Russell Industrial Complex
Saturday & Sunday, April 28, 29, 2007

In 1979 the fledgling Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) stirred up the Detroit art scene with a show of installations in the abandoned Jefferson Terminal Warehouse. A group of prominent Detroit artists then and many now, including Charles McGee, Jean Heilbrunn, Rose DeSloover, Barbara Dorchen, Jim Hart, Deanna Sperka, and Lois Teicher worked with the structure of the building – modifying and adding to it in both quite physical and more conceptual ways to create their works. In his introduction to the catalogue, then Eastern Michigan Professor of Art, Marvin Anderson wrote, “The rawness of the Jefferson Terminal Warehouse is an appropriate milieu for Detroit’s artistic sensibility.” “Jefferson Terminal Warehouse is a microcosm of Detroit and industrial culture … a springboard for artists into the mainstream of pertinent matter.”

Nearly 30 years later and at a different equally raw industrial space, a new generation of Detroit art makers (most not even born by then) are putting their own spin on the subject of Detroit and installation. The Russell Industrial Center has a growing reputation as a home for artists’ studios and exhibition space, and with the emergence of Detroit Industrial Projects last fall, has seen a fair share of installation works, most notably “Even Clean Hands Leave Marks and Damage Surfaces.” What Beasly, Cukovic, and Glenn created with minimalism for that exhibition, the crews behind Soft and “_____” do with a little more obvious intervention.

This is art that speaks strongly to its time and this place, in terms of materials, message, and a real understanding of the environment and our place in it. Increasing environmental awareness in younger generations means that the landscape is no longer viewed as something separate, but that we’re all part of an interconnected ecosystem. These shows reflect well then what it means to live and create in Detroit at this point in history. And the folks behind “Theoretically Soft” and “____ & _____” , primarily CCS students with the guidance and coaching of teachers Denise Fanning and Chido Johnson respectively, have made a lot from the rawness that is the Russell Industrial Center.

While they are both installation based, “Theoretically Soft” is a little heavier on the object side than its unnamed sibling. Last fall, Fanning’s students took over the CAID (in its current incarnation), for a surprisingly successful, soft-sculpture installation show. At the Russell, the space is ginormous, which means the artists get to spread out and really play, which can at the same time be more than a little bit overwhelming to the works. There’s far too many works to describe adequately (at a reasonable length) but we can capture a bit of the flavor of what’s spread out through the main room and several addition smaller former office spaces. In all, it’s an exploration of soft materials, of course, from cloths to diaphanous plastics to fur, ranging from the surreal to the whimsical.

All in stuffed cloth, a dining table, with chairs and place settings, (oddly, sans cloth napkins) is wonderfully odd. The cuddliness of a horse is approached in a variety of works: one a multi-headed stuffed toy sprawled unceremoniously on the ground; another consists of two horse-like torsos, hair-covered, one resting on the ground with tethers, the other supported from the ceiling with its reigns; a third is a rocking horse completely covered with finger like rubber nubs – it’s soft and bumpy all at once. A mass of rubber gloves make one installation, while spray can lids (from a graffiti piece on the wall nearby) form surprisingly organic, slightly harder, sculptures. Some are more over the top visually, a conical pylon of brightly colored cloth and tassels, a room of trees and stuffed fictional birds, and more machine-like, interactive works. And then there is the most minimal of pieces, though quite engaging: in loosened yarn of some such black fiber, a spider web-like crack is “drawn” onto the wall. It works as an independent piece and in terms of integration into the building.

Which brings us directly to “_____.” If “Soft” felt like a number of isolated moments, “______” while also achieved by artists working in their own areas of the room, becomes an environment itself, with the landscape shifting between the separate works. It’s hard to know where to start in terms of description. Perhaps that which holds this building up – the support columns have all been painted in bright primaries – a nice reference to something festive and the “greatest show on earth.” Though not in three rings, there’s activity everywhere without ever feeling busy - look up, down, over, under, behind – it never quits. Near the entranceway, a giant wooden beam attached to a pipe in the ceiling, stretches almost to the floor, is free to swing and invites interaction. Up high also are colorful plastic balls on pulleys like balloons, spider webs, spinning lights, and more. One corner hosts a series of doors and doorways, a room with no walls only entrances and exits to nowhere. A concrete short wall is erected in a corner painted green, on its backside a picture of a barking dog is posted. Nearby, a half-pipe curves up a wall, sitting on sod, in front of which and also sitting on the sod, is a small pen complete with pet rabbit, on bricked floor. The center of the room is a construction of sticks, cloth, sand, junk that might be blown in the wind, constructed to make a tower and a section of stick rail road tracks. Four chairs are set up for people to sit and talk, all centered around a tiny diorama mirroring the actual setting. A room of tubes, pipes, and other junk parts integrated into the existing pipes and structure of the room, comes out looking like science-fiction machines dreamed up in a comic book by Jack “the King” Kirby. Next to this frenetic space, is a more spare room filled with plants, leading to a small completely sodded floor – perhaps a vision of suburbia amidst all this other urban decay.

At this point in history, Detroit is still not a place of opportunity in terms of economic viability. But in terms of the realm of ideas – Detroit is the unparalleled land of opportunity. If you can dream it, and get enough hands to get it built – this is the place to do it. As Marvin Anderson wrote of the Jefferson Terminal Warehouse, the Russell too is a microcosm of Detroit.

Both shows are ambitious, offer a lot of engaging works (and to be sure, some that are not quite so strong), and fun. The experience of attending both shows and traveling through the Russell’s mammoth driveways and parking lots is memorable, and overall perhaps one of the more exciting displays of contemporary art in Detroit recently. The kids are making a lot happen, and what they’ve done (and what was done thirty years ago) might offer a lesson to the more established contemporary institutions in terms of their approach towards art that speaks to this place at this time. It would be nice if there were a bit more in terms of documentation, as exists from CAID’s 1979 show. But maybe that’s a bit of the point here. As the show is a microcosm of Detroit, the ephemeral nature of the exhibition is not unlike the rise and fall of cities. They come, flourish, generate a lot of excitement, and then they’re gone. It lives on in our memories, (and with the prevalence of digital cameras, now on our blog and flickr sites.) Much like living in this place, it’s not an experience that can be catalogued, but something felt, and then carried with us where we go next. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com