Yeah, yeah we know these year-end recaps are all over the internet this time of year and it can feel like kind of a cop-out, but actual humans are writing the content on this screen and we need time to slow down at the end of the year, too. Plus, if you don’t know where you’ve been, you won’t know where you’re going. Or, however, the damn saying goes.
With that in mind, we are looking back on some of our favorite and least favorite moments in the Detroit art scene from the “hell yeah,” to the WTF, and the downright shameful. Detroit art saw many firsts in 2023 including the Scarab Club beams getting its first signature from a Latina artist and painters finally getting paid for their work in Murals in Islandview (formerly Murals in the Market). Meanwhile, City Walls celebrated its 200th mural while a separate collection of murals left local artists in an uproar. This year also led us to reflect on the conundrums of art versus profit and censorship undermining artists’ freedom of expression.
Let’s take a look.
We learned how former Cass Tech teachers saved a LeRoy Foster painting from the school’s old building before it was demolished. Thought to be lost forever, Foster’s “Renaissance City” has been restored by the City of Detroit and is now on display as part of a retrospective of Foster’s work called Solo Show at Cranbrook. It runs alongside a survey of some of Detroit’s best contemporary artists (including our personal faves Sydney G. James, Senghor Reid, Ijania Cortez, and Bakpak Durden) who were influenced by Foster’s legacy, whether they realize it or not.
Cranbrook students and alumni were silenced for showing their support for Palestine after the school removed several Palestinian flag displays on campus. Local artist Caroline Del Giudice, a 2020 Cranbrook graduate, was abruptly dropped from David Klein Gallery for signing an open letter to the school recognizing the concerns of genocide in Gaza and condemning the stifling of free speech. So far, David Klein Gallery has not addressed the situation with Del Giudice’s removal.
Fed up with the disinvestment in Detroit neighborhoods among rising service costs, artists came together to blast DTE in a show at Swords Into Plowshares.
Emerging Detroit painter Kaleigh Blevins taught us what it meant to “act natural” when she gave her painting subjects autonomy, positioning gallerygoers as intruders in their personal space.
Detroit’s City Walls program reached its 200th mural milestone with a piece by Nicole Macdonald celebrating the environmental warriors and land stewards of the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.
At the same time, a collection of “mystery murals” done by international artists cropped up downtown to the dismay of Detroit painters. The “Be The Change” project sparked calls from within the Detroit art community for a standard process for commissioning public art that would ensure local artists were prioritized with fair pair. The second installment of the project that promised to feature local artists was later canceled. At least we got a killer mural of muralist Bakpak Durden out of it.
Speaking of murals, longtime festival Murals in the Market moved from Eastern Market to the Islandview neighborhood, the new home of parent company 1XRUN, rebranding to “Murals in Islandview.” This year was also the first time all participating artists were compensated for their work.
Ian Matchett penned an unbridled essay on taking a critical and necessary look at corporate sponsorship of public art. Continuing the list of firsts, our girl Sydney G. James became the first Black woman to have a solo show in MOCAD’s largest space, the Woodward Gallery with Girl from Detroit. We almost couldn't believe this given the number of badass Black women who’ve come out of Detroit.
Nora Chapa Mendoza also made history as the first Latina to sign the Scarab Club beams, an honor that has often felt like an exclusive boys’ club.
The City of Detroit’s Office of Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurship launched a city-wide project called Sacred Spaces during Black History Month to highlight Black-owned galleries. Sacred Spaces is expected to come back for a second installment next year with gallery tours and events across more than 15 venues.
Satori Shakoor took us on her journey through the “change of life” in her hilarious and gutwrenching one-woman show Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale.
Finally, in the most important lesson for this year, Keto Green made us realize the beauty in life’s turbulence. In his Playground Detroit show Against It All, Green showcased his found object art made from doors and broken banister pieces. In a candid interview, he told me how he persevered through homelessness, abandonment, and his brother’s suicide, still somehow finding reasons to smile.
Here’s to more Detroit artists killing it in 2024 and the perpetual dance of triumph and failure in this beautiful life.
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