Throwback to Detroit 2015

May 14, 2020

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Throwback to Detroit 2015

  • People walking past a large mural on a building depicting a hand holding a lighter, with red and black patterns, and…
  • A man kneeling on a wooden floor, spray painting a stencil onto a large artwork with red and black patterns, in a spacious…
  • A man painting a large black and white mural with floral patterns and a central star design on a wall.
  • Three men standing in a room with wooden floors, looking at each other, with art supplies and a black tarp on the floor.
  • A group of adults and children in an art gallery, listening to a man in a black hoodie who is facing them, with framed…
  • People in an art gallery looking at a wall filled with framed posters, mostly red and orange, featuring various stylized…
  • A black and white photo of a man painting a large stylized face on a water tower, with a building in the background.
  • A man in a t-shirt and harness looking up at a vibrant orange and yellow sunset over a city skyline from a rooftop.
  • A night view of a city skyline with a brightly lit building featuring a large, colorful mural in the center, surrounded by…

Back in Spring 2015, I went to Detroit to some ambitious projects with the Library Street Collective. I’ve always loved Detroit because it has so many beautiful textures, old signs, great architecture, and derelict spaces for the renegade artist to fill. Now, it also has some creatively and progressively minded community members who see street art and graffiti as part of Detroit’s rejuvenation through incubating creative culture. Bedrock was cool enough to offer me a 185 x 55 ft space on their building to do my largest mural to date. It’s gone now, but I’ll be back! I also painted a smaller mural called “Pattern of Destruction” in the alley called The Belt, and created 5 smaller (8’x8′ and 8’x12′) panel pieces along The Belt as part of Library Street Collective‘s “Public Matter” project. A bunch of other great artists like Tristan Eaton, POSE, Hush, Vhils, Sam Friedman, and others have contributed to this project. We also did a 14 ft water tower and some other spots. We had an amazing opening with a great turnout and very enthusiastic response to all the art in the gallery and on the streets. Thanks Detroit! The show was a huge amount of work, and I owe a lot of thanks to my crew of assistants, Nic Bowers, Dan Flores, and Rob Zagula for their help executing the murals and putting in the long hours. Thanks to Jonathan Furlong for the great photos! -Shepard