Scott Hocking's Emergency Ark

Took a day trip to Port Austin, Michigan this week, to take a look at Detroit artist Scott Hocking's new site specific piece, aptly titled, The Emergency Ark. The Ark, like much of Hocking's work, is dependent on the repurposing of found materials, which in this case, is a dilapidated barn found in the vast open spaces of farm country, located in the northern reaches of Michigan's thumb.

The proposal is the brainchild of Port Austin native Jim Boyle, co-founder of the Public Pool art gallery in Hamtramck, and now a Detroit resident. Boyle's plan, once completed, will include ten artists using area barns as their backdrop.

Using a barn, as a canvas, is nothing new. As they say, "It's already been done." But Hocking's barn has flipped the concept, by completely dismantling the barn and re-creating it as an upside down ark. Sitting conspicuously in the middle of a beet field, the ark not only transcends the barn itself, but the way in which we interpret spaces that are recognized as being the "countryside." Because of the vast and limitless space of the surrounding farms, you can't help but to be drawn to it, as it awkwardly rests in what us city folks naively refer to as the "middle of nowhere."

The barn is located about a mile South of Oak Beach Park, at the intersection of Oak Beach Road & Fehner Road. If you're coming from the Detroit area, just make your way up Van Dyke Rd till you get to Oak Beach Road. Happy trails.

Robert Sestok-City Sculpture Opening

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Tomight is the night; the grand opening of longtime Cass Corridor artist Robert Sestok's City Sculpture art park. Sestok will be showing his large-scale works at the corner of Alexandrine and the Lodge Freeway. With a rotating exhibition schedule and visiting artist program, the park is dedicated to exposing the public to experimental sculpture work in Detroit.

Before the suits whitewashed Cass Corridor's history by rebranding it as Mid Town, the Corridor was the center of the art universe in Detroit, and Robert Sestok was an intrigal participant in that movement.

Because of the cooperative nature of the artists who were living and working in Cass Corridor during the 1960's and 70's, there styles formed a collective raw aesthetic that reflected not only the city of Detroit, but the overall mood of anxiety and disenchantment that was paramount to the rise of the counter culture movement. Along with artists Gordon Newton, Michael Luchs, John Egner and Brenda Goodman, to name only a few, Robert Sestok can be seen as an important piece to the legacy of artists whose work has come to represent the fabric of Detroit's art community.

Jerome Ferreti@ The Scarab Club

This Friday, July 10, 2015, The Scarab Club will present, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Jerome's Review, a one man exhibit, featuring the work of Detroit artist Jerome Ferretti. Jerome will be showing a combination of works borrowed by local collectors, as well as new work.

The Scarab Club is located at  217 Farnsworth, Detroit, MI 48202
ph#313-831-1250

The exhibit runs through August 15th.

©jerome ferretti

Willem de Kooning and the Guggenheim Foundation

I remember 22 years ago, Bill (de Kooning) was invited to fill out an application by the Guggenheim Foundation. He was sent a form with an accompanying note saying that they had asked Meyer Shapiro to recommend some avant-garde artists because none of them seemed to be applying. Up until then, Bill had assumed it would be a waste of time to apply, but now he thought: Aha, so that's the way they do it, and he filled out the application, and they promptly turned him down.

He was furious because he had put himself in a position of being rejected. In fact he was furious even before he got rejected when he realized he had to bother a lot of busy people for recommendations and then fill out those dreary , endless forms.-particularly because he had nothing to fill in, no list of one-man shows, no museum collections, no well-known private collections, no teaching posts, nothing.

For the required statement of aim, he couldn't think of anything to put down but, "I want to paint and I'll continue to paint whether I get this grant or not." He ended his request rather pertinently, I thought, by writing, "And by the way, I'm the one that should be asking the questions."

-Elaine de Kooning

©willem de kooning-Excavation, 1950

DElectricity Lights Up Detroit

It's here! DELECTRICITY, the nighttime festival of art and light is back again, for what hopes to be an incredible weekend, showcasing the plethora of talented artists from around the globe.  This year they're holding the event a bit earlier, in hopes of escaping the possibility of crappy weather that plagued the last DElectricity a couple of years ago. Despite the weather though, people turned up in droves to catch a glimpse of the diverse installations that popped up all over MidTown.

The event runs this weekend September 26 & 27th (Friday and Saturday) from 7pm to midnight. On Saturday, don't miss the DElectricity Light Bike Parade, that runs a 4 mile course through Midtown.

For a complete rundown of events, go here to check out the schedule of events.

Artist Lui Bolin

©lui bolin

©lui bolin

©lui bolin

©lui bolin

©lui bolin

Canvas Detroit,

In Canvas Detroit, Julie Pincus and Nichole Christian combine vibrant full-color photography of the city's much-buzzed-about art scene with thoughtful narrative that explores the art and artists that are re-creating Detroit. You can see some of my photographs from the Ice House Project in this book.

Michael Hall's Statement Regarding the DIA's Future

Artist, critic, and curator Michael Hall recently wrote this essay regarding the future of the DIA and the plan to "rescue" it from liquidation. Here it is in full. 

Snyder and Orr Suckerpunch the Arts in Michigan

In a nifty move right out of the Reagan Revolution playbook, the governor of Michigan and his hand picked bankruptcy fixer finally revealed their plan for monetizing the art collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts.  The plan is brilliant in its simplicity and in its political nuance.

After months of hinting that the art in the museum was "on the table" for a liquidation that would generate cash to offset Detroit's many debt obligations, the lords of the bankruptcy relented and "saved" the museum.  Their idea basically runs like this:  Art is worth money (they got an appraisal to prove it). People who like art have money. 

Thus, why not present the museum with a bill that would equate to the appraised value of its precious art and let the museum tap its rich friends across America for contributions that would pay the tab and keep the paintings on the Institute's walls.
 

How perfect!  How painless!  How noble! This is the ideal "public/private partnership" we are always hearing about! In short, since elites like art and since the common working folk of the city are seeing their pensions cut, why not let the elites pony up for the city and the State  in the interest of the "good of the many."  State to the museum:  "You 'Culture Vultures' go have a bake sale - or whatever you need to do - and bring us back the ransom payment as specified.  Thank you."
 

The Snyder/Orr plan is the perfect product of the anti-culture, anti-education, anti-intellectual tone of contemporary American political discourse. As an artist and an educator, I recognize (and fear) the messaging in the "museum rescue" scheme that has been put forward in Michigan.  My view of the plan contends that it is totally predicated on the belief that the public has no stake whatsoever in the art at the museum - or in the museum, itself, as a "public institution."  This seems curious in light of the fact that the three counties surrounding the museum recently voted in favor of voluntarily taxing themselves to provide substantial, ongoing financial support for the Institute - support that had been systematically withdrawn by several decades of art-hostile governors and legislatures in the state capital.

The political embrace of the arts that fired the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts in the early 1960s, has dramatically eroded and is presently at a new low. Reagan era antagonism toward public education and the arts now has a permanent face in our contemporary political conversation. "Culture" and the humanities have become the targets of a class envy that has been skillfully manipulated to fuel the anger component of the new American populism.  A business driven consumer culture does not need art and there is a concerted effort afoot to rile up Detroit's public against it.  The drumbeat has been incessant: "Art or pensions - but you can't have both!"

So the idea of "spinning off" the museum to a rich elite that can pamper itself with luxuries and bobbles in gold frames is a perfect fix for the Motor City.  Curiously, I don't remember anybody suggesting that because Jay Leno is rich and likes cars, that he (instead of the government) should have bailed out G.M.  Oh, yes, I forgot, that was about "jobs."
 

The question, "who needs Picasso?" remains unanswered in the newly revealed Detroit bankruptcy plan. But one thing is sure, the governor and his team of practical problem solvers have sent a message that translates directly into: "Let them eat Dancing With The Stars!"

Michael D. Hall

Hamtramck, MI

Dec. 5, 2013

Gary Grimshaw: 1946 to 2014

© leni sinclair

I was born in 1959, too late to fully live-out the tumultuous decade of the 1960's. Any direct experience I have regarding the counter-culture of the sixties, were memories lived vicariously through my older siblings and the TV set, where gruesome images of the Vietnam War would find their way into our living rooms every night. These images were followed by frequent footage of authorities clashing with young hippies, who were driving home messages of peace and love to supplant the horrors of an unwanted war.

"Turn on, tune in and drop out" was the mantra, and psychedelic rock was often the conduit.

If anyone embodied that era it was the exceptionally talented local artist Gary Grimshaw, who passed away last week at the age of 67. Born in Detroit in 1946, Gary's psychedelic rock posters and hand bills, especially his earlier work from the Grande Ballroom, were extraordinary works of art that not only reflect the times, but they embrace the energy and spirit of the bands that performed at the Grande.  Grimshaw's posters, along with Stanley Mouse, Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso, stand as archives of a bygone era.

This Saturday, there will be a visitation at MOCAD from 6 to 8pm, followed by a musical performance from 8 to 9pm.

On Sunday, there will be a funeral service at Mocad, followed by a reception at the Scarab Club where Gary's art work will be on display.

There is currently a solo exhibit of Gary's work at the Scarab Club, located at 217 Farnsworth St. The exhibit runs through February 15th.

© gary grimshaw

© gary grimshaw

It's the Real Thing?

© ???

Graphic designer Karina Nurdinova, from Milan, has come up with a new twist for the much heralded Banksy quote that takes aim at the evil attributes of the advertising world. The not-so-original quote (read on) was published in Banksy's 2004 publication, "Cut it Out." Using the words from the essay as filler, Nurdinova has repurposed the words into the iconic shape of a Coke bottle, further driving home Banksy's original point.

What makes this interesting, beyond the clever idea to shape the words into a Coke icon, is the level of plagiarizing taking place.  Taking a cue from Pop Art, Nurdinova has taken the Coke bottle and made it her own; but what you might not know, is the quote itself wasn't originally generated from Banksy. With so much love being thrown his way by band-wagon enthusiasts of street art, this is a bit discerning, but regardless, it'll continue to find it's way into the temporal waters of viral media.

The original essay was written by Sean Tejaratchi in his zine Crap Hound No.6. If you go to the link here, you can see a blow by blow account of what parts were referenced and what parts of his essay were copied word for word by Banksy. This is nothing new for Banksy.  For years, critics have accused Banksy of biting the style of Paris stencil artist Blek le Rat, who was painting stencils of rats on the streets of Paris a decade before Banksy started using rats to make waves in his hometown of Bristol, England.

With the Internet offering up an endless abundance of imagery and content, the moral and legal code for swiping intellectual property seems blurred by the shear numbers of people claiming others content. Unable to resist, people continue to post, tweet, download and blog, knowing full-well that they are running the risk of losing control of their original content. Watermarks and copyrighting icons may seem like a reasonable way to protect yourself from would-be thieves, but with a couple clicks of the rubber-stamp tool, they can be easily removed.

Much liking rolling through a stop sign at four in the morning, stealing content is just too damn tempting, and more importantly, too easy.

Fuck That!

Will the DIA have to sell its art?

The following is an email sent-out by Graham Beal, the director of the DIA, that was included in the September newsletter of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

It's amazing to me that Mr. Beal is equally un-informed, regarding the sale of its collection.  The emergency manager has not only managed to keep the public in the dark, but has done little, if anything, to keep the director of the museum itself in the loop.

When it was originally announced that they were going to assign a EM to straighten out the books of the city, I was optimistic that it would somehow quell the ridiculous in-fighting that was dragging city government into the dregs of bankruptcy and beyond. I thought an "outsider" could bring a more measured and objective response to the table. I believed, and still do, that objectivity would likely get the city moving in the right direction, or any direction for that matter.  By taking on matters concerning the DIA's collection, however, the EM has managed to add yet another chapter to the arduous legacy of Detroit being a city that can't seem to govern itself.

What Graham Beal understands, that Mr. Orr doesn't, is what's best for the coffers, doesn't always equate to what is best for the city of Detroit and its future.

.......................................................................................

Will the DIA have to sell its art?

It seems to have become the story that just will not die, covered by news agencies as far apart as Hong Kong and Warsaw, as well as radio stations from London to Los Angeles. We have no intention of breaching the most fundamental tenet of the art museum world: that art in the collection can only be sold to acquire more (and better) art. What the emergency manager's office will do or attempt to do with respect to the operating agreement between the DIA and the city or with to the art remains to be seen. Given that such an action would threaten the millage proceeds upon which we now rely to operate this remarkable museum, selling any art would be tantamount to closing the museum, hardly an outcome in keeping with the EM's mission of putting Detroit back on the road to prosperity.

DIA staff and senior volunteers have had very little contact with the EM's office itself, and most of what we learn has come from reading the newspaper-like everyone else!- or from Christie's, the auction house that has agreed to put dollar values on the DIA's works of art that carry the credit line City of Detroit Purchase: about 3,300 pieces, most of which were purchased between 1922 and 1931. Even here, though, the situation is clouded by the fact that patrons such as Ralph Harmon Booth personally contributed to a City of Detroit art purchase fund or lent money to enable "City purchases" that seems never to have been repaid. I've also learned that the purchase of our wonderful ceiling painting by Tintoretto, apparently using city funds, was only permitted by the Italian government of the time, on condition that it never leave the DIA building. You may have read in the Detroit Free Press that an expert valued the painting at $100 million. This came as a surprise to us as, a couple of years ago, for insurance purposes, a different expert assessed the painting at $2 to $3 million.

I've repeatedly been asked about what the DIA is doing and, while I cannot go into any details, a good deal of time and energy has gone into laying out various strategies, depending on what happens next. Of course, we hope that nothing will happen. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has issued an opinion that the museum's entire collection is held in charitable trust, which protects the collection for the benefit of the people, and that Michigan law prohibits the sale of the DIA's collection to pay the city's creditors and, as I understand things, the EM is subject to Michigan law. Still it's a complex and confusing situation, with very little in the way of precedent to guide us.

It's supremely ironic that the DIA should be subjected to threats to the integrity of its collection immediately after achieving financial stability, thanks to the generosity of the voters of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, but the business of the museum continues with much increased visitor numbers over last year. It is truly gratifying to see the galleries and other public spaces buzzing with activity.

Graham Beal, director, president, and CEO of the Detroit Institute of Arts

A Day for Detroit; Protecting the DIA's Collection for Future Generations

Today we are celebrating the vast and important collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Art critic Tyler Green has organized, "A Day for Detroit," urging dozens of art related websites and blogs to highlight pieces of art from the museums collection in order to garner support for the museum, as it faces the possible sale of its assets (art). Assets that could disappear from the public eye if they were to be sold off to private collectors and institutions outside of the Detroit area. 

The recent bankruptcy filing by the city of Detroit has created a possible scenario whereby the Detroit Institute of Art's world-class collection would be liquidated, in order to alleviate some of Detroit's insurmountable dept. Emergency Manager Kevin Orr has hired Christies Auction House to appraise the collection at a cost of $200,000 dollars. Although  Kevin Orr claims there are no concrete plans to sell parts of the collection at the moment, the arrival of Christies shows a serious commitment on the part of Orr to explore possibilities that would justify such a drastic measure. 

The DIA has issued a statement that clearly positions them in direct opposition to the idea of a sell off...  "There is no reason to value the collection as the Attorney General has made it clear that the art is held in charitable trust and cannot be sold as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. We applaud the Emergency Managers focus on rebuilding the city, but would point out that he undercuts that core goal by jeopardizing Detroit's most important cultural institution." They go on to say, "any forced sale of art would precipitate the rapid demise of the DIA. The DIA has long been doing business without city of Detroit operating support; any move that compromises its financial stability will endanger the museum and further challenge the City's future."

Besides the obvious cultural ramifications of losing the collection, there are economic fall-outs that could have a devastating effect for the future of Detroit. Art blogger Sharon Butler of Two Coats of Paint, recently interviewed economics professor Stephen Sheppard from Williams College, who co-authored a paper published in Creative Communities:Art Works in Economic Development. Released in 2013, the book consists of a series of papers on economic development as it relates to the arts and its effect on the financial well being of communities. Sheppard says, "The DIA has a budget of about $57 million and brings in about 400,00 visitors per year. We'll be very conservative and assume that only 35% of the visitors come from outside Wayne County (where Detroit is) and only give them credit for the local spending of outside visitors. Putting those figures into our web application produces an estimate that the DIA contributes $103,631,976 each year to the local economy, and directly or or indirectly supports 877 jobs in the city."

Also, what can not be underestimated in terms of a Museums collection, is the cultural worth that is represented in valuable works of art. Permanent collections not only are important to the public at large but they provide an "inspirational lineage" that consistently fuels creative growth within artistic communities all over the world.

What follows are a few pieces from the museums collection that inspire, motivate and expand my growth as an artist and a person.

Robert Frank, Drive In Movie, Detroit, 1955

Diego Rivera, Detroit Industry Mural, 1932-33

Hughie Lee-Smith, The Piper, 1953

Clinton Snider, Willis, 2004

J.J. Grandville

Jean Ignace Isidore Gerard was a French artist, known by the pseudonym J.J. Grandville.  The name was derived from his grandparents, who used it as their professional stage name. Early in his career, he became known for his satirical caricatures of politicians, that were widely circulated in Parisian periodicals of his day. With the re-introduction of censorship of caricatures in 1935, he began to pursue a career as a book illustrator. He illustrated a number of classic works, that included Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, but critically, his defining moment was the 1944 surrealistic Un Autre Monde, that was one of the leading progenitors of the surrealists movement of the 1920's. Witty, satirical, and way ahead of it's time, Un Autre Monde inspired an entire generation of surrealists, including Andre Beton. His illustrations brought to life inanimate objects, and metamorphosized animals and objects  into fantastic creatures that heavily influenced illustrator John Tenniel's,  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Kevin Cyr

Artist Kevin Cyr was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, in 1976 and grew up in Madawaska, Maine. He received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Cyr finds beauty in derelict and unkempt vehicles, especially ones that are most often associated with the working class.

Quoting directly from Cyr's artist statement: I commemorate commercial vehicles inundated with graffiti and rust. Removing them from their everyday context, I place them on a solid color field giving them portrait-like importance.  With devoted attention, I paint every imperfection and sign of age.  Isolating these objects allows me a chance to document a time and place, and to make still a part of the ever- changing urban environment.

Russell, Oil on Panel,  30"x60"

Vernon, Oil on Panel, 20"x30"

Roebling, Oil on Panel, 28"x48"