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.