting place for things to happen. For me it becomes a more activist space in that respect, where it’s not about enshrining what we know and legitimatizing what’s out there. It’s more about dialogue and creating and asking questions. I think there’s a need for that.”

Detroit has perennially put a lot of stock in building projects to change the city – things like the Ren Cen, the stadiums, and the casinos. From your perspective, what can this museum do?

“I think that this is sort of like a grassroots approach, where there’s an ability to really be in the community and develop something from the ground up. Whereas a lot of those other places you mention are corporate investments. That’s a different position, it’s like coming into a space and landing a satellite. I think that the tendrils and the roots that they’re laying down here are what’re going to affect change.”

“Artists have always been the germinators of change (and then get kicked out.) I think that that’s what art does and artists are capable of doing, and I feel like there’s an opportunity for that to happen here. And there’s a niche for it. It really is appropriate. Whatever the questions about the validity of this space, or the necessity of it, will be answered when they see that it can really function in a way that is necessary and urgent.” – Interview by Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(October 25, 2006)

This week, check out Joe Ferraro on the center stage of the brewery’s one night showcase. Ferraro doesn’t show that much, as he spends much of his time as a designer, so this is a good opportunity to catch him wearing his other hat. His show is titled “DAMAGED” and consists of a series of 9 images all “relating to what we as humans have done to our food supply, from toxins in our water showing up in the fish we eat, to genetic manipulation of the plants and animals we grow to feed ourselves.” Ferraro states that the piece is just the beginning of observations he’s had for years, and is now starting to bring to life in a visual form.

Last week WSU MFA candidate Emily Linn was in the spotlight, and through a series of photos and a video addressed the idea of “Adopted Memories.” Specifically this idea as it related to Linn’s own adopted sister who was born in Korea and became a part of their family at the age of eight. The images are all Linn’s family photos, and in the stills her sister is superimposed into the shots in silhouette, while the video is of a slide show of similar shots, which the sister walked through and then found a place to pose within the photo, as if to fit in the place where she would’ve been at the time. As she’s (obviously) the only one moving, it makes for an interesting and surreal visual. From Linn’s statement, “This video shows a slide show of our family's chronological memories from the eight years before she became a part of it. As she tries to adopt and become a part of these unfamiliar memories, she speaks concurrently of her own contrasting memories in Korea from the same time period and about how it felt to join an existing family at an older age.”

In understanding the context of the work, it becomes a powerful piece. This may be specific to Linn’s family, but adoption certainly isn’t. As someone with a brother who arrived at the age of 7 from Vietnam under much similar circumstances, I wonder about his life before that time, of which he speaks little if anything, and what then, the absence of those “missing” and obviously formative years mean for him. For those of us with pretty full and rich memories from those ages, can we imagine what it’s like to not posses them? And furthermore, to live within a family with such comprehensive documentation of their lives at that time, to then have nothing at all? How does one mesh such realities? It’s pretty fertile terrain, and Linn quite elegantly and simply examines the significance of memory and the ties of family in this offering. Quite a different experience for a Wednesday night.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

nov 1 wendy ross
8 julie hinzmann
15 golnaz armin & brad richards
22 sam consiglio
29 sioux trujillo

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

Charles McGee/Al Hinton
Marygrove
October 19 through November 14, 2006

Your arts editor wrote the essay for McGee for this one, and so no review. See a past review of this duo here, and I've included the current essay below. (More on McGee, please click here.)

Also, McGee recently installed a piece at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit to great enthusiasm. Here's a shot of McGee and helpers in action!

“What’s next Charles?”

This question drives Charles McGee’s continual quest for greater understanding through visual media. It keeps him hard at work seeking answers in the studio and restless to get back to work when he’s away. In his 82nd year, we might say he’s entitled to slow down a bit, but McGee’s never content, never ceases to be inventive, and is always figuring out the new best way for expression.

He expresses his admiration for the French artist Jean Dubuffet, specifically for, “the way in which he always changed without asking.” Of course, this could describe McGee as well, as his work is always about change and constantly changing over time. He loosed his strict adherence to representational work, which had brought him much early recognition, as he saw the expanded expressive possibilities that abstraction provided. Materials change too, and he continues to add tools to his arsenal from charcoal to aluminum to neon, and now, the computer!

This continual process of change is never simply change for change’s sake, rather a deep belief that the work must speak the language of the time and the environment in which it’s created. And what an amazing amount of change he’s witnessed in his lifetime! Born in a place and time without electricity, and now in a time where everything is wired and we’re even learning to rewire our DNA, McGee’s embraced what can be learned from this ever changing landscape and dives in with boundless energy. Each new vista is another morsel of information, a new tool for expression and understanding “nature’s order.”

Even with this process of continual change, McGee’s work is instantly identifiable and uniquely his, like the distinct pattern of whorls on a fingerprint or a person’s particular DNA. His signature is written in composition. His training as a cartographer shines through; these are maps weaving together multiple layers of experience within a single composition. The work is an extension of experience, not autobiographical in the literal sense, but that one’s experiences and perspective are necessarily incorporated into the composition. McGee’s signature is an integration of past works, cloth, dirt, anything he’s laid eyes upon or put his hands on is material. Alive with pattern and rhythm, where human figures mingle with protozoa, his compositions are efforts to best energize space, celebratory dances with necessary rests – a map of life.

Upon his arrival in Detroit from the rural South at the age of 10, McGee was fascinated and transformed by the overwhelming display of kinetic movement and activity. That sense of continual wonder persists today, as he remains just as excited and amazed as that first time, and that energy and perspective is always a part of his artwork. As he says, “Everything is on the move and it hasn’t slowed down yet.”

Neither have you Charles, and we can’t wait to see “what’s next?” from you either.

– Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(October 18, 2006)

This week, check out WSU MFA candidate Emily Linn on the center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase.

Last week saw Kevin Beasley take the solo spotlight, and he made the most of the opportunity. Beasley transformed the brewery’s temporary space into an installation forum, suspending plywood walls from the ceiling, to create an enclosed room with a single narrow entrance. It worked to allow him the opportunity to control the way in which his wall pieces and more sculptural forms were perceived. Inside the space, were works at first sight, all solid black. Each piece seems an exploration of blackness the color, as Beasley achieved it in a variety of different shades and materials. One wall “painting” was done with black tape as frame and black material as composition. Another square composition featured a black tape square in the center, with black, and reddish black outer boxes. A similar work, featured a cut out square in the center, behind which he’d placed a shiny (plastic?) black surface. The final major piece, a metal sculpture rectangular vertically oriented sculpture on the floor painted matte black on the exterior and top surface. The open ended shaft through the piece, appeared black as well, but in standing over the work, its reflective metal surface picked up the black of the painted surfaces.

All of this made for a pretty rich investigation into the color and meaning of black, as we might think of the fabled numerous names for snow that Eskimos are said to have. Here, blackness is achieved differently in each instance, and gives an appreciation for the diversity of seemingly a single color. We might imagine a rainbow, all in black. It’s a solid conceptual effort from Beasley, in spending time with his work, his own depth of thought was revealed, and offered the viewer much to take from the work in terms of color, and perhaps even broader implications upon further reflection.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

(This is the second in a series of articles delving into the realm of the critique, a vital element in the development of an artist and an art community. Click here for the first.)

As I stepped in to the Detroit Artist Market on September 20th for their monthly open critique, there was a different air in the gallery than from the previous month’s critique.

That first gathering was conducted by Mark Sengbusch of the former 101Up Gallery. This time out, long-time Detroit sculptor and seasoned teacher John Piet led the critique and brought a different feel and style to the discussion. His insights were on the mark, though often subtle and discrete. Piet spoke about the works in a more general nature, often looking at them as a group, and not as singular works done by individual artists. He flitted back and forth from one work to another, addressing such basic issues as centrally located images, and pushed for more interesting compositions.

Piet also stressed in his discussion the importance of establishing a vocabulary with the artwork, to build towards an eventual dialogue, and an identifiable, unique style. A concise body of work takes on its own voice. This is an essential lesson for artists, many of which never fully realize this even later on in their careers. Galleries want to see the presence of this dialogue in artist’s work, along with an artist statement that reaffirms the story that the art work tells. In just two hours, Piet had elaborated on this topic to such a great depth, as was covered by one of my own teachers over an entire semester.

For this reason alone, such critiques are an invaluable resource. It’s an opportunity for an artist to show his/her work, receive excellent feedback, and get information that is often not shared nor taught.

The discussions of the work were, as I mentioned, quite different in style from the August critique, which lent an interesting twist for returning artists. Christopher Crowder and Don Thibideaux, both received a different view into their work. I’m interested to attend every critique to witness the progression of work already shown, and to see brand new works. It is also intriguing to see the different perspective each month’s critic brings to the work presented.

The next DAM group critique will be held Wednesday, October 18, 2006 from 6 to 8pm. Christine Hagedorn will be facilitating. Hagedorn received her BFA from MSU, has been represented by G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Robert Kidd Gallery, and more, and is currently an instructor at Marygrove College. Please call DAM at 313.832.8540 to reserve your spot.
Only 8 artists will display their work!

Allison Pasarew is a working artist living in the Detroit area.

All submissions must be received at the CAID no later than 6 pm on November 4, 2006…
Automation: Jan 6—Jan 20, 2007

From the birthplace of the automobile, The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) is soliciting proposals for its all media, Interdisciplinary exhibition AUTOMATION, to be held in January 6 through January 20, 2007. The exhibition will be juried by members of the CAID board.

The ability to produce repeatable (if not homogeneous) products in marketable volumes to predictable standards of quality, has underpinned our systems of economic production and consumption over the last century. Abstraction, repetition, aggregation, encapsulation, order, etc. are some of the underlying principles on which our work, leisure, society, environment, etc. are organized and managed. Our material environment is dominated by the output of automation and is readily characterized in terms of its "mass". But so too are our aesthetics and culture.

Artists of all disciplines are invited to submit proposals for work investigating the pervasive influence of automation in the design of our society. As the dominant modes of economic production and industrial organization evolve, we challenge the collective artistic imagination to engage the methods, tools, and processes – whether conceptual, organizational, or material – that have enabled automation, in order to examine one of the most powerful memes of our recent history.

If Detroit is the manifest symptom of the hangover from the old ways of automated production, the challenge is to harness the potential of the new and to lead the way through artistic exploration.

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit is a community based non-profit organization. CAID fosters and promotes the essential link between contemporary arts and contemporary society through its exhibitions, performances, critical and public discourse, and the funding of contemporary arts and art related activities. For the history of CAID or other information please visit the website at www.thecaid.org.

Submission Guidelines

Eligibility: The CAID is currently accepting proposals, ideas and/or portfolios from individuals working in all media and discipline with no residency restriction. A membership in CAID is not required in order to be considered for review by the jury.

Portfolio: For work that is already completed portfolios should include either 5 to 10 slides or digital images on a PC compatible disk with a corresponding slide or digital image list or music or performance documentation in DVD, VHS or CD format. Proposals for work to be completed for this exhibition may include a brief narrative description of the project, description of intent, sketches, etc. Images submitted must be representative of the work that will be submitted for exhibition. Received works that were not accurately represented may be rejected.

Resume: A printed resume and/or biography (two pages maximum) is required and a brief biography is suggested. The resume should include the individual’s name and all contact information on each page.

Deadline: All submissions must be received at the CAID no later than 6 pm on November 4, 2006. This is not a postmark deadline, but a deadline for the date and time submissions are due at the CAID. Please submit applications in person or mail to the address below. A self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) is required for return of materials submitted.

Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
“Automation”
5141 Rosa Parks Blvd
Detroit MI 48208

Applicants will be notified no later than November 13, 2006. Participants are responsible for transporting or shipping their works to and from the CAID. For questions or additional inquiries, please call 313-899-CAID, or email info@caid.us.

Sales: The CAID receives 1/3 commission on all sales made during the exhibition.

Application Fee: An application processing fee of $5 is required. This fee is waived for applicants who obtain or currently have a membership in the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit. Annual membership dues for artists and musicians are $25.00. For further membership information visit: www.thecaid.org/information/membership.htm. Membership dues or application fee are payable to the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit with personal check, money order, or cash.

Calendar: November 4 at 6 pm……………………Submissions due at the CAID
November 13, 2004 …………….……...Notification of jury results
December 30 at 6pm……………………Exhibition entries due at CAID
January 6 (6pm-10pm)………….……...Opening reception
January 6-20, 2007 ...………………….Exhibition open to the public
January 25-27, 2007……………………Work pick up from CAID

A Primer on Automation

Henry Ford coined the term 'automation' but did not himself invent the assembly line (which originated in the conveyor belts of the meat-packing industry), or the logic of uniform decomposition of a product into perfectly exchangeable parts (for which the Colt gun factory takes credit).

Ford's genius was the automation of human labor through the articulation of the manufacturing process into a sequence of precisely specified tasks, to be performed repeatedly and measured precisely in order to facilitate managerial co-ordination and control. He turned craftsmen into machines, and in the process improved productivity tenfold. In this devil’s bargain, Ford's workforce was initially rewarded with the legendary $5 a day wage (double the prevailing rate at the time).

Of course, the monolithic approach to mass production favored by Henry Ford has since undergone sea changes driven by everything from Alfred P. Sloan's development of planned obsolescence through annual styling changes, and his marketing-driven aspirational product hierarchy at GM; the just-in-time demand-driven efficiencies of the Toyota Production System; and the globalization of development, sourcing, production, distribution, and marketing.

In the process, new production methods have opened the way to mass customization at an affordable cost, more nimble forms of industrial organization, and have even re-invested the line worker with personal responsibility and human intelligence.

Hours of Operation:
The galleries at the CAID are open on Saturdays from 12pm to 6pm or one hour prior to concerts, gallery talks and lectures or other special events and programs.

Susanne Hilberry Gallery
Through November 25, 2006

The solo show. The artist’s most coveted spotlight. That mark of recognition that acknowledges you’ve paid your dues and now it’s your time to shine.

If there are rules to follow as to what to show, they might not be about playing it safe exactly, but would likely not be about going out on a limb either. Bring together a mix of newer pieces along with relatively recent and related works and you’ve got the show. Abandoning one’s overall thematic approach and way of working to try something new? Not really standard operating procedure.

Well that’s exactly the approach Scott Hocking took, on perhaps the most prestigious of showcases in the Detroit area, the Susanne Hilberry Gallery, by not only making a bold conceptual leap, but in inviting 30 other artists to take part in the creation of the work as well. The results of this are a curious menagerie of mutilated and otherwise distressed fiberglass and plastic animals, cheerfully decorated and dressed up. Creatures large and small spread throughout the gallery, all in all a wondrous and provocative sight.

Hocking’s approach has always been a varied one, but consistently emanating from a deep commitment to making use of existing derelict materials and finding beauty in decay. He’s worked in rust – gaudily framing with the reverence of old master paintings, enshrined objects found in abandoned buildings, even constructed a pyramid of old tires. For the International Shrinking Cities project, he documented aspects of the lives of the scrapper subculture, and for his vast experience with Detroit’s abandoned spaces, he’s been giving unique Detroit tours to visiting artists coming in as part of MoCAD.

He gets around.

But little in Hocking’s extensive body of work says anything about an Ark-full of creatures. When his solo show was put on the schedule about a year ago, he played with a variety of ideas for the venue right from the get go, looking to try something different, something he might always have wanted to do but never had the means or the right space to pull it off. The expansiveness of the gallery opened up a whole realm of possibilities. One such idea centered on a long time irritation with public art shows in the form of decorated cows, sheep, beagles, cars, and other critters, dotting the streets of cities across the world today. He points out that such art is edited and censored from a tourism approach, with little regard or interest in the potential of art. The results necessarily end up being decorative, happy creations, which might not seem harmful, but Hocking argues that in fact, they are. “Instead of art making you think, these don’t make you think, and are the wrong direction for public art, especially in Detroit.”

For some time as well, Hocking had had in mind a project addressing the treatment of animals around the globe either directly at the hands of humans or through the altering of the environment, including the poaching of gorillas for meat, the drowning of polar bears due to warming of the polar ice caps, and more. Originally conceived as a series of drawings, it dovetailed conceptually with this commentary on “Cows on Parade” and their kin. In his view, all these happy, colorful creatures, desensitize us to the true plight of living creatures, many of which are on the verge of extinction due to human actions. “Polar bears aren’t walking around smiling, they’re drowning.” It was less about being preachy, and more about, “what’s really happening.”

So with a solidified concept and positive feedback from Susanne Hilberry, he started doing research last February, both about what happens to various animals and in finding a supply of suitable animal forms to put on display. Hocking, who’d spent so much of his time working in and around abandoned buildings, ended up spending long hours in front of a computer, digging through the Internet to find answers and materials.

As it turns out, there are whole companies devoted to the creation of fiberglass animals for the burgeoning business of public street art projects. Through EBay, Hocking ended up finding Patrick Keough in Nebraska (www.americasfiberglassanimals.com)who had bought all the molds from one such company, and was now making them on his own. Everything seemed pretty synergistic. The two hit if off and the price couldn’t be beat, so Hocking paid 75% up front in April and then waited for a drop off date in late May. May came and went, and nothing happened, and a bevy of excuses were coming in from Keough, who then promised them by the first of June. June turned to July and the first trickle of animals showed up, but the exhibition date was getting closer. He started looking for alternatives including realistic skinless taxidermy forms and other plastic animals. Finally on August 12th, a majority of the large fiberglass animals were delivered – 11 weeks later than expected! To add to it, the final shipment didn’t arrive until September 23, just two weeks before the show was to open.

Hocking had originally intended to put out an open call for submissions to decorate the animals just as is done with typical animal on parade shows. But with too few weeks left, and both his modifications depicting the fates these creatures suffer and the subsequent decorating to be done, he was out of time. And so he sent out a direct call to friends and fellow artists to help him complete this massive project. The response was enthusiastic. Artists who agreed to participate were instructed to decorate the animal in the “most arbitrary pc way” possible. While Hocking’s role was to modify the form to show what’s done to them, the artists were not to editorialize at all. Just to paint or dress up their animal, as if blissfully unaware of whatever fate had befallen it.

The long months of waiting quickly ramped up into nonstop work at a feverish pace. Hocking began the work of prepping animals, which included removing body parts and filling back in the holes this created, building plastic blood pools, priming their surfaces (all in materials he’d never worked in before), and those that he didn’t keep for himself to decorate were distributed to the willing participants. (Notice of Full Disclosure: this writer was given a pair of crows representing death by West Nile Virus, which he did paint and which were included in the show.) Hocking and crew had little time to make it happen. Yet somehow, with pieces arriving and being painted in the gallery at the absolute last minute (and who says hanging a show isn’t a spectator sport?), they all came through.

And what a spectacle! From Dylan Spasky’s "Blushing Piglet Slaughtered Bank," a cheerily piggybank painted pig (complete with slot and oversized coin), hung up over a large steel drum for collecting blood to a de-finned shark, painted by Hocking to look like a World War II fighter plane, all the artists really went to town in making these things look like the sort of art works they’re supposed to critique. The solo show became an opportunity for an assortment of Detroit artists to get to share in the spotlight. All in all, Hocking created a very egalitarian process from the naming of the work to sharing in the proceeds, with one exception, in that Hocking, just like the boards of public art projects, maintained final editorial control over what could or could not be done and included in the show.

There are too many of note to mention all, but to point out just a few: John Corbin not only colorfully decorated a Sea Turtle choking on plastic bags, but took on one of the largest pieces in the show, a Polar Bear, suspended from the rafters as if drowning, with the constellations of Ursa Major and Minor drawn upon its exterior. Sioux Trujillo’s “Oil Drenched Sea Otter”, adorned with fanciful native cave drawings and Kari Buzewski’s tiger killed for its eyes and penis dressed up with ceramic floral patterns, were pulled off at great success. Faina Lerman decaled the ubiquitous and innocuous “Sponge-Bob” on a chimpanzee hooked up to electrodes, and Ben Kiehl painted a sheep watching TV (more Hocking’s commentary on humans than animals) all in camouflage pattern. Mitch Cope extended the idea of public art one step farther by bringing in his neighbor kids to paint and draw on a giraffe with tail removed. The inclusion of a cow mutilated by aliens seemed a bit odd given the seriousness of the other animals, but Graem Whyte did quite a job painting (and building up relief) the globe onto the rather un-globelike form of the cow.

The other form of public art, the non-permissive sort, made a prominent appearance on a grizzly bear complete with gnawed-off leg remaining in the trap that snared it. It raises the question of whether such a thing is the work of an artist officially taking on the project, or a “tag” over the top of existing imagery. As it turns out, the painting was done over the top of Hocking’s initial plan for the bear (to coat it in metallic blue paint complete with flaming decals), though with permission. When technical issues aborted that first idea, the anonymous graffiti artist came to the rescue at the last minute, which resulted in a strong piece both visually and conceptually, and a fascinating and integral element for a show commenting on public art.

For the buffalo, Hocking stuck about 20 arrows and drilled at least 2000 holes in it to simulate bullet wounds, which represented the ratio of the animal killed by native Americans and its near extinction caused by later settlers. Clint Snider painted it with an elaborate if subtle, gorgeous, oversized wall paper pattern. The beauty of this piece as object, really points to the strength of Hocking’s overall concept. It’s hard not to like these as pretty and fun and cute. But it’s our reaction that becomes disturbing. The painting glosses over what’s truly happening here, which is exactly Hocking’s point.

Behind the smiles, the floral patterns, the sunset scenes, and various sugar coated façades lies something more important. It’s something visitors to the gallery might overlook altogether, or perhaps in their initial delight in the various artists’ works, might provoke a much deeper awareness than a more direct approach might. And that awareness creates the possibility for better understanding and perhaps even action, somewhere down the line.

Perhaps then, this show isn’t as big a conceptual departure for Hocking as it first seems from the imagery on display. He’s still dealing with beauty and ugliness, only this time he’s not revealing beauty, but using beauty to cover up and hence reveal the terrible truth below the surface. It’s a nice reversal, and executed both conceptually and, with the help of a lot of friends, visually quite well. While Hocking maintains that his work is often motivated by irritation at something or other, it would seem it really stems from compassion: compassion for forgotten places and those things we’d rather keep out of sight, and hence out of mind.

Hocking’s approach is a bold one. In being pleasing to the eye, the work ends up being unsettling in its subject matter, and leaves the viewer to think about the subject long after leaving the gallery.

And hey, that’s what public art is supposed to be about, right? – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(October 11, 2006)

This week, check out Joe Ferraro on the center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase. Ferraro doesn’t show too much (though he has a spectacular disco animal at the Scott Hocking Show right now) so come by and see what he’s up to.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

G.R. N’Namdi Gallery/©POP Gallery

G.R. N’Namdi Gallery and ©POP Gallery both offer up to retrospective exhibitions of now deceased painters, James A. Porter and Russell Keeter, respectively, each with great devotion to figurative work. While their individual means of exploring the figure couldn’t be expressed more differently, the educational role of the works and role of both men as educators suggests a certain linkage, and given the close proximity of the galleries, offer good reason to view them side by side.

Known for his teaching and significant contribution to the field of African-American art history, Porter received less recognition as an artist in his own right. This exhibition and accompanying catalogue may go far to rectify some of that. A prolific artist, the retrospective includes his sketches, drawings, and paintings completed over his career from the 1920s to the 1960s. His play with styles, as becomes a teacher also using his work to educate, impedes an attempt to find a clear chronological progression in the work. There’s a back and forth at play here, wherein Porter is always incorporating in subtle influences, while continually returning to the more traditional works.

Where Porter shines strongest is in the gestural, and his ability to capture expression, character, and the feel for a scene very rapidly. In fact, one drawing is, and is called, a hand drawn by James Porter in two minutes. In these quick sketches, he captures the energy and the vitality of his subjects, and even with the fewest of marks on paper he conveys a great deal of liveliness. The few more formal, straightforward, portraits on display, come across as a bit labored, as if the energy drained from the subject in sitting for prolonged periods of time seems drained as well from Porter’s rendering. They feel as if they’re done and done the way that they are, because that’s how they’re supposed to be done. Other more abstract paintings maintain the energy of his sketches. But it’s in his spontaneity of expression that porter shines and really connects with his subject and to the viewer.

Keeter was a long time CCS instructor, known for his advanced anatomy classes, and his great mastery of the human form. As N’Namdi has done with the Porter exhibit, ©POP provides a great service to the community in bringing the works of Keeter together in a single setting, and gives his former students and those less familiar with the artist a chance to really get to know him and learn from that experience. And Keeter’s influence is far and wide on the Detroit illustration scene, as he instilled such a strong background in anatomy for a huge number of artists, notably Derek Hess and Glenn Barr, as well as folks rising on the scene, like Topher Crowder, recently profiled in these pages.

To be sure, Keeter’s command of anatomy is present in every painting, drawing, and sketch on display. He broke the body down as one might deconstruct a machine, and thus could build it back up to use for whatever purposes his compositions might require. And as much as the works show their attention to anatomical accuracy, Keeter selectively departs from this to use the human form expressively and as an element of fantasy. Buttocks become bulbous, perfect form almost becomes geometry. An intensely detailed, richly imagined bacchanal scene certainly is laden with its own particular narrative, yet at the same time is viewable as geometric abstraction. It’s a nice balance – these perfect, lovely rendered figures inhabit a charged atmosphere, while their butts, breasts, penises, ankles, simultaneously serve to break up the picture plane very methodically in terms of form and color. In working in both ways, the compositions become dually satisfying; the viewer can spend time with the content and enjoy the journey for the eye that Keeter has setup.

In Detroit, it seems each gallery has its particular crowd with significant cross-traffic happening all too infrequently. This is in part due to the distance between spaces and the need to drive from one to the other. No such excuse here, as N’Namdi and ©POP are a brief and pleasant walk apart, and with MoCAD cropping up in between them, DAM and Ellen Kayrod just down the street, it’s becoming an increasingly rich cultural corridor, and rich with potential for cross-pollination of people and ideas. Porter and Keeter, two strong, influential artists and teachers, are available for viewing just a few blocks from one another – see them both. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Lemberg Gallery
Through October 14, 2006

Lemberg Gallery brings together two artists: one local, one in New York City; a move that brings greater attention to the out-of-towner, while increasing the profile of the local favorite. Additionally there’s a nice interplay between Tom Phardel’s three-dimensional works and Brad Brown’s works on paper.

Whether working in stoneware or mixed media, Phardel is intent on creating contemplative objects. They don’t confront or challenge the viewer, but invite one to slow down and take them in, and stay with them for a time. The ceramic works are solemn, almost mystical in nature, and inscrutable in form. We could try to figure them out, but Phardel’s intent it would seem is for a person to spend that time getting to know them, and find understanding through that. He makes direct reference in some to the Indian concept of the “Bindu,” that is the single point from which all energies are focused. He’s establishing an aura of quiet of stillness to be reflective. In the mixed media works, glass backdrops could be stand-ins for waterfalls, a gentle static visually as if audibly in the background.

As they serve to focus contemplation, they are simultaneously quite referential of the body. Obviously by the very nature of being a vessel this is the case, but more specifically Phardel splits the works in two symmetrical halves as are we. There’s a duality here, like the bicameral nature of our brains and perhaps the metaphysical split of body and spirit. Additionally, there are two holes, ends of a passage through the work, and in viewing this as metaphor for body, we could think of ourselves as having an inside and an outside split by the path of the digestive system.

Again, following the body metaphor, we can imagine clay as flesh. These objects appear weathered, showing cracks of age, a repository of the signs of time collected over a lifetime. The forms all relate to one another, yet have great distinction as too do the bodies that they reference. Phardel works equally comfortable in clay and the weaving of glass, metal, and wood. He’s created very whole objects, that despite their non-representational nature, have the feel of possessing something of spirit, beyond their materials.

Brown’s statement refers to the pages he draws upon as collectors – of “marks, dirt, dust, and the finest art materials. It collects viewing and thinking.” His works are drawings he’s made with oils and other materials, which he then tears up, joins with other drawings, exhibits, puts together differently, draws on again, then reassembles. And so on. In mathematics this would be described an iterative process, in life it’s recycling or mulching. That is, output is used as input, creating a feedback loop. Brown draws with his drawings. By doing so, he’s creating a rich, fertile environment for creation. Certainly every artist uses work of the past to inform the present, but Brown does this in a quite purposeful and direct manner, literally integrating past and present as one. His studio is filled with heaps of 20 years worth of drawings that have been used as part of his assemblages, drawn on again, and reassembled again. Eventually he terminated the process, and puts the drawings into their final stop in an assembled drawing to be sold.

On hand at Lemberg are several smaller framed and unframed works done in this manner that have reached the end of their journey, and one newer, wall-sized work, done in a more formal procedural fashion. The work begins (as the others do as well) as a series of “notational” drawings (drawn from life, paintings, cartoons, and other references) done on large sheets of watercolor paper. He then tears them in half, the halves in half, and continues to halve a portion of the now quarters until he ends up with a stack of quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, which are then used to make the larger assemblage. He puts it together following a simple algorithm, placing pieces in much the same way that a printer head deposits ink on a moving sheet of paper, working top to bottom, line by line. For each quarter put down, an eighth is placed upon half of it, and for each of these exposed faces, a sixteenth is also placed, and then the process continues on to the next quarter.

The result is a grid of sorts, within which lie fragments of drawings. It’s a back and forth between expressive drawing and systematic procedure – a dance along that boundary between rules and chance at many levels. The process of setting up these large pieces is systematic (he’s preparing a manual of rules for doing so), thought the determination of what pieces end up in the lager piece isn’t quite so. After a trial assembly, Brown assesses, and if it works, the pieces stay, if not, he takes it down and starts all over adding and subtracting pieces to the mix. Once an assemblage is settled upon, it is then taken apart and reassembled according to the procedural rules, but not adhering to the specific final image, thus each time it is assembled the process ensures that it comes out necessarily unique.

We might liken this to the approach of a DJ in a manner. (For related story see here.) Brown samples parts and then reassembles, but he’s not simply sampling, as he creates the drawings too – though from other references. So it’s as if he’s the musician covering the songs which he then samples and recontextualizes. The drawings retain a bit of their original existence as fragments but take on a new significance as part of the whole.

Brown’s method offers a nice balance for him and the viewer to enjoy the action and freedom of drawing coupled with the tight structure of process – the drawings he makes with his drawings. The very nature of their creation means that they work quite well both near and far. At a distance, the works appears as almost a pixelated composition, congealing into a varied composition of light and dark. Up close, we can enjoy the juxtaposition of distinct, yet related drawings ranging from the massive, dark, heavy shapes, to cartoony gestural images, and almost calligraphic marks. It’s a rich visual journey as is befitting the journey the drawings themselves have taken to arrive at this juncture.

Both artists work with levels of complexity that ask the viewer to be patient and to spend time processing. What the surface of these works reveals, is just a fraction of all that lies below their surfaces. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

P.S. I had the good fortune and pleasure to visit Brown in his New York City studio the week after the opening in Ferndale. The studio is, to be sure, filled with piles of drawings, all ready to become part of his next meta-drawing. He’s continuing with his large series, and now starting to add work on wood, painted on both sides, then cut, and mixed into this same process, adding yet another dimension to the work.

Thanks for the hospitality Brad.

Matt Blake, Kevin Ewing, Evan Larson, Brian Nelson
Oakland University Art Gallery
Through October 8, 2006

If the title of the exhibition serves as a question, my answer is this: yes, it is sculpture. Certainly the works overlap with such things as installation (quite heavily), video, and even painting, and no, these aren’t so much works on pedestals. It’s less a question of whether they’re sculptures or not, but just how wide the reach of sculpture has expanded today. The four artists assembled here work complement one another quite well and take the viewer on a varied journey through that broader landscape. It’s worth noting here too, at just how versatile Oakland’s gallery space is, without any major construction taking place. Merely through the arrangement of the works and subtle changes in the lighting, director Dick Goody and co. really enhances the power of the artworks.

Though not the very first piece encountered in the gallery, Evan Larson’s “Argos,” an arrangement of, umm, eye-pods attached to plaques on the wall (like hunting trophies) sets a definite tone for what’s to come. The cast rubber petal-covered eye/bud forms reference carnivorous plants and the now ubiquitous mini-security and web cameras. The title is a direct reference to the hundred-eyed giant from Greek mythology, who served as a great watchman (and whose memory was honored in the many-eyed tail of a peacock.) The eye and camera references effectively reverse the role of viewer and object – it’s unnerving to look at something that feels as if it’s looking back. A separate solitary eye-pod, part of another wall-installed piece referencing the single eyed “Cyclops” in its title, does in fact contain just such a camera. In another installation, “A Meta-Fiction,” primarily consisting of mathematical fanciful flower forms, the head of a bird of prey high above the rest of the work juts out from the wall casting its watchful glance on the viewers.

These exotic alien floral works of curving copper stems and delicately folded copper petals, with silver elongated stamen protruding from within, remind us in the midst of the other cast rubber and plaster works that Larson is a metalsmith. Another piece “Stitch,” is a number of short arcing forms, petal-patterned much like the eyes. Viewed as a whole, it appears as if this thing is weaving in and out of the wall, as the coils of a mythical sea serpent appear above the water. Larson’s command over multiple materials, his meticulous attention to detail, and overall craftsmanship, are so strong as to become invisible, and these are less about the objectness of the work, and more a pure incarnation of his ideas and the imaginative forms they take life as.

Matt Blake also connects to mythology – using superhero figurines and other toys and trinkets from garage sales to build classic looking friezes with modern day imagery. The look of something uncovered in an archaeological dig is accentuated by a smart use of paint providing a rich range of patina-like surfaces over the otherwise wildly colorful objects. As the Greeks preserved their stories and history in such works, Blake captures a point in our own history, both a memory of childhood and the stories that these characters inhabit. Blake collapses whole genres of figures and settings into a single space as to almost construct a grand narrative, though that task is left to the imagination of the viewer, much as the discoverers of statuary past attempt to reconstruct the ancient tales. Blake makes inspired choices as to what he puts alongside one another – Batman, the Flash, the Thing, and other superheroes hang out together in a Valhalla of heroism in one, while horses and old sailing ships are together in another speak to the romance of another time. In a time when the rich myths that played such a significant role in times past have been discarded in favor of doctrine, such fables have been relegated to kid stuff that we are supposed to outgrow. Blake has rescued these from the trash and given them a new and delightful existence and meaning.

If Blake is playful at least in terms of his materials, Brian Nelson seems anything but, as the work, in stainless steel, cast metal and rubber, references hospitals and their institutional sterility and lifelessness that seems at odds with the idea of providing health. There are moments of lightness, connecting McCarthy’s Charlie, Jim, and Joseph in “Revisiting McCarthy(ism)” featuring an oxygen tank from which the puppet head of Charlie McCarthy emerges. But this all feels serious and at times, almost uncomfortably personal. Nelson, like Larson, also uses the wall as part of the work, installing a sloping hand rail, off the ground just enough to aid a small child, upon which he’s inscribed the words to the Emily Dickinson poem “Life.” This might be the strongest visual and conceptual piece, as it offers just enough to let the viewer inevitably construct his or her own narrative about its implications. Nearby, a cast bronze gasoline tank sits on a stainless steel pedestal, on the wall behind it is projected a video of a match being lit. The juxtaposition works well on a conceptual level, though perhaps the fit is less congruous visually. In a way, Nelson’s assembled body of works function less like objects to behold (though like Larson’s, they are all quite well conceived and crafted) but more to manifest mood – particularly of anxiety, of concern, you can almost feel your pulse quicken in their presence as “white coat syndrome” takes hold. It’s quite an unsettling and hence effective experience.

Co-curator Kevin Ewing (responsible for bringing this group of artists together), creates works that are as soft and plush as Nelson’s are hard and sterile. One piece, of furrows of faux fur, functions as a painting, one that it appears we’re supposed to touch – and perhaps run our fingers through and maybe even rub up against! He creates a number of painting-like objects using vinyl that references the interiors of custom hot rods. A composition of four such pieces consists of “Pussy Wagon” (a reference to the truck from Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”), “California Superbee,” “The Judge,” and “Lil’ Demon.” The shiny vinyl acts like paint surface, as the composition is broken up by zipper, buttons, and ridged lines that we might find on tricked out car seats or swank couches. Again, these asked to be touched, and perhaps sat upon. Nearby, on the floor encased in plexi-glass, a body length stuffed vinyl American flag image rests solemnly. As with the wall pieces, this speaks to a different time, and subtly suggests as they all do the fading of an ideal, and a desire to brighter times. These are all eye-catching and sensual objects, layered with meaning – they work well.

Ewing presents a second body of work, super plush stuffed animals, all addressing human cruelty towards such creatures. They’re strong statements and in terms of materials, they work well within this show. In terms of content, they present such a loud and in your face narrative, that seems a bit out of place with the sensibilities of the other pieces. This doesn’t discount their strength in their own right, as they are quite disturbing and very real seeming pieces. (In his statement in the catalogue (once again nicely done by Oakland), he recounts making a stuffed animal as a child and the experience of it being referred to as a “he” rather than an object, as if through a magical (Velveteen Rabbit-like) transformation.) Ewing offers one more piece, a drawing of hands, feet, fingers, toes, nipples, and entrails. Not sculpture, true, but it offers much the same look and hence apparent feel (since we didn’t touch) of the furrowed fur piece.

Each of the artists brings great variety in form as well as content – thus offering the viewer a lot to spend time with and a myriad of ways to attempt to make sense of it and arrange conceptually. One such dissection might be by stages of life: As Blake speaks to our heroes of childhood, Ewing both the coolness and sexuality of young adulthood, Larson delves into the philosophy of meaning of later adulthood, and Nelson addresses the process of aging and investigations of mortality. All quite different concerns for four men all almost the same age. And again, we could re-ask the question in the title, and perhaps, in thinking about it at greater length the answer isn’t quite so simple as I stated at the outset. But for certain it is an engaging and whole show, definitely one of the more visually and conceptually satisfying exhibitions of the fall. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

For past reviews on each of the artists please see the following links:
Brian Nelson
Matt Blake
Evan Larson, as curator
Evan Larson, as Artist
Evan Larson (one more)
Kevin Ewing

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(October 4, 2006)

This week, Anja Hoppe takes center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase. And that’s all I know about that. So check it out and see what you see.

Last week John Chwekun had the spotlight. I came a little late, and seeing the makeshift gallery walls nearly bare, assumed I’d missed it. Couldn’t have been more wrong. Chwekun works in extreme miniature, seemingly nanoscale. The highlight of the work was a geometric construction of triangles – spider web-like in thinness, and completely defiant of gravity. Definitely a technical marvel, but also something to behold from close and much closer and from multiple angles. Very cool, and very unexpected, which is one of the beauties of the Wednesday night showcase.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming

Oct 11 Joe Ferraro

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

This series is devoted to an ongoing dialogue wrestling with the questions of why folks make art and its significance to the individual and our culture. We welcome feedback, discussion, and outside contributions – email comments to ws@thedetroiter.com

Part One: The Big Yellow Taxi Theory or Mr. Cope Goes to Turkmenistan
Part Two: New Eyes or How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky?
Part Three: Paint the Town Orange
Part Four: Dances with Dirt

(In which we offer commentary concerning the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit’s exhibition "Shelter", noting here the author’s involvement as Board Chairperson of said organization. While this connection prevents him from offering a proper review, he also notes that it brings him great pleasure to be connection with an organization responsible for putting forth such exhibitions.)

The exhibition was marked by a strong, well received opening, with good conversations throughout the evening. I left late, pleased by both the turnout and its reception, yet wanting more – for issues of shelter lay outside the boundaries of this building, this particular shelter. A group of us headed to the Majestic Café for sustenance, and were, as is always the case there, confronted by people living on the streets asking for money for food, or for food directly. I recognized many of them from previous encounters including a wheelchair bound woman I’d bought pizza for a while back. It’s one thing to think about issues of shelter in the abstract, but here, on the street, we’re confronted with it directly, viscerally, uncomfortably. In my pocket are keys to my home and enough money to buy something to eat made by someone else, and served to me by yet another team of people. I can come in from the wet, cold night and sit down in comfort to eat – which I do.

On this night, this all too common experience prompts a connection to a conversation I’d had earlier that day with my aunt who lives in San Francisco. Now in her early 60s, she has, to say the least, had an amazing range of life experiences – she’s written a bestselling cookbook, been a food critic, ran her own dining club, traveled the world, and much more. While none of these things have ever translated into great wealth, they have resulted in a very full and rich life. And she’s always found creative ways to get by, even living in a city which has seen the cost of living explode to the most expensive in the country. But recently, due to changes in housing laws, she may find herself forced out of the cozy home she’s been renting for over a decade, and it’s doubtful she’ll be able to find another place that she can afford in this city she’s called home for most of her adult life.

People like my aunt are educated, have regular jobs, contribute greatly to their communities, yet their options for shelter within their means are dwindling. It’s a scary situation. And many face just such a thing without the solid support group of friends and family that my aunt has. The situation definitely brings the issue of homelessness home.

It makes one think twice about these people asking for money on the street, and just how they ended up where they are, and what it might take for any of us to end up in such a situation.

The evening following the exhibition opening saw several of the artists in the show and the general public gather back at CAID for a dialogue on the issues of shelter raised by their artworks. Timlin led the conversation, speaking to the sense of communal responsibility, "Who we allow to be poor, defines who we are," which he also noted mirrored Native American philosophy where if one member of the community didn’t have shelter, it brought shame upon the entire culture. A powerful idea and something to give us pause as we turn our heads away from that person on the street.

Artist Kathy Rashid used the phrase, "Homeless in your hometown," to describe folks who'd been living in the Park Shelton before it went condo, more or less thrown out to make room for development opportunities. Very much the situation my aunt and others face in San Francisco. It's a difficult issue to be sure. Certainly a city needs folks of higher incomes to live there, to support businesses and build a tax base, but what of those displaced by gentrification? Developers and realtors need to earn income too, but where do we draw that line?

In the booklet accompany Miller and Gardner's ambitious, yet realizable house project they write, "Detroit needs to be recognized, acknowledged, and engaged if it is to survive. It's in our own best interest." Admittedly, it's sometimes hard to see how taking care of others is in our best interest. Consider though, the creation of a growing body of poor and homeless people should not only trouble us strictly out of compassion and even a desire to not be confronted with it when heading out for a night on the town, but it also creates a body of people in a state of desperation that at some point must lead to something beyond begging. It IS in our best interest to have people in stable, healthy homes, to help preserve our own situations. (And we could apply such thinking on a global scale – as the creation of an angry populace with no means to make its voice heard becomes an environment for those extreme elements of the population to resort to acts of violence.)

Is shelter a right for everyone? No matter how modest, should we not all have a place to hang our hat and call home? If so, what then can art do? While it’s true, as Timlin pointed out, "we could live without sculpture," art still is of great value to us as a culture. As University of Detroit professor of architecture (and CAID board member) Amy Deines put it, one role of art today is to convey what it is like to live in someone else's shoes.

We may not be able to walk that mile in another person's shoes, but the artist can offer a sense, a glimmer of understanding what that journey is like. Art can engender empathy. To paraphrase Timlin's curatorial statement, with empathy comes understanding and from understanding arises the possibility of solutions.

The exhibition is strong as a collection of art works and ideas. But its true strength, and perhaps the greatest potential inherent in all art, is the creation of a dialogue that reaches far beyond the gallery walls and set people walking down different paths from that experience.

In the case of shelter, this is essential not just for those in need, but for all of us. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Through September 29, 2006
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center

In a statement accompanying his retrospective exhibition ranging from 1964 to the present, potter John Glick states his twin dreams upon graduating from Cranbrook Art Academy back in 1962: “to connect with families in my community by making functional pottery – the best I was capable of – which could nurture them for generations” and “to create a clay studio of my own, so that each day I could playfully explore as fresh ideas came to me.” The body of work on display in the BBAC’s Robinson Fine Arts Gallery is a testament to just how well Glick has realized both dreams.

This life’s work is a rich playground of form, surface, and functionality. On display are representative pieces of his major bodies of work – dinner ware, platters, jars, teapots, pitchers, as well a number of decorative pieces. This includes major pieces such as the dinnerware set he made for the Mondale family to use at the Whitehouse in the late 1970s.

This is as much a collection of beautiful objects as it is a physical manifestation of his life philosophy. Through the creation of these utilitarian objects Glick stresses the importance of craftsmanship, and that connection between the maker of the object and the people who use it in their lives every day. Hence, this may not be the cutting edge of ceramics today, for Glick never loses sight of the idea that functionality and livability must come first. It is, to be sure, the work of one who’s mastered this difficult medium, who shows his love for it through play and continual exploration of what he can create within the limitations of the medium and issues of functionality.

The work is presented through series and not necessarily chronological. This makes it a little tricky to gauge how a development in one place led to a new way of working later on, but such an arrangement allows the viewer to gain strong insight into Glick’s exploration of the dual aspects of ceramics: form and surface. Ceramics’ strength and difficulty lie in the simultaneous attention the potter must pay to the three-dimensional aspects of the piece as well as the two-dimensional, both in which Glick clearly takes great delight.

In terms of form, Glick deals with the more volumetric properties in the work, the realm of the sculptor – addressing how a work sits, how it occupies in space. Further play tackles things like spouts, lips, and handles, to which he must devote great attention to the manner in which the user interacts with it. These must not only be pleasing forms, but they must fit our hands in a satisfying, pleasing manner.

Glick also exhibits a great deal of painterliness using the surface as a canvas. As much as he plays with the overall form, he pays equal attention to an almost dance of energy across the surface, yet one that never distracts from the form. This increasingly rich use of color and pattern grow stronger as the work progresses over time, as various influences make their way into the pottery. Glick does delve into the more abstract and less functional, making objects that reference other physical nonfunctional objects and even creating flat planes that are more directly referential of canvas. These side trips stand strong on their own as sculptures and paintings respectively, but perhaps more importantly such visits have offered Glick an outlet to explore more about form and surface and bring these ideas back into his main body of work. Glick has done this to great effect, which helps him to continually reinvigorate the work and no doubt his process as well. Always though, he comes back to the idea that the possessor of these objects must get use of them, must feel good about them, and be able to truly live with them.

A further aspect of Glick’s life work is the steady enlistment of assistants at his Plum Street Studios over the years who helped him turn out the great volume of work but also who learned from and with him. One of the six or so former assistants in his employ over the years is BBAC head of ceramics Paul Young who served as curator for the exhibition. The measure of a teacher lies in the strengths of his students, and each of Glick’s assistants have gone out on their own to carry on his work in their own individual ways. This represents a further extension of his dream to “connect with families,” manifested quite directly in his relationship with his assistants.

Young credits Glick as, “a constant innovator, always excited about his work, who remains so to this day.” This shows in this energetic retrospective, quite a statement of craft, which never loses sight that these are to enjoy, to feel good about, and most importantly, to use. It’s an all too short for an exhibition of this quality and an artist of this importance in our community, so make sure and get there while you can take in these works all in one place. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Be a Part of the Detroit Windsor Journal Project

Two graduate students at Wayne State University in the Masters of Fine Arts Program are looking for volunteers in the Detroit/Windsor area to participate in an art project.

We are asking volunteers to keep a personal journal for the day of Monday, October 2nd 2006. There are no restrictions, entries can range from a sentence to a page or more and can be handwritten or typed. Spelling and grammar are not a concern. We are asking that participants be open, honest and creative. Entries should reflect on and record daily routines and interactions with others. Participants should feel free to include drawings with their journals.

The project is intended to provide a glimpse into the lives of the people living in our city, while illuminating the cultural differences that shape and define our communities.

This project is being proposed to the Shrinking Cities: Wayne State Responses Exhibition to be held January 2007 on campus at the
Elaine L. Jacobs Gallery.

Participation is open to all ages; we encourage volunteers to ask friends and family members to participate. Participants will remain anonymous.

Mail Entries by October 6th to:

Detroit Windsor Journal Project
Department of Art and Art History
150 Community Arts Building
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202

For more information, please contact detwinjournal@yahoo.com.

A call for entries for the Third Annual Threads show at Johanson Charles Gallery

Opening October 6, 2006.

This September Mosaic Productions is proud to present the third annual “Threads” show, a fashion extravaganza. Billy Hunter and Jeanne Moore of Mosaic Productions are hosting a contest for the fashion and not so fashion side of Detroit. The show Threads, to be previewed at Johanson Charles Gallery, will be a clashing and melding between fashion and art, a combining of the two in unique and creative ways. Threads is a contest to create art for the body and designs should follow the dress to impress philosophy. This means artists have full reign to create a piece that shocks and amazes. The idea is to bring together Artists and Designers, who will challenge one another to create a wearable work of art unlike any other.

There will be three main Themes to choose from: 1) Detroit - Reflect our city; 2) Environment - Nature and ones surroundings; 3) Future – What’s ahead for all of us. Within these themes, artists can choose to create Accessories (bags, footwear, hats, jewelry, etc.), Outerwear (Shirts, jackets, pants, etc.) or Underwear. Artists can use any materials they deem fit for their wearable art piece.

Prizes will be based on number of entries. One winner in each category and a Supreme Award winner to be recognized for most creative piece.

Entries are due by October 1, 2006 and can be dropped off at Johanson Charles Gallery, 1345 Division in Eastern Market. Gallery Hours are Tuesday – Friday 4:30 – 7:30pm and Saturday 10am – 5pm.

For more information see www.mosaicproductionsgallery.com, write Billy Hunter or Jeanne Moore at mosaicproduction@hotmail.com or call 313-342-6143.

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(September 27, 2006)

This week, recent Cranbrook grad John Chwekun takes center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase.

Last week Frank English was in the spotlight, and displayed a body of work more closely related to that which was a part of Voice of the People at Alley Culture in 2005.

Primarily these were landscape paintings on recycled paper and plaster molded in the form of plastic containers and such. The paintings work best on the more irregular forms (circular, warped) at a more intimate scale. There’s a rawness of paint handling, balanced with more accurate description that can get a bit lost on the larger works. At such scale, it feels like the paintings need to tip towards greater accuracy or more painterly. In any case, the rendering of this natural, as it turns out endangered, landscape on artifacts of our consumer culture is quite poignant. English’s subject for many of these is the Sibley Prairie, located in Brownstown Township in southwestern Wayne County. The prairie is threatened by imminent developments in the booming downriver area. In English’s depictions, we see the land crisscrossed by four-wheeler tracks, a hint that development and suburbanization is imminent. This seems to be a little known, yet important place in this state, and English does a great service in bringing attention to it through his work, as well as previous writing efforts. Let’s hope more folks check it out, and stand up to preserve it now.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming

oct 4 anja hoppe
oct 11 joe ferraro

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

It’s safe to say that as long as there have been notebooks with margins in them, students have been doodling in them during class. From repetitive patterns to caricatures of our teachers to Batman – we all do it. Artist Christopher Crowder is no exception. Only his notebooks are more than just a little bit exceptional. Crowder, now in his last semester as a Bachelor of Fine Arts candidate at Wayne State University, fills page upon page in his notebook with intensely intricate images of a fantastical and more than just a little bit disturbing world.

With clean line work, Crowder details the not so clean – the secret life of toasters, war machines and people turned into machines. There’s grotesque figures engaged in sex or perhaps violence and death, futuristic machines with accompanying alien hieroglyphics. All inhabitants that might be found in a futuristic “Plop” magazine crossed with Aeon Flux are the product of Crowder’s exotic imagination and quite eloquent execution.

Extraordinary stuff to be sure.

But there’s something else extraordinary about them. They aren’t his sketchbooks for drawing class. These are his notes from academic classes. Which isn’t to say that they’re the work of a constant daydreamer or represent a lack of paying attention in class. No – these ARE his notes. Each deconstructed body part, each organic machine-filled landscape is not simply an outlet for his imagination, but also serves as a memory cue, a pointer to a place in his biological database if you will, to the material covered in the lecture at the time. As a notebook filled with names, dates, and hastily scribbled shorthand is for most of us, the elements of the composition of this techno-Brueghel world are for Crowder. This might sound as odd as the pictures themselves, but it’s working, thank you very much, as Crowder is heading into his final term with high marks.

This is Crowder’s second time around as a college student. He attended the College for Creative Studies out of high school, but things didn’t work out then. He threw away his art supplies and started working in computers. In 1998 he married his wife Hanna, and now is a Senior Field Engineer in the computer technical field. But not drawing or painting for over a decade was killing him, yet at the same time he says he didn’t want to exhibit at church bazaars or some such fare. This desire to create reared its head first in the form of landscaping his yard with 250 bowling balls. This was a clear sign that something needed to be done! And so in 2001, at the age of 33, with strong support from his wife, he gave himself a second chance. He went back to school, with a new found desire and great discipline and self-sufficiency.

Back to school has meant an immersion into both fine arts classes as well as plenty of academic classes – hence the genesis of his notebook, which he’s been adding to semester by semester. And yes, it does happen that a professor who assumes that he’s been diligently taking notes in a more traditional sense sees the pages and is a bit perplexed, if not concerned. But he continues on unfazed, working in a way that makes sense from his own perspective, and doing well as a student. (Occasionally fellow students will ask to borrow his notebook, as they too see him working so intently on it. He tries to explain that they won’t be able to read it, and it’s only when they actually see its contents, that they understand and are often a bit frightened!)

Crowder never gave his “doodles” much serious thought until WSU drawing Professor Jeffrey Abt saw the notebook during a senior seminar class, and recognized their strength. He claims that Abt really took him to task to embrace the energy and imagination being put forth on those pages, as well as the process that they emerged from, and use that as the focus for his work, rather than the more traditional paintings he was creating for art school at the time. And so he began incorporating elements from and the flavor of the notebook into full drawings, and with the subsequent encouragement of painting Professor Adrian Hatfield, really started to work big and play with drawings in the larger format. This was a really exciting development for Crowder and has set him upon his current path which has gained him shows at the Detroit Artists Market, Ann Arbor’s Gallery Project (where he first caught our attention) and brought him critical attention. (See our review here.) Crowder’s currently in this week’s Dirty Show, and has upcoming exhibitions in Chicago and Dallas.

For Crowder, his notebooks are a way of really seeing through a concept, not just the outer surface. He compares his unique way of taking notes to what he learned from his anatomy Professor Russell Keeter at CCS the first time around – “you can’t just look at a person to draw them, you have to see the mechanisms within it.”

Crowder’s notebooks have not only helped him get through school but display the significance of “just” doodling. Look for more of his work around town and beyond, and keep doodling in your own notebooks – it might just reveal more than you think. - Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

(This is the first in a series of articles delving into the realm of the critique, a vital element in the development of an artist and an art community.)

As students, artists receive a constant barrage of constructive criticism from their peers which helps to shape and develop their artwork as they go along. Years of slaving away at such efforts culminate in the presentation of the thesis exhibition.

But after school is over – then what?

Thrown into the real world where the general populous often exhibits a much less critical attitude towards the arts, many students and graduates find themselves floundering to gain a foothold in the art community. I spoke with three of my friends from college about three years after we all graduated – two of them admitted to having done none of their own artwork since school and probably never will. The third, has finally settled down enough in her life to where she can begin taking photographs again.

So how does one continue to develop work in the real world as a professional artist, without becoming stagnant in composition and concept?

Artist co-ops are ideal in that you have numerous artist studios in one area and opinions and perspectives are easily found. But what if you’re someone like me, who calls my kitchen and living room a studio? How do you escape this isolation and get some real feedback? There are alternatives.

Mark Sengbusch, founder of the former 101Up Gallery and currently a first year Cranbrook student, led a group critique at the Detroit Artist Market on Wednesday, August 12th. When I heard of this I jumped at the rare opportunity to show some of my newer underdeveloped work. After all, this is the critical stage where I can gauge what direction I want to take the piece by the reactions of others. A few other artists, including illustrator Christopher Crowder, and art enthusiasts gathered at Detroit Artist Market on August 12th. Sengbusch passed out papers with loose guidelines and notation spaces, of which we all took great advantage.

As each piece was displayed we discussed the materials used, composition, and concept, and asked such questions as, “Is the initial idea for this piece being clear to the viewer?” and if not, “How can the work be changed to convey your ideas with out losing what it already has?” We all did our best to keep comments short and to the point for the sake of time, yet even so, each artist received excellent feedback. It felt wonderful to me to be part of that kind of discussion and intellectual dynamic again after five years away from such discourse.

This month, September 20th from 6pm-8pm DAM offers their second such critique. These critiques are open to the public, and anyone interested in showing their work may sign up ahead of time with DAM. Others, interested in discussing new works, are also invited to take part in the discussion. I for one will definitely attend. In making this a regular monthly occurrence, an artist can get feedback, and then take those ideas into account and come back to the group again for further discussion. This allows viewers a very interesting glimpse into the creative process of a work of art. For a piece that takes several months to develop, with each critique attendees can witness the great changes and evolution of a work of fine art.

The Artists Market will be holding these critiques regularly the third Wednesday of the month, with the exception of November and December, due to the holiday season. The schedule will resume in January. I strongly suggest that artists take advantage of this opportunity, and so should art lovers and collectors come to lend their views as well.

Allison Pasarew is a working artist living in the Detroit area.

To be a part of this, please call DAM at 313.832.8540 to reserve your spot. Only ten artists will display their work.

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(September 20, 2006)

This week, check out Frank English taking center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase. For a little more on English, check out a recent review of his work as part of n-tûrprt here. We’ve missed a couple weeks at the Brewery, and looking forward to getting back in the swing of things with this week.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming

sep 27 john chwekun
oct 4 anja hoppe
oct 11 joe ferraro

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

The Anton Art Center is seeking exhibition proposals from artists. There are opportunities for solo and curated shows. The philosophy of the Art Center has a strong educational component and we are looking for artists
that push the viewer to think beyond tradition, exploring the possibilities of various materials, subject matter and ideas. All entries, with a self addressed envelope will be reviewed by the exhibit committee if postmarked
by November 15t, 2006. Send slides to:

Tessa Stein
Exhibit/Education Coordinator
Anton Art Center
125 Macomb Place
Mount Clemens, MI 48043
(586) 469-8666

Northville Art House
Through October 22, 2006

In bringing in Aaron Timlin, founder of detroit contemporary (currently employed by the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit for which this writer is the board chair), the Northville Arts Council made a strong turn from such things as Impressionistic landscapes and art fair fare, and instead looked to infuse the town with something a bit Detroit and a little more contemporary. Such is the case with “n-tûrprt,” a thematic group show, that brings together primarily artists from Timlin’s realm – which is to say that few of them have ever shown in Northville, let alone set foot there.

The assignment the assembled body of artists chose to accept was to come to Northville, specifically to the Art House, and make work in response to – interpret – what they experienced within 10 blocks of that site, through their own individual artistic filters. Additionally, they were asked to keep a journal documenting their experience to be displayed alongside their work, which ranged from the briefest of writing to pages upon pages in a notebook. Through drawings, paintings, photographs, and three-dimensional works along with their texts, the artists created an interesting, if somewhat revealing, examination of the town from an external perspective, and a truly fascinating look at the process each artist goes through in creating his or her artwork. All in all, a pretty rich and varied menu for the viewer to digest.

Candace Law took a pretty direct look at Northville, concentrating on the cemetery adjacent to the Art House’s parking lot. She documented tombstones in black and white photographs, with an accompanying statement that acknowledged the importance of such local cemeteries for the personal connection they maintained. In her words, “You can tell a lot about a people in a city like Northville by the way each generation treats their dead.”

Alison Wong bought a bird painting locally and then reinterpreted it in her own way, displaying them together. Lynn Galbreath rendered a drawing of a corner of the downtown. Victory Pytko’s painting of a local house and yard, is accompanied by his journal which recounts his process and his frustration in searching for subject matter, as he does often work en plein air, but with a focus on the urban landscape. Cathy Peet shares a strong painting/assemblage of a rural scene, as well as a delightful gestural drawing of a dog with owner. Her detailed journal entry of coming to town includes this line, “The cop I just passed looked at me with suspicion.”

Frank English displayed a literal snapshot of the town, with around three hundred photographs installed on the wall taken within the proscribed area, all in close-up. We see flowers, road signs (one pointing to Detroit), stop lights, faces of statuary – through more intimate looks, English offers a different and quite successful perspective on the town. Harlan Lovestone’s collage in cloth with painted imagery is interesting, but his single page of hand written text perhaps speaks further, as he muses about his process and race, and notes, “Perhaps I should write more often.” An enlightened statement, as that act of writing, the pause to slow down and consider our actions, perhaps that’s where we are able to make the greatest breakthroughs.

Simone De Sousa did a great deal of writing in the form of poetry for her journal. Her words speak of the experience of being a tree, and insights of creating the piece – as she writes, “I find that most of the experience can’t be captured by narrative or words for that matter.” Her abstract painting incorporates such thoughts and makes the poetic visual.

Mike Richison strongly embraced both the visual and the verbal challenge of interpreting Northville with a scroll of drawings and text titled, “The Longest Walk I Have Ever Taken.” Where most artists kept these two aspects quite separate – Richison merged them into one thing. Essentially on this long horizontally displayed scroll he documented quite intensively a walk along the sidewalk, and all that he encountered and experienced over that journey. We might liken his process to the Situationist art movement’s dérive, essentially a means of seeking expanded awareness through a walk that was more of a “drifting” than a direct journey. (For past editorial, click here.)

And drift Richison does, on foot and in mind, as his path encounters grates, splashes of paint, and his mind wanders from keen observation to self-deprecating commentary. It’s truly an honest, open and revealing glimpse into his thought process just as it occurred to him – head to hand to paper – frozen, preserved thoughts for the reader to pick up at some much later date, and follow along as if accompanying Richison down that sidewalk. His chatty demeanor reads like a video documentary, one could imagine a film of this. But on paper, we can read at our own pace, make a journey through the drawing all our own, rather than at the tempo set by the videographer.

Richison’s observations range from insightful to laugh out loud funny as he documents, “One man’s journey to understand his surroundings and himself.” I picked out a few examples: In response to discovering a catalog for picture frames (!) in the trash, he notes, “I swear this place has the prettiest trash.” In coming upon yet another driveway he writes, “The excitement is killing me.” His spelling even ends up being funny (this being said by a stickler for correct spelling in public) as it speaks so much to the honest nature of the project. Frustrated by the duration of the project he blurts out, “I blame Timlin and Northville.” But beyond enjoying his humor (or laughing at his plight), there is so much to see of his process. He points out (unironically), “I’m a pretty obsessive person.” Periodically, an idea for a new project would occur to him, and that becomes part of the record right alongside observations about weeds. The walk offers a new perspective on the place and himself, as he closes with, “It’s good to get out of your skin now and again. I guess? Right?” (Note, the scroll is also available as a printed book containing the course of the drawing sequentially, page by page. It’s not a perfect transfer, but definitely worth picking up, and reading over and over. Also, Richison’s work is featured on the Ferndale Public Art Project – the Billboard this month.)

Richison is right. His work, as with all the artists in this show, offers insight in taking one away from our comfort zone – either Detroit artists working in Northville, or Northville-ans seeing work in their town of a much different nature than they might ordinarily be accustomed. And in being required to document the process, it forces the artist and the viewer, to look at that whole process from a brand new perspective, step out of our skin as it were. Definitely worth the trip, and a perspective worth bringing back to your own surroundings. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(September 13, 2006)

This week, check out John Jakary taking center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase. Jakary's known for his work in theater, particularly some intense, imaginative productions at Zeitgeist, but catch his artwork this week at the Brewery. (NOTE: Looking to write a review? I'm missing 2 wednesday nights in a row - open to a guest writer for this week's or last week's featuring Nolan Simon. Any takers?)

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming
sep 20 frank English
sep 27 john chwekun
oct 4 anja hoppe
oct 11 joe ferraro

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

(See our companion piece, “In the Box, Out of the Box” here.)

The Detroit Artist's Market kicks off its 75th exhibition season Friday, September 8, from 6:30 - 10 pm with a silent auction of artwork that plays on the memory of the Willis Gallery box shows of days past. For those who don't know, for decades the Willis Gallery, which used to be located on Willis near Cass in what's now the Avalon Bakery, was a mainstay of the Detroit art scene, an artist-run space where many of Detroit's prominent artists of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s had their first or at least early exhibitions.

The Willis was about as raw a space as they come, as befitted its down-and-out Cass Corridor locale. Local indigents kept track of the openings to get in on the free booze and noshes, meager though they usually were. And in keeping with the Cass Corridor art scene's hardscrabble mystique, it was often difficult to tell the beggars from the exhibiting artists. The building's owner, who also ran Cobb's Corner next door, provided the space gratis. It was up to the artists to put in any physical amenities. (The day heat was installed was a pretty big deal.) Management of the Willis was strictly on a volunteer basis and passed from hand to hand with one year's departing director picking the incoming one who served for the next year and so on. Sales were generally modest both in volume and price. So while expenses were low, so were revenues.

The box shows were devised as a fundraiser, primarily to help pay for maintaining the building. My recollection is that someone (Matt Hanna?) came across a trove of wooden boxes that had been used in an optometrist's office to store sample eyeglass frames. They were about 10 or 11 inches tall, six or so inches wide, and an inch-and-half deep. Many had little compartments, which provided a grid structure for creating assemblages. Like the rotation of directors, the boxes were handed out through a network of friends and acquaintances in a kind of viral communication system. When the stash of optometrist's boxes ran out, cigar boxes took their place. Auction night was always a damn good party, especially when coupled with the fact that you were usually walking off with a piece of art for a fraction of what it should have cost. (Full disclosure: I participated in three Willis Gallery box shows and own five boxes made by other artists; I was also invited to select five artists plus submit a piece of my own for the DAM box show.)

The current box show at DAM rekindles the community spirit that ran through the Detroit art scene during those days and at the Willis in particular. At first blush, the box for this latest edition would seem to portend limited results. Made in China of thin silver metal less than four inches wide by two-and-a-half inches high by 7/8 inches deep, it seems so insubstantial and nondescript in its raw state. But it just goes to show you that you can't keep a good artist down. The diversity of responses is impressive as is the complete transformation many of the boxes have undergone. There are the overachievers (I'm talking about you, Joe Bernard) who've made something spectacular in which the box is just a small component, in a kind of potlatch of aesthetic gift-giving. Another striking thing is the people (for example, Roy Castleberry) who've come out of the woodwork to submit pieces. Plus there are those such as Deborah Sukenic who've left the Motor City but still sent in pieces by mail. And there are the younger artists, like Miroslav Cukovic, who weren't even born when the Willis started kicking out the jams and whose work bodes well for the future. All in all, “That DAM Box Show” is proof that Detroit’s art community, though hunkered down, is still hanging in there.

(See our companion piece, “In the Box, Out of the Box” here.)

Under the Radar, The Willis Remembered
September 6th through October 21st
Detroit Artists Market

With the Detroit Artists Market Box Show, a tribute to the Willis Gallery upon us, (see Vince Carducci’s companion piece “Still Creative After All These Years” for more on the history behind this), some questions might be raised about the notion of working “in the box” – in this case quite literally.

Often we view being in the box as a trap, a limitation, that keeps us from being as creative, as free as we can be. The thought is that we have to think “outside of the box” in order to truly be creative, to truly be free.

There’s much truth to this, of course, for in following the rules too tightly, in thinking too rigidly about what’s already established – staying in the box – we create nothing new. But there’s a flipside to this, in being too far outside the box, with nothing to give form to our thoughts, we end up in a state of Chaos, with little to provide stability.

For this exhibition, everyone was given a box quite literally. Yet the results are anything but narrow or similar. Each individual accepted the challenge of the limitation and in staying within their particular box made it into their own statement. The results of an open call would of course be different, but the diversity on hand for this show is extraordinary.

And in some ways, we’re always working within one box or another. There are limitations of time, materials, skills, and space – restrictions – all boxes within which we create as we can.

And truthfully, even outside one box, we are always enclosed by a larger one – that is the box that is our lives, the box that is this earth, the box that are the laws of physics.

However, that does not in any way make the play within those boxes any less grand.

And so it is that in straddling that edge between in the box and outside of the box that we create. In finding our balance, we learn that the restriction of the box is also a sort of freedom, in fact the box – the rules of the games at which we play – are what make things possible.

Mathematician G. H. Hardy characterizes the creative breakthrough as containing unexpectedness combined with inevitability and economy. We play inside and outside the box and inevitably, the unexpected – something surprising and miraculous happens. *

And thus it is with the DAM Box Show. Each of the approximately 200 boxes on display contains something unexpected and grand in its own way. So many different approaches, it seems hard to believe that they all began with the same, tiny tin box.

It’s difficult to partition the various works into categories (place them in boxes), but we might at least try to give a sense of what one can expect to see starting this Wednesday.

There are those who stayed within the confines of their box – decorating its exterior and interior, and those who exploded their work far from its borders, and the box remained but a tiny aspect of the final piece.

Joseph Bernard’s “Gypsy Elegy” (on our cover this week), made use of his quite flattened box as an element of his painterly composition. Mark Sengbusch offered up an homage to Bernard, with his design based piece, incorporating the box and bottle caps. Susan Goethel Campbell stayed true to the ethereal nature of much of her body of work by capturing an “impression of a box” on paper. Christine Hagedorn, Joyce Brienze, and Craig Paul Nowak incorporated the box as an element within their work.

John Piet’s wonderfully ornate piece holds an added surprise – in looking extremely closely through a tiny jewel in the work, he’s ingeniously hidden another image within. Mike Sivak brought a similarly intense altar-like construction of rabbits and religious iconography, as did Julie Renfrew – though with fewer rabbits!

For some, the box became integrated into a machine, as with Miroslav Cukovic’s sound sculpture. Carl Oxley III illustrated his box in his specific style, then incorporated it into a working, toy piano. The collaborative Reject Effect used their box as part of “Amazing Race ‘n Chase” a set of radio controlled cars – very cool! Robin Sommers’ box became part of delightfully elegant mechanical clock.

Some boxes become a new object – as in Jim Hock’s Functional, wearable brooch– “Buckle Boy,” nicely displayed on a mannequin. Richard Voytowich’s “Bubbles” is a tiny, complex sculpture playing off the box, while Paul Kotula slightly modified his box to mount it quite successfully in a corner – the only site specific piece in the show.

A few folks played off of the idea of the box, like Ron Morosan’s Pan-Dora, minimally altered, with a poetic offering about the boxes we’ve opened and the paths we’re headed down as a result. Gregory Rokicki also tackled the Pandora’s box idea. Sambuddha Saha took a more conceptual approach to the box, with “Half ‘n Half” a clever reference to Schrödinger’s Cat (in a box).

Robert Sestok tore his box asunder, with jagged strips of metal sprawled akimbo. Ben Kiehl’s piece appears to be a crumpled piece of paper torn from a notebook, but it is in fact his box, flattened, crumpled and then painted to perfectly create this illusion. Brad and Vaughn Taormina display an exotic creature creation, with box hidden somewhere inside.

Of course, many folks used the box as a box – to contain objects. Christine Gibbs “Palm,” contained two sculptural casts of the space within her closed fist. Suzanne Andersen filled hers with ceramic candy statements. Sergio De Giusti’s both contained a sculptural bust and was displayed by a hand sculpture. Susan McDonald created a lovely functioning Jacob’s Ladder which stores neatly within her box, and others used the box to hold story books, cards, and even flip books. Jack Summers’ “Zakoom” is an accordion like series of images scanned from comic books. Rose DeSloover’s box, “Domestication of Colors” is similarly laid out, with each page containing her trademark color swatches. Gary Schwartz inserted a tiny etch-a-sketch within which he used to write the words “buy this box” upon it.

Some boxes became tiny worlds within. Shirley Parish transformed hers into a suitcase with miniature items from Detroit and Venice within. Brooke Keesling created a fantastic scene and Michelle Perron offered up a tribute to the Willis Gallery, with a three-dimensional scene referencing Michigan’s up north and the outdoors, against a backdrop with an image of the gallery.

Additionally there are on hand an amazing number of works more political in nature. Our own Vince Carducci contributed a piece carrying a message viral in nature. David Barr’s speaks of the attack on the Bill of Rights, as do both Stephen Magsig and Janet Hamrick – whose exteriors were adorned in their signature styles with interiors addressing civil liberties on the interior. Dolores Slowinski’s box speaks to the true price of crude oil, Steve Collister displays tiny army toys and asks what our leaders played with as children, while Meredith Rae Krell’s imagery asks us to “Fight War Not Wars.” This outpouring of considered political thought is encouraging and speaks to the power of art as a communicator of ideas.

And of course, there’s a lot more to see. I only mentioned a few, a taste if you will. The silent auction starts Wednesday and runs through Friday. A follow up show, featuring a retrospective of the original Willis Box shows will begin the following week. More details below. Come check out the creativity and expressivity of Detroit area artists as they work in and out of the box. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

(Full Disclosure: I was asked to distribute five such boxes, and collaborated on my own piece with Leah Keller-Transburg.)

*The “In the Box/Out of the Box” was adapted from the text for my “Block,” another box of sorts, created for the Grosse Pointe Art Association’s upcoming Block Art Auction opening September 15th.

(see Vince Carducci’s companion piece “Still Creative After All These Years” for more on the history behind this)

Silent auction runs Wednesday, September 6 through Friday, September 8. The opening reception and final bidding, will take place Friday, September 8 from 5:30-10 p.m.; bidding will end at 9 p.m. Closing reception will take place on Friday, October 20 from 5:30 – 10:00 p.m.

Willis Gallery Box Show Retrospective 1993 - 1996
September 12 - October 21

GALLERY TALK: Saturday, October 7, 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(September 6, 2006)

This week, check out Nolan Simon taking center stage on the brewery’s one night showcase. For more on Simon, check out a past review here.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming
sep 13 john jakary
sep 20 frank English
sep 27 john chwekun
oct 4 anja hoppe
oct 11 joe ferraro

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

Event August 19, 2006
Gallery 555

By Tom Carbone

On a hot and humid August night, the “Detroit Fashion Week 2006” main event took place in the 2nd floor space of Gallery 555. The folks at 555 are making solid progress upgrading their performance space – while completely irregular in form and finish, the space’s 25 foot ceiling and ancient Detroit factory appearance is looking quite comfortable. This year local designers and fashion students showed together for a single all-encompassing runway presentation which was pared back from last year’s multi-night extravaganza.

As always, I like to talk with my fellow audience members before the show. Sitting next to me was Roman Hall a young fashionably dressed real estate agent attending in support of his girlfriend – the very attractive aspiring runway model Christian Johnson, both from Detroit. Noticing Roman’s impeccably chosen outfit I began to notice what the other younger men in the crowd were wearing. Many of these men wore coordinated hats, shirts, trousers, and shoes that clearly required a great deal of effort to assemble. Part of the look is the “brand new” aspect of the clothing; the way the fabric looks, lies, and wrinkles in a way that can only be had from clothes that are just a few hours old. These young men are extremely fashion conscious and I dare say will remain so as they get older and dress more mainstream.

The show kicked off when the 150 plus guests were seated. The runway cut a diagonal path through the room at floor level making for the greatest number of front row seats possible. The music was just right for this event, serving to keep the large crowd involved.

Standouts from the show were Robrena Davis’ summery light pieces – one of note was made up of a brown halter-top and a mid length floral patterned skirt.
Dana Keaton a.k.a. DivaGroove wrapped up the runway event with a diverse collection that included some very elegant and sexy nightclub outfits. As a mainstay in the Detroit fashion scene Dana continues her high level of quality works.

All together the show presented too wide a range of clothing types and would have benefited from a more focused theme or direction. It is important that the best of the best continue to show together leaving the rest to come up to standard. Detroit has to make a special effort in fashion one show and one event at a time. A distinction also has to be made between fashion consulting and fashion design; simply dressing models in ready to wear clothing cannot be presented as design. And as for the stripper outfits with team logos? Well, I enjoy beautiful women wearing virtually nothing as much as the next person. However, I don’t see how this type of thing is creative or beneficial to the cause.

In short the event was well organized and the dedicated designers shown through as expected, let’s continue to support them, they have earned it.

Tom Carbone is the Arts Calendar Editor of thedetroiter.com and an avid supporter and contributor to the worlds of fashion and device.

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit is currently seeking candidates to fill committee positions. The volunteer positions are for seats on the following committees: Exhibition, Program, Development, Facilities, and Community Relations. Committee roles and responsibilities and their relationship to the board of directors are listed below. Inquires should be made to board chair, Nick Sousanis. Please e-mail info@thecaid.org or snail mail a resume with a cover letter identifying the committee(s) of interest to: CAID Committee Seat, 5141 Rosa Parks Blvd, Detroit MI 48208 or e-mail . For further information about CAID please visit the website at www.thecaid.org. Or read the article in Model D magazine.

For the committee positions the CAID is seeking candidates working in or studying the visual and performance arts, marketing & pr, architecture, design and/or those who express and exhibit an interest and passion for the arts. Committee meetings are held once a month for an average duration of 2-3 hours. As a member of a committee, individuals will be responsible for assisting in the further development and expansion of CAID’s programs and its facilities to assist in the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit’s mission of becoming a major contemporary arts center in the region.

Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit Committee Responsibilities

Exhibition Committee

Plan and assist in implementing the exhibition schedule for each year. Oversee exhibition planning and installation. Assign exhibition coordinators to each exhibition.

2006 Duties – Finalize 2007 Season and begin draft for 2008 season

Program Committee

Assist in developing, implementing and managing a schedule of events and educational programming including concerts, festivals, film screenings, DJ dance nights, art classes, artists’ critiques, lectures, forums and more. Plan and oversee other programs developed in conjunction or in partnership with other events and organizations both locally and abroad.
2006 Duties – (1) Create an online radio station to begin broadcasting local and international musical and video artists, interviews and more by July 2006, (2) develop an international artist exchange/residency program, (3) work with other organizations including businesses, hospitals, cities and others in establishing art and music programs including public art installations such as murals and public sculptures and performances, hospital art installations and other art and music programs.

Development Committee

Assist in grant writing and identifying new grant and sponsorship opportunities. Ensure that grants and annual fund requests are submitted for state, city, foundation and/or individual support. Assist with membership management ensuring benefits are received, planning the annual membership meeting and identifying new opportunities for increasing membership and membership benefits. Assist in raising additional funds for new programs or major purchases such as real estate or large equipment purchases.

Facilities Committee

Oversee general upkeep and operations of the building and equipment. Work with Staff to ensure utilities are paid and building and equipment maintenance and repair needs are met. Continue to work with architects and developers with plans for expanding the facility and renovating and redesigning the current gallery/theatre.

Community Relations Committee

Oversee website development, production and distribution of announcements, press releases, e-mail notices of exhibitions and special events. Serves as liaison to the community. Develops and enhances relationships with other organizations and community groups.

By
Leyland DeVito

In Detroit-based artist Mark Dancey’s new Iluminado Mythographic Lunar Calendar, the stories of thirteen moon-related goddesses from cultures all over the world are illustrated in Dancey’s bold, graphic style. It’s quite an eclectic trip through world mythologies as such figures as the more familiar Diana of Roman lore is shown alongside lesser-known lunar ladies like Mama Quilla, the mother of the Incan people, and Chang E, the Chinese woman-turned-toad.

“I find the stories from mythology fascinating, inspiring, and funny,” Dancey explains of his new calendar via e-mail. Dancey’s calendar combines these lunar legends with a consistent structure that follows the cycle of the moon more closely than our irregular Gregorian calendar. A lunar calendar, Dancey reasons, could be useful in keeping in sync with many natural cycles that also coincide with the moon, such as the tides.

It also means you get one extra picture.

“I like calendars and I decided to use this twenty-eight days-per-month system because it is uniform—every month is the same— and because it yields thirteen months, which means thirteen illustrations instead of twelve,” Mark says. “Because it’s a lunar calendar, I thought the illustrations logically should have something to do with the moon, and because I wanted it to be in the tradition of the pinup calendars of the past I thought the subjects should be female, so it followed that they should be goddesses of the moon.”

The calendar is the first project in a planned series that will illustrate the stories of world mythology, which will include comics and paintings, created from his southwest Detroit studio. Mark has been a Detroiter since 1992, when he moved from Ann Arbor “being partial to the underdog” and “in search of the cheap space and romantic ruins that Ann Arbor did not possess.”

“Detroit is like some gem you find in the thrift store that you can have for a song,” Mark says of his city.

While in Ann Arbor, Mark attended the University of Michigan in pursuit of a Psychology education. He got his training in art working on The Gargoyle, the campus humor magazine. “I learned by doing it and absorbing advice from helpful colleagues,” he says. “Drawing cartoons for The Gargoyle and learning how to put a magazine together set me on my present course.” Later he joined the rock band Big Chief, where he served as both the band’s guitar player and graphic designer.

After offering his graphic design services to other bands’ album covers as well as running the magazine Motorbooty, Mark decided to quit the rock and roll life and focus on being an artist instead. “I finally decided to stop dividing my time and concentrate on making pictures, realizing that I would never do anything distinctive with my guitar but that I had a chance to make good pictures if I stopped touring the world's dives with the band,” he explains. The decision allowed him to learn new techniques, and in 2003 showed a body of work at the CPOP gallery that was radically different than his previous work, featuring classically painted female nudes. (For a review of that show, please click here.)

“Before I tried painting I had one style, which was basically just all I could do,” he says. “After several miserable attempts to translate that graphic style into paintings I came to realize that the paintings really ought to be something different than the graphics, that they really ought to use light and shadow and color and texture and all the possibilities of oil paint, so I had to learn how to do that, and the result was quite different than the graphics.”

As an artist, is it more important to have your own style or show an aptitude for a wide variety of styles? “Why not try something different?” Mark says. “It keeps it interesting for you and the people who have to look at your stuff.”

The Iluminado Mythographic Lunar Calendar is available at Mark Dancey’s website www.iluminado.us

Leyland DeVito is studying illustration at Detroit's College for Creative Studies. He can be reached at flyingtreemonkey@aol.com.

Detroit Originals T-shirt Art Contest - $100 Prize
Have your original art reproduced on a Detroit Originals T-shirt.

Help to convey a positive image of our city.

Make a difference in the continued renaissance of Detroit and publicize your own art at the same time.

Contest Rules

Designs must convey a positive image or message about the city of Detroit, and be easily reproduced by one-color silkscreen process.

Complete the license form and submit it with your one or two color, two-dimensional design in hard copy no larger than 11 x 14 inches or digital file (TIF or JPG format only) at minimum 300 dpi resolution to:

Art Contest
Detroit Originals LLC
220 Bagley Suite 828
Detroit, MI 48226

Digital submissions may be sent to:
artcontest@detroitoriginals.com

Please include biographical information, artist’s statement, resume, your web site URL or any other information that will help us to publicize you and your art work.

No more than three submissions will be considered from any one artist.

IMPORTANT: CONTEST DEADLINE
Designs must be submitted by Sept. 23, 2006.

Contest judging will take place Sept. 30, 2006.

Winning contestant will be notified by Oct. 15, 2006 via email or telephone.

We reserve the right to use your name and art to promote Detroit Originals. In the process, we will also promote you and your art through the use of the Detroit Originals web site, press releases, blogs and/or other forms of publicity, at our discretion.

Judging is strictly at the discretion of Detroit Originals LLC. We reserve the right to not accept any entry that does not meet the criteria established in the contest rules.
www.detroitoriginals.com

Bohemian National Home
Through September 2, 2006
3009 Tillman, Detroit
Located on Tillman (22nd St.) and Butternut, one block north of Michigan Avenue,
just a few blocks west of I-96.

The Bohemian’s cracked plaster walls and all around very Detroit interior play host to an acknowledged odd pairing, Dave Roberts and Anne Fracassa, who perhaps could not be conceptually further apart, with the only thread between them being a connection to the gallery’s director, Jerome Ferreti. As Fracassa is sensuous and sentimental (in a non pejorative way), Roberts is crude, raw, and whimsical.

In some other way, both artists also relate to the place – Roberts’ work fits the makeshift nature of the gallery, and Fracassa’s views of a city on the crossroads between decay and revitalization speaks to the growth of this space.

The main body of Roberts’ work is a series of landscapes featuring a bright pink, unexploded bomb that more than a little bit resembles a condom or nippled shape. The bombs have all landed in exotic, vacation seeming places. The very non-threatening pink color of the bomb has leached into the landscape. It’s friendly in that way we could imagine propaganda cartoons about the bomb being dropped as leaflets on some battleground. In an era when our leaders believed “we’d be greeted as liberators” despite bombing the hell out of the people, Roberts’ images speak volumes in their whimsy.

Roberts offers another body of work of a more personal nature, more loosely drawn (think cartoonist Edward Sorel of The Nation and The New Yorker) almost Mandala-like in their circularity, representing perhaps a transformative journey for the figures within. His final body of work is kept hidden just outside the main gallery, and brings new meaning to the word “Kitty Porn.” And I’ll leave it at that.

Fracassa, whether painting on paper or bricks, brings an ethereal touch to her compositions of Detroit. The places always seem to glow, a moonlighting effect, and the softness of the rendering isn’t unlike Cybil Shepard in show of that name. There’s a perpetual haze in the air, of clouds and industrial plumes, which give off a different sort of glow. The city is empty, yet despite that she’s captured something beautiful, almost magical. Even in depicting a city in abandonment, these are full of hope, as is her commitment to this city, which shows in the delicate caring nature of the paintings and the very real reclamation projects she’s been involved in.

Many of the works on paper deal with a crossroads, which as stated above speaks to this moment in time of the city, but of a more personal nature as well. With each moment we are confronted by choices, to step right or step left. Our lives, who we become tomorrow are all linked to these decisions. Some seem monumental, and perhaps paralyze us, while others we make as simply as crossing the street, though their effects may be no less impactful. The crossroads become quite literal elements of composition as well as iconic symbols for something deeper. The strength of Fracassa’s work is that she doesn’t simply depict the town (though she does that quite beautifully) but that she infuses it with such personal dimensions, that allow the viewer to connect to the work far more than through just the locations. Through images of place, she finds voice for something quite human. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

More Fracassa, click here.

For a photo gallery and essay by Fracassa from our archives, please click here.

“To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations.”

A slew of persistent requests and reminders prompted your arts editor to boldly go where he’s never gone before – that’s right, thedetroiter.com went to Brighton to check out their first public sculpture Biennial. The exhibition had gotten some press – mostly on account of CCS sculpture professor Jay Holland’s nude male figurative sculpture, which was greeted with a “Footloose town”-like response from a vocal minority of Brightonians. Sadly, not so much had been written about the actual art, and I headed there with little idea of what to expect.

As it turned out, the show ended up being more than a pleasant surprise – to be sure, it was worth the trip. It’s a pretty high caliber exhibition, for the most part consisting of some well known Michigan and national sculptors, mixed in with a few less known up and comers, and even a couple local participants.

“A Magical Mystery Tour Is Waiting To Take You Away”

My particular tour of the exhibition started near the local CVS drugstore, with CCS sculptor professor Chido Johnson’s larger than life carved limestone head “Bob.” The face looks skyward, with a leeringly celebratory grin, and in reading more from Johnson’s statement we learn this “Bob” references the character from a TV commercial for a male “enhancement” product. The piece is delightfully expressive, and its location next to the pharmacy is perfectly appropriate. This is a great place to have started viewing the exhibition, as Johnson’s piece’s immediate accessibility coupled with its more subtle meaning and overall scale set the tone that this is to be a grand and varied tour.

That this exhibition is the real deal is quickly confirmed in crossing the street from “Bob” into the start of a small park area, inhabited by a grove of larger sculptures including noted Detroit sculptor Ray Katz’ “Evolution One.” It’s a towering piece of simple geometric forms and bright primary colors. Katz’ piece was the first of the sculptures to be installed, and as such, it was the first to get Brighton’s vociferous letter-to-the-editor writing folks riled up. Comments in the paper included calling it a “cluttered up junkyard,” which at least in its current state (to be fair, when first installed it was apparently in need of a paint job) is anything but the case. One could argue that having people talking is better than silence, and since another 26 sculptures were subsequently installed, there’s no doubt this was the start of something. Immediately surrounding Katz’ piece are Jim Lawton’s bright orange, horizontal sculpture, Todd Erickson’s rusting relic “American Beauty,” and David Deming’s “Centurion.” This is an impressive gathering of sculptures all within a few feet of one another and all possessing significant scale and serious compositions.

An entire tour of the Biennial includes works by renowned Detroit sculptors like Bob Sestok and his steel geometrical construction “Logic,” Sergio De Giusti, whose relief piece was temporarily de-installed at this viewing, John Piet, Phaedra Robinson, and many more. (The complete list can be found here.) There’s a piece by Charles McGee, a dance of human forms cut into ribbons of metal. It’s displayed prominently above a bank by Brighton’s Mill Pond, which brings up the issue of placement in such an exhibition. McGee’s piece is so lively, and might work great in a more active thoroughfare, yet by placing it as it is, it is given a place of importance, and not just hurried by. If hanging art in a gallery takes great consideration, so must the issues increase in placing works outdoors in a far more permanent setting. As it stands, McGee’s piece works great here, and its proximity to the water allows for excellent viewing of its reflection.

As with Johnson’s “Bob” by the drugstore, each piece is located rather fittingly. For instance, Tom Rudd’s “Three Fish,” literally three sculpted fish, are set afloat in the pond alongside the expansive boardwalk. These fish look good on land, but it’s a nice touch that adds to the strength of the work. Ken Thompson’s “Standing Arch,” a curved, half-ladder form, was perhaps placed too well, as installed near a truly wonderful playground and jungle gym area, it was apparently too tempting for children to want to climb up! A short fence has subsequently been erected more clearly delineating the sculpture from the play equipment.

In an open alley walk way, Cynthia McKean’s three welded together square steel frames, seem weightless. Each square exists in a different plane, like doorways, or windows to another place. Piet Lindhout’s “The Bird” is just that, a geometrical bird form in flight, resting on a pivot on a towering, curving stand of three elongated triangles of metal. The breeze causes the bird to turn and bob on its pivot. In some way this is one of the most essential pieces of the Biennial, not so much because it is the strongest piece, but it has a high crossover potential. That is the form is instantly recognizable and playful gives it broad appeal, yet it is not simply illustrative and helps inform understanding of the more challenging pieces in the Biennial.

“Let’s Give Them Something To Talk About.”

As for the piece that set so many folks atwitter? Jay Holland’s “Decision Pending”? Considering that Phaedra Robinson’s sculpture depicts a quadruple breasted and undressed female torso, that this got so much attention seems a terrific example of the double standard in regards to male and female nudity. However, even if one is bothered by a display of genitalia, there’s just not much to see. (If anything male viewers might be more than a little bit uncomfortable at this otherwise quite masculine figure’s as being spectacularly unendowed – reminiscent of the post-operative fictional transsexual Hedwig and his remaining “angry inch.” (Now perhaps by crossing this figure with the same Viagra-like drug manufacturer as Chido Johnson’s “Bob” one might really cause a stir!)) In all seriousness, Holland’s created a figure at once strong, yet (pun unintended) impotent. With fist raised for action, the figure becomes contemplative and resigned to wait. In the utter non-specificity of his features, he becomes strongly iconic and a symbol of everyman.

“Who was that masked man, anyway?”

It’s an impressive and wide range of forms: some small and some very large; representational and abstract; serious and somewhat lighthearted. Spread out throughout the town, the tour makes for a nice circuitous path to experience the art works and the downtown area in a different light. The combination of art and landscape makes for a really satisfying experience. So we might ask how did Brighton pull off an exhibition of this caliber? Before answering that question, let’s take a look at one final piece.

It’s John Sauvé’s “Strum,” a flat steel panel with the silhouette of a person in a very rock and roll pose removed, leaving this active negative form. Sauvé (pronounced “So-vay”) has been acting as the tour guide this whole time, and much like the absence of figure in his composition, he’s left his own role in Biennial project somewhat understated. As it turns out his contribution runs far beyond that of ardent supporter, but indeed as organizer and person who really made all of this happen. In taking in the scope of the exhibition, you come to realize what a huge task this is meaning that somebody had to find the artists, get them to commit to the exhibition, get the work to town (some of it quite immense), install it, construct permanent pedestals for each piece, all with approval from the city. No small thing for an entire arts organization, let alone one man.

“This looks like a job for Superman.”

I can’t say Sauvé is mild-mannered. He’s fast talking, with a warm sarcastic side. This overall outgoing manner seems well matched for his day job in medical sales, but completely masks his unbelievable devotion to the arts and community, and the sincerity with which it comes from.

The Biennial project first came about three years ago in a conversation between Sauvé and Piet Lindhout, the town’s architect (whose piece “The Bird” was discussed above). Lindhout set forth to layout the potential locations for the pieces, while Sauvé worked the political angles to make it all possible. In a small town with no experience with public arts, this was no small task. Eventually this would include establishing the Mayor’s Commission for Art in Public Places in Brighton that would oversee the project. But it was a difficult road the entire way, as such things are, and even included a changeover in mayors smack dab in the middle of it.

Beyond politics, Sauvé had to work with the diverse body of artists, and basically make things so amenable to them, “that they couldn’t say no.” To do this he would commit himself to building pedestals, transporting sculptures, and more, all around his job job, making his own work, and time with his family – his wife and two young daughters. With the first installation of Katz’s piece last November, the pace quickened until reaching a feverish pitch the last two months before the June opening.

This may have been one Herculean task, but nothing new for Sauvé. As he says, “Art has always been everything to me.” And in learning more about him, there’s no doubt that that’s true. Sauvé received art history and marketing degrees from Michigan State University, and later a master’s in arts administration. This led to a job assisting E. Ray Scott, the founder of the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), in developing the Michigan Council for the Arts in Public Places, which included such prominent members of the art community as Charles McGee and Sergio De Giusti, and was responsible for among other things, the Art in the Stations murals.

Sauvé would eventually settle in Brighton with his family, working whatever jobs could feed his art making habit, and been steadily involved in a stream of public art related projects since. Five years ago, he started the Brighton International Film Festival and Art EXPO, a one to two night event that gets kids involved in learning about filmmaking and art, in an effort to help keep them off the streets and offer them an avenue to express themselves.

Sauvé’s also been heavily involved in the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland County, and speaks strongly about the club’s positive impact on children, “This place truly saves lives.” While he reiterates an earlier statement with an addendum, “art is everything, but this makes it all worthwhile.” To this end, he created 40 eight foot wood sculptures that kids from the club can use as raw canvases to do what they want with, all of which will be on display throughout Oakland County starting this September. In addition, he’s established the “Sauvé Art Foundation” to help fund the film festival, other educational art projects and in general help to bring public arts to the community.

When asked, “So why do all this?” Sauvé speaks of his love for art, and when pressed further about the Biennial in particular, he responds simply, “I wanted to show my girls you can do anything if you put your mind to it.” And certainly his series of projects and their impact on people’s lives is testament to just that.

As for the Biennial, well the work may all be in place, but there’s plenty left to do. There’s a website to get up and running, more plaques to be installed, some finishing touches on some of the installation on the sculptures, and fundraising to begin this fall in order to purchase the works to make them permanent. (Sauvé financed much of getting the works here and in place out of his own pocket.) And then, in two short years, it will be time for Brighton Biennial Two!!

The trip to Brighton is not to be missed, especially in the remaining sun filled days of summer and early fall. It’s quite an accomplishment and may even make you start to think about the possibilities that exist for the streets where you live. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Thanks John for being a great host and all your efforts in making this possible.

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(August 23, 2006)

This week features not a single artist, but something different all together in the form of 10eastern, an online communal art blogging experiment brought to life by Rich Vogel. The works are by folks who submit “drawrings” and found photos to the website, and it’s sure to be a wildly diverse body of images on display. For more info check out the website: or the MetroTimes story.

Last week saw Bryant Tillman’s pastels and paintings, in which he sold most of his work for a song. This “blue light special” on art was last seen with Scott Hocking’s appearance – giving viewers a fun opportunity to own a piece of work from well respected Detroit artists.

If you missed your chance to catch Tillman’s work, check out a past review here.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming
aug 30 heather jarosz

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

DAM
Runs through August 26, 2006

The Detroit Artists Market puts on a show of some things old, some things new, some things borrowed, and some things, ummm, red. The Market walls (half of which are painted an intense red) are playing host to an eyelevel arrangement of black and white prints and a few pen and ink drawings. The exhibition is a collaboration between DAM and a group of Bachelor of Fine Arts students from the University of Windsor, with works selected by the students from a Detroit private art collection.

This collaboration is a very cool and quite rare opportunity for the students in that they get to participate in the art world (the international one at that) in a very real way: they selected, framed, priced, and hung the work. And furthermore, it’s not simply a test run, as the majority of the works are for sale. The young curators wisely restricted their show, settling on black and white works on paper, and thus made possible a rich exploration of the medium. Viewers get to see the full range of print media including wood and linoleum cuts, etchings, wood engravings, lithographs, and mezzotints. It’s all too rare to see this sort of work en masse, and having it all side by side, is both educational and serves to show the potential of the medium.

In addition to sticking to a single medium, the curators also chose to focus on the theme of social realism. The works range from war and political commentary to the lifestyles and living conditions of ordinary people. Given the 150 year range of works shown, the viewer is not only offered a glimpse into the climate of the country at different points in time, but also how approaches to the print media have evolved and remained consistent.

Thomas Nast’s wood engraving, “Tammany Tiger Loose,” which originally ran in Harper’s Weekly in 1871 is likely the centerpiece of the show. The cartoonist Nast was a celebrity and is credited with popularizing the symbols of the donkey and the elephant for the democratic and republican parties respectively. This cartoon confronted corruption in the New York City political higher ups, and quite vividly depicted this corruption as a ferocious tiger mauling the Republic in female (ala Lady Liberty) form. (The show also includes an etching by painter Lucian Freud, which while not a particularly strong print, Freud’s a big name, and it’s a good choice to include among more devoted printmakers.)

The social importance of the print and cartooned image is strong throughout the show and no more so than in Howard Cook’s expressive lithographs depicting soldiers’ lives during World War II. Given the events of today, this sort of work has never been more relevant, and revisiting work past might not only shed greater light on the media, but convey the need for the current generation to address the issues of today similar fashion.

Not all the prints deal with strife and conflict, as the prints of Winslow Homer also from Harper’s, show a bit more idyllic side of life at in the late 1800s – children at play and the like. There are several strong examples displaying the high contrast of the woodcut, by Detroit artist Leo Meissner and his self portrait, as well as Sheffield Harold Kagy’s somber 1933 print “Judgement” of a bearded older man. Robert Harden’s untitled scene of urban smoke stacks makes great use of the lush, velvety black made possible by the mezzotint printing method.

In addition to seeing a window into life in past times, a few of the prints depict the printing world itself. Gustav Baumann’s “The Print Shop” shows a bit of the workings of the print studio in a colored woodcut, while Armin Landeck’s engraving of engraver’s tools lets the viewer a bit behind the scenes on what went into creating the crisp and clean print.

This is a solid exhibition, showcasing both the print and art that deals with the social conditions of the day, which print did for so long. Check it out, and note, this Saturday, August 19, the curators will be speaking about the work and their experience. A must for print fans and potential curators. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

GALLERY TALK
Saturday, August 19 from 2pm-3pm

Curators
Joe Berube
Colleen Lumley
Mary Martire
Luisa Napoli
Nadja Pelkey
Lisa Schwartzentruber
Snezana Sikman

Meet the curators of Black & White & Red All Over, a group of students from the University of Windsor's Bachelor of Fine Arts program. They will discuss their DAM gallery experience, from choosing the artwork to the finishing touches of the opening night.

Please join us Saturday, August 19th from 2-3pm.
For more information please call 313.832.8540
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11- 6pm

Community Arts Grand Opening

Through the revolving door of opening and closing galleries in Metro Detroit I was pleased to attend the grand opening of a stellar new gallery in Ferndale; the Community Arts Gallery in the Paramount Bank Building.

On Saturday July 29th a warm but perfect summer evening the Community Arts gallery (and the bank) opened their doors for the first time. The event was very tasteful and well-attended, which hopefully portends well for the future for this gallery and the Ferndale art scene in general.

“The Bus Stops Here” exhibit was unveiled within the newly renovated Paramount Bank building, as the introduction of the artwork paralleled the all-new interior, another accomplishment by the well-known Detroit area architect Ron Rea. It’s a modern design that immediately transports you to a place where one’s eyes and mind enjoy exploring their surroundings.

The exhibit was developed in part by Design Michigan; a Cranbrook Academy of Art program which is funded by, and operates in partnership with, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. All of the artists in this show are graduate students at Cranbrook, including the curator, Jada Schumacher. Artists featured in this show include: Aaron Blendowski, John Truex, Yu-Chin Hsiao, Patrick Casey and Shan Sutherland.

The show is an excellent example of Cranbrook work combining the big three: concept, esthetics, and function. The Cranbrook influence provides conceptual grounding, the works were esthetically pleasing and of a subject and a scale with which we all can relate. In addition to their conceptual and esthetic elements they also possess this third aspect of functionality – they are after all bus stop benches.

Civic art… art for the public… it requires people with the vision of a greater good (and the backing) to make it happen. The value of public art could be debated but the folks involved in this project are in total agreement. With the combined support of the state, the city, MDOT, the bank, and the artists an idea was proposed and ultimately executed in fine style. Congratulations to all involved for a job well done.

As for the revolving door of opening and closing galleries in Metro Detroit, we shall see what comes of the Community Arts Gallery; our hope is for a long lasting civic presence.

Tom Carbone is the Arts Calendar Editor of thedetroiter.com and an avid supporter and contributor to the worlds of fashion and device.

This Week in Art: Bryant Tillman @ Motor City Brewing Works (LWIA Ann Gordon)

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(August 16, 2006)

This week sees a last minute change in the lineup, but it’s all good as it gives regular attendees of the breweries one night art stand a chance to check out Bryant Tillman’s work up close and personal. For more on Tillman’s work, check out a past review here.

Last week saw painter and arts blogger extraordinaire, Ann Gordon takes the center stage, and with her a new approach to her paintings, and now drawings and constructions in the square. Gordon has made a great departure from her urban inspired compositions, to deal with crash ups and cutups of plastic animals. It’s a pretty whole body of work, as she approaches related subject matter on a few different fronts (explained quite interestingly in her statement, re-presented below). In her drawings, the disembodied horse heads and such, (cue “Godfather” theme here), offer her the chance to play with composition. These are to be sure, quite flat imagery, more like an arrangement of puzzle pieces than representational drawings. While not entirely engaging as subject matter, they do however function quite informatively as explorations of the division of the picture plane. In turn, these speak to the more abstract painted painterly pieces. And then there are the constructions – “protrusions,” in which she’s assembled these plastic animal parts on a canvas and then stretched elastic material over the entire composition. The result is tensile structure of sorts, almost landscape, with a few “Easter Eggs” inside, where one recognizes a bump as a horse head or leg or some animal body part. The strength of all of this is conceptual and the linkage between the bodies of work, as each no doubt informs the other, as they all inform Gordon’s future. This then is one of the beauties of the one night format – less pressure to feel ok about trying something new, but still the formality of an exhibition to really think about what’s going up on the (makeshift) walls.

One other thing of note, in her other identity as a blogger, Gordon has seen a lot of art in Detroit (and elsewhere) in the last several years. It’s interesting to note some “parts” from exhibitions she’s seen over the years. For instance, in Revolution’s “So Beautiful” exhibition, Thomas Rapai presented large odd bird paintings based on hummels, and Gordon has a few rabbit and other furry animal paintings that share a bit with Rapai’s. As these same paintings too, show a hint of the Martha Stewart-inspired palette of Clint Snider’s more recent dip “paintings.” Whether such potential influences are conscious or not (or true or not), Gordon’s dedication to keeping up with the arts (on her blogsite) not only helps educate others, but helps her to continually build her own vocabulary, and is to be admired.

Parts

I grew up in a car family. My father restored vintage automobiles and we attended car-based gatherings nearly every summer weekend of my childhood. When my parents divorced, my mother taught me how to drive and at some point in high school I developed a terrible fear of overpasses collapsing on my car’s roof and of being subconsciously directed to steer my vehicle into oncoming traffic.

Last year, feeling exhausted of painting Detroit’s burned out and abandoned houses, I began staging Hot Wheels car crashes which I would then photograph and make a painting from. My boyfriend’s vegan diet pitted against my love of food led to me constantly confront my relationship with meat. With this in mind I staged a “horse crash” using plastic model horses that I cut up and painted with “blood.” I then photographed these gory scenes and painted abstractions of them.

I have since expanded my animal-based “Parts” series to include cows, pigs, dogs and other beasts. A few of the animals safely make it into my work, barely escaping dismemberment between my scissors’ blades, but these “lucky” creatures tend to end up portrayed in scenes of malicious sexual action.

I might have problems.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming
aug 16 chris nelson
aug 23 10eastern
aug 30 heather jarosz

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

A call for entries for the Third Annual
Threads show at Johanson Charles Gallery
Opening October 6, 2006.

This September Mosaic Productions is proud to present the third annual "Threads" show, a fashion extravaganza. Billy Hunter and Jeanne Moore of Mosaic Productions are hosting a contest for the fashion and not so fashion side of Detroit. The show Threads, to be previewed at Johanson Charles Gallery, will be a clashing and melding between fashion and art, a combining of the two in unique and creative ways. Threads is a contest to create art for the body and designs should follow the dress to impress philosophy. This means artists have full reign to create a piece that shocks and amazes. The idea is to bring together Artists and Designers, who will challenge one another to create a wearable work of art unlike any other.

There will be three main Themes to choose from: 1) Detroit - Reflect our city; 2) Environment - Nature and ones surroundings; 3) Future - What's ahead for all of us. Within these themes, artists can choose to create Accessories (bags, footwear, hats, jewelry, etc.), Outerwear (Shirts, jackets, pants, etc.) or Underwear. Artists can use any materials they deem fit for their wearable art piece.

Prizes will be based on number of entries. One winner in each category and a Supreme Award winner to be recognized for most creative piece.

Entries are due by October 1, 2006 and can be dropped off at Johanson Charles Gallery, 1345 Division in Eastern Market. Gallery Hours are Tuesday - Friday 4:30 - 7:30pm and Saturday 10am - 5pm.

For more information see www.mosaicproductionsgallery.com, write Billy Hunter or Jeanne Moore at mosaicproduction@hotmail.com or call 313-342-6143.

DIRECTOR. Detroit Artists Market (DAM) seeks a qualified and experienced individual to provide organizational and financial management.

For 74 years DAM has served Detroit and Michigan artists by exhibiting and selling contemporary art, assisting artists’ professional development, and offering community outreach and education programs. DAM is a nonprofit organization with broad community support among
artists, private donors, foundations, government agencies, corporations and volunteers. Responsibilities: Operational and financial management; fundraising including soliciting contributions and writing grant applications; preparation of annual budget; personnel
management; implementing the Board’s plans, policies and decisions; marketing; community relations.

Applicants should have : strong management and communication skills; record of successful fundraising; ability to balance and prioritize multiple interests and demands. Four years nonprofit or similar experience in positions of increasing responsibilities preferred. Salary commensurate with experience.

Apply with a cover letter, resume, names of institutional affiliations, three references, and salary
requirements to: Peter Ruffner, Director Search Committee, c/o Detroit Artists Market, 4719
Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48201; or e-mail to directorsearch@mich.com.
Confidential inquiries welcomed. DAM is an equal opportunity employer.

On a sweltering afternoon in early August, your arts editor had the opportunity to catch up with Klaus Kertess, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit’s inaugural exhibiton and one of the exhibiting artists Jon Pylypchu, to discuss the role of contemporary art, Detroit, MOCAD, and the space itself. As this took place on location, I also got to take a first look inside MOCAD. Despite being quite familiar with the exterior, I was still stunned by the enormity of the interior – cavernous (as it says on their website), is an understatement. This vast open space seems ideal for the ambitious look at contemporary art that the MOCAD people have in mind.

The potential of the space aside, it is to say the least in a very raw state. To an outsider, I must confess it’s difficult to imagine it being transformed into a space capable of hosting a world class exhibition in but a few months. But the optimism and can-do spirit of those behind it is uplifting. I took a brief walk through with acting director Mitch Cope, who explained a bit about their approach towards developing the space and the intent to have the building itself evolve over time. He expressed their idea that rather than dropping in a “brand spanking new building,” that this “museum is a part of community and it can grow with it.” We might think of this is as if this weathered, hulking shell as synonymous in some way with Detroit, and as one’s fortunes change, perhaps, so too will the other’s.

Jon Pylypchuk – “Pretty Scrappy”

A native of Winnipeg, Canada, Pylypchuk currently resides in Los Angeles. He remembers coming to Detroit once in high school, but this was his first time here as an adult.

thedetroiter.com: Having just arrived in town, what’s your first impression of this city?

I actually got a pretty extensive tour from Mitch (Cope.) It’s a pretty awesome city!

It reminds me of LA in a way, and it also reminds me of Winnipeg in a way. Seeing things like industry right up against residential and then everything’s empty. … It seems like it has so much potential to be a really exciting place. I don’t know whether there’s a general apathy in this city to not make it like that – which is similar to Winnipeg, where it could be really good but nobody wants to put the time into it.

In a way I feel having the building here will attract artists which will attract other people. It’s pretty exciting and I’m absolutely honored to be a part of it.

[This first exhibition] is a pretty good cross section of artists from all over the place. I know I’ll go home and tell everybody I know how cool it is. I’m just assuming other artists will do the same. Every time I talk to somebody about doing a show here, they’re like, “Detroit?” And I’m like, “Yeah?” And now I can go back and say, “It’s actually pretty cool.”

How then does the theme of the exhibition and that of your own work address Detroit?

I was planning on doing a shanty town when I had no idea Detroit was as vacant as it is. So I think it kind of fits. I was going to make most of the stuff in LA, but then just driving around with Mitch and seeing all this old wood and stuff, I thought, why not just rent a truck come here a week early and build it here. I think that maybe in using parts of the city [to make the art], it will have more of a connection to it.

Pylypchuk intends to come back to town about a week and a half before the exhibition opens to create his installation. We talked further of so much of the art in Detroit being created from remnants of decay.

It’s kind of nice, like the history of junk. What once was something that was really treasured and then un-treasured and then possibly treasured again.

What then is your personal approach to art making?

When I first started making art, I would look for things like found objects that sort of reminded me of something and then I would make figures or landscapes out of that. Over the years I’ve started to actually look for specific materials and fashion things out of that. Lately I’ve been trying to reuse old stuff, old materials or stuff that I wouldn’t consciously use I would just find them and use them, and build things out of that. Pretty scrappy.

“Pretty Scrappy” seems like a pretty perfect fit for Detroit. How did this approach evolve?

I went to the University of Manitoba for undergrad and UCLA for grad school [from which he graduated in 2001.] At UM I started making abstract paintings and oil paintings with figures in them, but still pretty scrappy. I don’t really know what I’m doing oil painting. Then a couple of friends of mine and me were sitting around one evening and I had been sort of attracted to found objects to make stuff out of, but then we were just kind of fooling around one day and I started making these things. My friend Michael, who I really respect, really liked what I was doing. And I had liked doing that better than making oil paintings. I kind of caught a little bit of shit from my professors for not making oil paintings because they liked them and I didn’t. From there I stopped making oil paintings altogether and started making what we ended up calling “Scrap Art.” We wrote a manifesto and we were scrap artists for a little while.

In between going to UCLA and University of Manitoba, I basically stopped making art altogether, and then when I got to UCLA, I realized I had three years to do whatever I wanted to. I pretty much worked nonstop in that way. The way that the professors were at UCLA was like call us when you need help or you want someone to look at what you’re doing. Otherwise just do what you’re doing. I felt it was more self-directed, self-disciplined practice. I like that. That’s when I really started to focus on scrappy art.

Earlier this year, Pylypchuk had a solo installation show at MOCA Cleveland. What can MOCAD learn from MOCAC?

Just the simplicity of their idea – it’s not a collecting museum. They just do shows. They provide that service to the community that people can take a look at stuff that they might not have the chance to look at.

The thing that I really like about having this museum here is something I always thought about for Winnipeg. In the sense that there is really one or two contemporary art galleries there, and then there’s the Winnipeg Art Gallery, which is more of a regional thing. And so, going to school at UM, you were only exposed to contemporary art in magazines and books. If Winnipeg had a museum of contemporary art, then you would see things as they were happening at the same time, and not just from books, but from real life. It’s kind of nice.

Coming full circle, what does it mean for the Detroit community to have a museum of this sort?

I don’t know a lot about the Detroit Institute of Arts, but it seems that this will be different in the sense that [it will show] things that are happening right now. Young people and older people too, will have the opportunity to actually experience things first hand, rather than experiencing things through the filter of magazines and books.

And, the building is awesome!

After this visit to Detroit, Pylypchuk was headed back to LA to finish preparing his work for an upcoming show at Tokyo’s Tomio Koyam Gallery.

Klaus Kertess –“Space and Place”

As the planning for this exhibition has unfolded, Kertess has been to Detroit on numerous occasions, but that first impression remains strong.

My first impression was shock. And now I’ve fallen in love with the space. I hadn’t been to Detroit in thirty years. That last time, I was out here to give a lecture at the DIA and immediately afterwards I was taken to ten or twelve studios, so I never really saw the city.

When I came back for the first time as part of this, Scott Hocking took me around – I did the “Scott Tour” – which I’ve done several times now.

(You got the best tour guide in the city!)

The city is such a contradiction because there’s such overwhelming and devastating destruction, and at the same time there seems to be all this energy here. That really struck me. I’ve spent more time working on this show than I have on almost anything I’ve done for a while, relative to its small size that is. There are only nine artists. I’ve been out here quite a bit, for the day or overnight. I haven’t been to every city in America, but Detroit, in spite of the devastation has an energy that most cities don’t have. So there’s something about that contradiction – the constant feeling that it could get better or it could get worse – gives it a kind of tension that makes it really interesting to work in this space.

So to that end, how does contemporary art lift a city up?

It’s not about contemporary art being better or worse than what came before or what’s going to come after. I think that most cities have a craving for it, because contemporary art is part of their environment in a more visceral way than older art, because we’re all living in the same environment. Artists tend to distill that environment not necessarily more clearly but more intensely than we do in our daily life. So in my experience, especially for younger people, all cities have a need to have a dialogue with interesting art, their consciousness – where they are, makes them think about their space and their place. It’s not about answers but finding your reflection in the work you’re looking at. I think that happens on a more visceral level with contemporary art.

Which isn’t to say that that’s all art should be. I have an ongoing interest in Cambodian art from the 7th to the 11th century, which I think is some of the most beautiful sculpture ever made. That’s a very personal reaction. But it isn’t the same thing, as looking at a contemporary artist, like looking at Jon’s work and trying to find out what my relationship to it is – why would he make something like that – what does it mean about my space and my place?

You mention falling in love with the building – tell us a little bit more about how this came about.

I have a reputation, which is somewhat deserved, in being extremely painting friendly at a time when people continue to say painting is dead. So when I first came out here when I was asked about doing a show here, what I automatically thought of was a painting show that had been bouncing around in an unclear way in my head. My ideas would clarify when I had a space to work in. When I walked into this space, I dropped my jaw and thought, there’s no way we can do a painting show in a space like this as the walls are not all that hospitable to painting. I wasn’t disappointed, I was confused.

Gradually, between driving around with Scott and seeing this building is a ruin, perhaps not as extreme as some of the other ruins in Detroit, but it has the same sort of distresses that are elsewhere. And it happens to be a moment in our lives where distress is worldwide. And so, I thought of people who were responding in different ways to some of the issues that troubled the world. Not necessarily specifically and not didactically. I don’t think that art is didactic. I think all art that’s good is ambiguous in a way. It isn’t about getting a clear solution to the world’s problems, but it’s like facing of questions in some way.

Except for Nari Ward whom I’ve worked with before, all of the artists in the show are artist’s whose work I really admire but have never worked with before. So for me there was excitement about working with a whole new group of people.

I’d seen one show of Jon’s in Manhattan and wanted desperately to reject it, and then I saw the second show and just gave in completely. And I’m thrilled he’s making a piece for the show. I think he’s certainly one of the more interesting younger artists around. I knew Paul Pfeiffer’s work, and have always wanted to do something with Paul.

It’s kind of amazing, I think, that out of the 9 artists five are making work specifically for this space. Very often you just get a group show that recycles work from previous shows. Barry McGee is doing the façade. I’m just thrilled.

And I think it’s great for Detroit.

I sent Barry images, and I’d never met him before, I’d seen his work. He emailed back and said the building is so ordinary he couldn’t resist.

Most of the artists have been here. So Barry came, he got the Scott tour. And he’s going to come and make his piece. Nari Ward did two pieces for the 95 Whitney Biennial which I curated that were really extraordinary. Nari seems like he was made for this building. There was no way of knowing what he would do. So he came out, he got the tour of Detroit, and then we were standing in the building, and he saw the insulation panels lying on the floor. When he looked down at the ones that had crumbled, their kind of waviness reminded him of looking at the sand through the water at the beach. Which indeed it does. So he’s making his piece largely out of that garbage. He’s making an “urban beach.” An oasis. We were flying back on the plane across the aisle from each other, and he was already making sketches in his sketch book. For a curator that’s the kind of thing that is really exciting, to see somebody turned on and the wheels churning in his head.

So he’ll come out here and work for two weeks before the show. And it’s great to get work like this – a number of the artists will give talks here or other sites around town.

As much as possible we tried to spread it into the community.

The final artist included in the exhibition is Christopher Fachini. Christopher is a Detroiter, a musician. A virtuoso – he plays all these instruments really beautifully and he’s obsessed with Reggae. [For his piece] he’s been playing seven different instruments and playing each part within his composition and weaving them together with a computer. So there’s these incredibly lyric melancholy and joyous riffs on reggae. Then he’s collecting old boom boxes so that there will be a stack of boom boxes and he’ll DJ his piece for the exhibition on these boom boxes.

I wanted badly to have someone local in the show, but I wasn’t hitting pay dirt. I also haven’t seen enough. Then I thought since music is such a big part of Detroit’s culture, I thought it would be great to have a soundscape as part of the show. Christopher all but appeared. These kids who ran a gallery [Commonwealth, we assume] knew his work and said to Mitch “you should go see him,” so Mitch and I went to see him at the former Polish Veterans Hall. He played some music for me and I asked him some questions. I woke up in the morning and I thought that that was so incredibly beautiful, and the way he described what he wanted to do was made to order for this show. It was totally serendipitous, we’d heard other musicians, and no one quite understood – they thought we wanted party music for the opening, which wasn’t the case. No one understood that I actually wanted was a piece that was part of the exhibition. Christopher was making something that was perfectly suited for what we were doing.

He’s busy doing that now. If the weather is right at the opening he’ll play it outside, and there will be other scheduled performances throughout the run of the show.

MEDITATIONS ON AN EMERGENCY, Curated by Klaus Kertess, opens October 26, 2006 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

The lineup is as follows:

Mark Bradford
Christopher Fachini
Barry McGee
Roxy Paine
Paul Pfeiffer
Jon Pylypchuk
Tabaimo
Kara Walker
Nari Ward

Look for more stories in these pages, and for a past story about the museum, click here, and for more on Scott Hocking and a MOCAD fundraiser click here. - Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

On Tuesday August 1st (a record setting high temperature day here in South East Michigan) people came from all over Michigan to Haberman Fabrics in Royal Oak to witness the fashion design challenge “Make It Work.” Toby Haberman and her staff are to be congratulated for an effort that yielded an entertaining evening and generated thousands of dollars in donations for the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. “Make It Work” was born from Toby’s belief in supporting the local fashion design community, a desire to foster the garment industry in Michigan, and to raise money for the Karmanos Cancer Institute, all of which she did in high style.

THE CHALLENGE ASSIGNMENT

"Your girlfriend is a television reporter who will be covering the 36th Annual Fash Bash® DIA fundraiser on August 26. A Tahari fashion show is featured in the gala evening. Your friend wants you to make her a dress or ensemble. Her look is upscale and stylish, but her limited budget makes this a creative challenge for you."

Three fashion celebrities, representing design, marketing, and media were on hand for the difficult tasks of judge, jury, and executioner! Kara Janx, finalist in the Bravo Project Runway season two was here as a new and successful design talent. The shy Ken Dewey, Director of the exclusive personal shopping services “the 5th Avenue Club,” at Saks. And Susan Howes Fashion Editor for HOUR DETROIT Magazine; Susan has credentials in design, marketing, and journalism to name just a few. And as master of ceremonies hosting the Runway Finals Jon Jordan, LOCAL 4 Style Editor, he and Toby performed auctioneers duties as well.

Ten designers were culled from a pool of 60 entrants and on July 15th, those ten were given their challenge and $100 for materials. In just two weeks they were to design and make a single garment to meet the challenge. In addition each designer selected their own model; this was a great opportunity for them as well.

Activities were due to begin at 7 pm so photographer Amina Horozic and I went early to scope out the runway and stake out our spots. Amina a Clinton Township resident is originally from Sarajevo and is a Transportation Design graduate from CCS; she is one of the bright new guard at the DaimlerChrysler Design Center in Auburn Hills.

Haberman Fabrics is a huge store divided into areas devoted to different products or activities. For the event, the back of the store was transformed into a runway with seating for 200. The interior is painted in a variety of pastel colors and the ceiling is very high, which all made for a comfortable environment. In attendance were people of all ages, from near and far; the mother and daughter sitting next to me were long time Haberman customers as was the U of M student on my right.

The show began with the introduction of the judges, the designers, and their models. Each designer was given a brief opportunity to speak about his or her background and goals. After presentation the judges were escorted down the runway to an undisclosed location where the critical decision was made. Next the charity auction ceremonies began with the introduction of Dr. Blake from Karmanos, she was presented with a gift to the institute from Haberman. This was immediately followed by a spirited auction of several items the most noteworthy being a three night trip to NYC for the upcoming Project Runway finals. Also an introduction and free membership to the winner was made regarding the Detroit Fashion Incubator (DFI) a non-profit organization begun by contestant Michael Delon Wilson.

When the judges returned they gently removed seven of the ten and with insightful critique exposed the winner for the evening…

Second runner up Anastasia Chatzka impressed the judges with her remarkable craftsmanship. Her talent for construction explains Anastasia’s fearless approach to design. Her dogged attention to detail and unwavering adherence to her inner theme came through in a shimmering light orange evening gown. The finely constructed top with crossing pleats and gathered straps became the focal point while the puffy skirt top referenced 18th century design. A full-length skirt emerged from under the poof finishing with a ruffle and floral appliqués. Anastasia is currently attending the International Academy of Design and Technology in Troy and has had an inspirational internship with Betsy Johnson in NYC. Keep an eye out for this powerhouse talent. Anastasia Chatzka

First runner up Erica Chasco presented a stunning design that addressed the challenge, adhered to her own concept, and was very creative. The subdued colors were greatly appreciated by the judges. I especially liked the fore and aft draping and interweaving of the chiffon over the slim strapless dress. The dress on its own was very sexy, made of a course shimmering gray fabric tailored in a raw manner. The overall result was that of surprise and intrigue, this theme has great potential. Erica is a recent graduate of MSU and spent a year at FIT in NYC. I am sure that we will be seeing much more of this enthusiastic young talent. See Fashion Week Article.

The star of the evening, Sarah Lapinski, is a menswear specialist, her experience and attention to detail spoke clearly. The judges loved the repetition, subtle color palette, and referred to it as sheik. The hand dyed top portion in shades of cool gray was very structured reminding me of what makes great men’s clothing; fine lines and ordered composition. Beneath the well thought-out top drifted a purely feminine and voluptuous asymmetric skirt with a large hand colored floral construction in front. Aside from the design and construction the colors were the crowd’s favorite chant. The self-taught sewer and designer has a BA from Wayne in urban planning and several years ago teamed up with Sarah Lurtz (of Pure Detroit Design Lab fame) to foster a menswear line, "Wound".

Three additional works of note from our local talent pool were:

Michael Delon Wilson, also a graduate of Wayne he has been doing custom work since 2001 for clients in Detroit, Chicago and Toronto. He has been involved from the naissance of the Pure Detroit Design Lab, is the director of the Re-Fashion Detroit Project, and is the visionary leader of the Detroit Fashion Incubator. His two-piece design skillfully combined a 70’s color scheme and pattern with an o6 sensibility. At second glance I noticed how the full-length, sheer, white patterned skirt allowed the dark salmon, pinafore to be noticed underneath; pretty hot stuff, a perfect outfit for August 1st.

Jason Humphrey is a fashion graduate of Wayne, his response to the challenge took the little black dress and jazzed it up quite nicely. Working with a slightly glitzy fabric Jason pulled a bit of asymmetry into the skirt and added a sheer portion over what would be a simple strapless upper to give a refined retro feel. Together with his Audrey Hepburnesque model Jason transported us from “A Roman Holiday” (1953) to “A Detroit Runway” (2006.)

Mary Catharine Buchanan, is working on a Bachelor's degree at EMU and received an associate degree from the Fashion Institute in San Francisco. She is currently in product design and development at Maggie's' Organics in Ypsilanti. Mary Catharine’s piece was a complex mixture of textures and concepts. The removable top turned the outfit from sophisticated to casual before our eyes garnering approval from the crowd.

In addition, the following designers made superb entrees into this very unique, prestigious and successful event. Samantha Bullock, manager of the Pure Detroit Design Lab has been in business since 1999. www.dsbullock.com Beulah Cooley originally from Mississippi has worked in fashion her whole life, received many awards, and her work can be purchased at stores across Michigan. See EFF article. Maisha Davis, has several degrees and has extensive experience in designing and making clothes for the movie and music industry in Los Angeles. Michelle Ariel Sanders, a graduate of MSU in Apparel & Textiles. See First Prize article.

I can see and feel the fashion momentum in Detroit; there are more events every year and the sophistication is growing. These are talented hard working people so keep an eye out for the next event and come join us, remember; Fashion = Fun.

Look for Fashion related events in thedetroiter.com, your support is what will make a fashion industry in Detroit happen!

Tom Carbone is the Arts Calendar Editor of thedetroiter.com and an avid supporter and contributor to the worlds of fashion and device.

Motor City Brewing Works
4701 W. Canfield, Detroit
(Between Cass and 2nd)
313-832-2700
Every Wednesday Night, 7-11 pm
(August 9, 2006)

This week, painter and arts blogger extraordinaire, Ann Gordon takes center stage at the Motor City Brewing Works’ one night art stand. Ann’s paintings are almost always in square format, and what we’ve seen in the past deals with the abstraction of urban landscapes. Quite recently she’s taken a new approach, and we are happy to share her statement below. A piece of this work is currently on display at Gallery Project in Ann Arbor.

Parts

I grew up in a car family. My father restored vintage automobiles and we attended car-based gatherings nearly every summer weekend of my childhood. When my parents divorced, my mother taught me how to drive and at some point in high school I developed a terrible fear of overpasses collapsing on my car’s roof and of being subconsciously directed to steer my vehicle into oncoming traffic.

Last year, feeling exhausted of painting Detroit’s burned out and abandoned houses, I began staging Hot Wheels car crashes which I would then photograph and make a painting from. My boyfriend’s vegan diet pitted against my love of food led to me constantly confront my relationship with meat. With this in mind I staged a “horse crash” using plastic model horses that I cut up and painted with “blood.” I then photographed these gory scenes and painted abstractions of them.

I have since expanded my animal-based “Parts” series to include cows, pigs, dogs and other beasts. A few of the animals safely make it into my work, barely escaping dismemberment between my scissors’ blades, but these “lucky” creatures tend to end up portrayed in scenes of malicious sexual action.

I might have problems.

One of the beauties of the one night only format (with beer!), is it gives an artist a chance to try out something they might not want to risk on a more traditional show. In turn, this experiment might end up working its way into future bodies of work. Should prove interesting this week.

Week in and week out, Wednesday nights have proven to be educational and a valuable experience. For artists this has meant a chance to try out work in mini-shows and given up and comers a shot to be seen. Perhaps just as importantly the atmosphere has been such as to provoke conversations on art and more that have gone on long past closing time. So come check it out, sample (in moderation!) what the owner John Linardos and the good folks at Motor City brew up each day (an undeniable artistry in its own right) and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you there. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Upcoming
aug 16 chris nelson
aug 23 10eastern
aug 30 heather jarosz

(For more on the man who makes this all possible - bartender/curator Graem Whyte, see our four question feature here.)
(Also check out Rebecca Mazzei’s excellent profile of Motor City and This Week In Art in Metro Times.)

Next Step Studios & Gallery
Group Show
Runs through August 9, 2006

Last Friday, July 29th, saw a charged atmosphere for a group show opening at Next Step Studios. Building owner, CCS grad Kaiser Suidan had a number of ceramic multi-part installations on the wall, punctuating the diverse spectrum of artists which included younger artists like John Azoni, Craig Paul Nowak, and Nick Jones to much more established folks like Jef Bourgeau exhibiting abstract digital work and Lester Johnson, offering a very different take on painting in the form of vertically hung wooden rods wrapped in multi-colored yarn.

For some it was a chance to test out new work, as with John Cynar’s series of photographs juxtaposing churches and cell phone towers, and we got a chance to see thedetroiter.com contributor Greg Tom’s perforated ceramics. All in all, a lot of fresh work side by side, a little crowded, but that didn’t seem to deter the crowd one bit.

Nice to see this space and the energy it brings, hope it becomes a more permanent addition to the nearby Ferndale galleries. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) is working with ShowSpan, the producer of the Michigan Home & Garden Show in order to present a diverse collection of original 3 dimensional sculpture and original furniture and other functional art and some 2 dimensional photographs, paintings, etc.

The 18th Annual Michigan Home & Garden Show takes place at Ford Field and runs March 9 through March 11, 2007.

Artists/Designers interested in being considered for this exhibition opportunity should e-mail two to three images of work or mail portfolio by October 1, 2006. Please include an SASE if sending portfolios to ensure return.

Artists accepted to exhibit will receive passes to the Michigan Home & Garden Show and will be able to list their work for sale during the show. CAID will coordinate with the artists drop off and pick up of work, conduct sales during the Show and staff the large 1600 sq ft exhibition area during the show. CAID hopes to also install large sculptures throughout the entire show and to work with exhibiting landscape architects to include sculptures in their displays.

The CAID has secured one of the prime display areas in the show and we are excited to provide this unique opportunity for artists to expose their work to a large diverse audience.

Please feel free to contact CAID with any further questions or concerns.

-CAID
info@thecaid.org

Susanne Hilberry
RUNS THROUGH: September 16, 2006

By
Greg Tom

While one can analyze a work of art based on its formal properties, art can