Pop Up Detroit combines the talent of established and emerging artists providing a vibrant and fluid perspective on the new landscape of art in Detroit. An eclectic selection of paintings, photography, sculpture and mix media-installations gives life to the walls of a semi-abandoned, yet majestic building with a singular trajectory in the history of Motown.

One of the three enthusiastic curators, Nina Marcus, combs the city for seductive classic buildings and turns them into art exhibition spaces.  For the Noel Night show, the venue at 5800 Cass Avenue used to be an elegant Cadillac showroom, embellished with the art deco detailing characteristic of Detroit’s historic grandeur.  Marcus’ vision is to bring people into historical gem sites to see other forms of beauty created by local artists.  This ambitious initiative brings together young talent to brush against the city’s architectural treasures, producing a “third effect” where artistic renaissance is nurtured from past splendor.

While the artwork draws from different trends and currents, the vitality and intensity of the exhibit brand the show with a unique signature.   The spectator has many options to choose from.  A broad range of intriguing photography exploring different angles of the urban experience is featured by Jason Grant Benberry, Karpov the Wrecked Train and Rob Woodcox.  Benberry refers to his work as a deconstructed urban fixation, where he focuses on overlooked details in daily city life, whereas Karpov the Wrecked Train embraces the style of photojournalism, following people around and listening to their stories of urban strife.  Wilcox’s perspective is more dreamlike with floating figures in abandoned interiors as he visualizes Detroit as a place of hidden beauty and possibility.

The introspective paintings by Carolyn Garay and Michelle Tanguay offer a welcomed freshness to the highly stylized and process-oriented work that seems to prevail in commercial galleries these days.   Superbly complex, Garay’s “Useless Hint:  It is Not a Dance Party” engages the viewer with a colorful journey of the self exploring and observing her alter egos and the different impulses that drive her.  Bold and experimental, Tanguay’s paintings are deliberate commentaries on the imperfection of the mind, as she plays with fragmented renderings of image and memory.

What makes this exhibit unique is the intensity and excitement with which the artistic pulse of Detroit is incarnated. A culturally and ethnically diverse group of artists at varying stages of their careers is featured in a historical building under the art-hungry and ambitious leadership of Nina Marcus, William Irving Singer and Michelle Tanguay.  The show whets your appetite for more; Marcus promises another Pop Up Detroit in 2011 in the Spring.
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