DETROIT — The central piece, and the one that immediately draws the eye when entering the main gallery of United States of Latin America at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, is a full wall mural by Minerva Cuevas entitled “America.”
Sarah Rose Sharp
Sarah Rose Sharp is a Detroit-based writer, activist, and multimedia artist. She has shown work in New York, Seattle, Columbus and Toledo, OH, and Detroit — including at the Detroit Institute of Arts. She is primarily concerned with artist and viewer experiences of making and engaging with art, and conducts ongoing research in the state of contemporary art in postindustrial and redeveloping cities.
Death by a Thousand Operas
DETROIT — Arms flung wide, Joseph Keckler collapses to the floor and dies.
A Portrait of the Juggalettes, Insane Clown Posse’s Female Fans
DETROIT — When UK artist Lucy Owen arrived in Detroit in 2014, it was to pursue an interest, developed from afar, in Juggalo culture — the dynamic cult scene centered on the local music duo Insane Clown Posse (ICP).
In Five Decades of Self-Portraits, an Artist Refuses to Tone Down Her Feelings
DETROIT — Brenda Goodman has been steadily doing her thing for decades, moving from early success within the Cass Corridor movement in her native Detroit, to a varied career in New York City, and finally to her current retreat in the relative sanctity of the Catskills.
Art That Forces Us to Face the Cruelty of the Human Animal
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — The disclaimer “No animals were harmed in the making of this film” is something films like to let you know when it appears that some animals may have been harmed in the movie’s making.
Surreal Still Lifes of Objects and Their Memories
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — The concept of “improvisational painting” might evoke the idea of loose compositions with abstract shapes — Kandinsky-like squiggles and half-formed images, or a visual jazz of color and texture.
Composing the Sounds of Detroit into a Symphony
DETROIT — The sounds of the city have long been an inspiration to composers — think of iconic soundscapes from Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to Bernstein’s West Side Story score.
Slicing Up a Limo as a Metaphor for Detroit
DETROIT — A limousine can be many things: transportation of choice for prom, a status marker, and a bit of a paradox.
The 17 Pairs of Hands That Spun a Little Black Dress into Existence
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — The average American consumer has no idea how much labor goes into an everyday object, even one as omnipresent as, say, a little black dress.
Visions of Detroit’s Past and Future in Clay and Cardboard
DETROIT — Shannon Goff makes an excellent case for the secret interconnections between cardboard and clay, her two primary materials.
Plumbing the Highs and Lows of Pop Cultural Desire
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — “I want to know what love is,” artist Scott Northrup confides in me via email, and his reference to the Foreigner song of same name is neither ironic nor unintentional.