Clara DeGalan
Silent Watch: Contemporary Prints from Finland at Elaine Jacob Gallery and American Dream at Gallery Project
Two scalp-tingling shows opened this weekend in the Detroit area. One, “American Dream” at Gallery Project in Ann Arbor, culls a diverse bunch of artists contemplating how that mysteriously pervasive idea, the American dream, has disintegrated and rebuilt itself over the last century. The other, “Silent Watch: Contemporary Prints from Finland” brings the work of [...]
Artist Spotlight: Sarah Innes
Sarah Innes is a student of life. She was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI, where she currently lives and works. She earned her MFA at the University of Michigan, and taught there for several years. I first knew her when I was a student at the U of M School of Art and [...]
Review of “DTW to LAX// Austen, Beasley and Shaouni” at Butcher’s Daughter Gallery
At the opening of “DTW to LAX // Austen, Beasley and Shaouni,” the new group show at Butcher’s Daughter Gallery, Hartmut Austen was describing the process behind his paintings, which depict flooded landscapes and ghostly, iconic figures. “Things change,” he said, “and no one can explain anymore how any of it happened.” The three participating [...]
Review of “Polarity and the Space Between” Works by Dennis Hayes IV at Re:View Contemporary Gallery
I’ve been toying lately with this idea that all art is dark, or all good art anyway. That it comes from a dark place, and what it does with that darkness is what determines whether it will be good art. Seeing the work of Dennis Hayes IV at Re:View Contemporary’s new show crystalized that idea. [...]
Notes on “A-Hunting We Will Go” at Re:View Contemporary Gallery
I attended the opening reception of Mark Dancey’s show at Re:View Contemporary back in September. I walked through pretty quickly, in the midst of a gallery crawl, but Dancey’s unusual, narrative-rich paintings stuck in my brain more than anything else I saw that night, bothering me because I wasn’t sure if I liked them or [...]
Review of “The Quiet Life” at The Butcher’s Daughter Gallery
Walking into “The Quiet Life,” a solo exhibition of Canadian artist David R. Harper’s multimedia work that opened last week at The Butcher’s Daughter Gallery in Ferndale, feels like entering the home of an eccentric 19th Century biology enthusiast. The color is predominantly white, not cold, antiseptic white, but the white of god-light, the kind [...]
Culture Wars, Ruin Porn, and Re-enchantment
I was sitting at a picnic table in Sam’s Club the other day waiting for my boyfriend. I love going with him to Sam’s Club; everything you ever dreamed of in bulk quantities fit for a giant’s pantry at low prices, and lots of free samples too. It draws an interesting crowd, Sam’s Club. College [...]
“Unhooked from Time” at Gallery Project
Gallery project puts together shows with themes that are broad, relate-able, and always slyly zeitgeist. The ideas presented are ones you find have been swimming around in your head for a minute, given expression. When that happens, well, it’s like being hooked up to an IV of the culture. It’s an eerie, great feeling. The [...]
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