DETROIT, MICH.-On a Friday night in Detroit’s Eastern Market, the Red Bull House of Art looks more like a raging party than a gallery reception. Past the throngs of people outside — dressed in anything from suits to skate shoes — a massive gallery downstairs displays work by the House’s latest artists in residence.
House of Art is the first of its kind in the U.S., and Red Bull’s only American residency program. Three times a year, three artists move into the loft space, and each group is given near-limitless resources to work on site, with all sales benefitting the artists. Throughout each residency, the House is opened to the public for events and artist talks, culminating in the not-to-be-missed residency exhibition. The next ones are in April and July.
With its impressive space in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market, it has become a fixture in the local arts community. Catching an event at the House provides a great look into Detroit’s thriving arts scene. Although the artists hail from across the U.S., it’s Detroit’s story — from American boom town to bust and rebirth — that informs the art displayed here.
Beau Stanton came to a 2016 residency with specific ideas about what he wanted to create, but after spending his first five weeks exploring the architecture of the city, he was inspired to change course. While his imagery was inspired by Geza Maroti’s iconic mosaic work in the Fisher Building, his material was a bit more unconventional. “A lot of it came from exploring vacant factories,” he says.
Stanton motions to some tiled mosaic lines in a piece aptly named Detroit. “This glass right here,” he says. “There was one big pane of it that had shattered in this old GM plant, and so I got some of it and I used it.”
A large piece by Coby Kennedy in one corner of the gallery when I visited (there are different artists there now) showed a reconstructed speed boat attached to a massive rope. Behind it, a video paired with droning noise casts local artist Kobie Solomon as a modern-day ode to Sisyphus, attempting to pull the boat down a deserted Detroit road.
“It’s felt like a war went on here, like a thermo-nuclear war went on here, and they just didn’t tell the rest of the country,” Kennedy says. “And they’ve just gotten on with rebuilding civilization. And it’s just a whole different set of rules and mores and ways of life.”
Detroit is a big city disconnected by sprawl, but the abundant creativity and culture here binds the city together. Three months since his first eyeful of Detroit, Kennedy seems very much at home. Slouched comfortably on a table, he seems like a local, chatting constantly with passersby. “For the last few months, Detroit has felt like big city, small-town vibe,” he says.
For curator Matt Eaton, the residency is all about bringing in artists to interact with the city. Eaton was at the helm of the Detroit Beautification Project, an initiative attempting to confront urban blight with public art, and he’s been working with the House of Art since its inception. “Artists come here and see what’s happening here and identify this place and really acknowledge that it exists. That there are people here who are doing things in the creative community that matter,” he says.
“That’s really the most important thing for me, the acknowledgement of each other. A network is created.”
It’s true Detroit has been enjoying a rejuvenation over the past five years. Artist havens, such as the historic Cass Corridor, once dangerous, have become developer hot spots with trendy businesses. In almost any neighbourhood this writer travelled to, murals and large-scale art adorned buildings on even the most desolate of blocks. Art and ingenuity is everywhere in Detroit, fighting blight like a determined weed growing through the cracks in concrete.
The seeds were planted long ago, says Eaton. “It’s easy to forget that Detroit has really contributed more to the health and wealth of global culture in the last 100 years than many cities have in 1,000 years,” he says. “It’s Motown, it’s techno city, it’s the growth of the auto city, garage rock.”
To Eaton, Red Bull’s decision to invest in Detroit’s art scene was an obvious one. “Detroit had the right contributing factors and combination of things that made it work; cheaper rent, lots of space, lots of creative people to draw from.”
Detroit has a comeback story, Eaton says, but it’s not all thanks to the influx of creatives who have flocked to the city in recent years. “It’s because people have been here and never left,” he says. “Those people that chose to still make music and still make paintings and dance and make poetry. Those people that stayed are the reason we even have a chance at some kind of rebirth here.”
For artists such as Stanton, Detroit is full of promise. “I’m a general optimist and I love Detroit. I think this place is very unique and very incredible.”
Grace Lisa Scott was hosted by Red Bull House of Art, which didn’t review or approve this story.
Grace Lisa Scott was hosted by Red Bull House of Art, which didn’t review or approve this story.
When you go
Do this trip: The next Red Bull House of Art residency exhibitions at 1551 Winder St. in Eastern Market will be held in April and July. For other upcoming events at the House of Art, including artist talks and other exhibitions, go to redbullhouseofart.com
Stay:The Aloft Detroit at the David Whitney Building
Do your research:visitdetroit.com, easternmarket.com
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