Painting Detroit

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 02:59 AM

Originally Posted by hamtown mike

Hey yessers,

Tell me if this is way off for this site or not. An acquaintance in the media has an interest in exploring this story.

Would developing this give the story/"artist" undue exposure? The last thing I want to do is to give this thing any positive exposure-hence my declining to appear on camera.

Would anyone be interested in sharing your opinion to this reporter?

actually i am already talking to the detroit news and the detroit freep

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 03:02 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

I guess my feelings exactly mirror Kathleen's... there is much visual interest in the painted car, the boat, the vehicle... and perhaps even the painted human figure [[or whatever it is). But just splashed about randomly it adds to the destruction, and detracts from the merit of the work.

I too was upset to see all the paint splattered on a public sidewalk in front of the corner doorway. And I hope that wasn't a Cass Tech High School room all splattered with paint. That one was disturbing.

I'm sure the OP now wishes he hadn't posted this thread...

At least the OP has stated that he is now focusing on painting objects in their environment [[like the the cart, boat, car, and hopefully mannequin). But even there try not to further muck up the area around your "object" with splattered paint... and do leave the buildings alone!

The point of posting this was to see how OTHER people in the city feel about it. not just ones that come to art shows and so on . I am painting mainly objects now. And yes, it was a real person. BTW isnt cass tech being torn down this year?

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 03:09 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

I think the worst thing about that "art project", is that it screams "ordinary".
I would rather stand back in an empty warehouse and contemplate its history and details. If I come across a splattered room someone promotes with self-indulgent drivel, poorly thought out, and badly written; chances are the "vacant shell of a building" will win out.

There was one artist in particular who died at age 35 in 1978 and did some pretty interesting and potent stuff in the seventies where he would cut derelict buildings in amazing sculptural forms. And he didnt put out obscure and pathetic artist's statements to shroud the work in mystic crapola. Check out Gordon Matta Clark's work on the web. Now, he did cross the line and vandalized to some extent mostly buildings that were scheduled for demolition. But his work had the same potency that the vacant architecture has when it begins to speak to you.

http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tate...ing/attlee.htm

ill check out his work. from what i saw on a quick google search, its really sweet. i would also add someone to this by the name of Georges Rousse

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 03:10 AM

Originally Posted by socks_mahoney

I think this is awesome. All the buildings are clearly already beyond repair. The generation that let this all rot lost their say in what happens to it a long time ago.....

I say keep up the good work JohnKuhnPhoto and welcome to the forum.

keep putting light into the darkness.

thank you sir

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

I wondered who the smartass was that threw paint all over my favorite boat over there behind the Milwaukee lofts, and on the doorway and concrete on the building at Milwaukee and Russell.

WTFEver.

Eastside Al I agree with you 100%

really... of all things the boat?
anyways that door was covered in graffiti

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 04:02 AM

Here is a building that I worked on with permission. PJ's Lager House. Obviously some Detroiters approve of what I am doing, and are willing to support the project!

PJ's Lager House

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 04:03 AM

Originally Posted by johnkuhnphoto

Here is a building that I worked on with permission. PJ's Lager House. Obviously some Detroiters approve of what I am doing, and are willing to support the project!

PJ's Lager House

By the way. The project is currently not finished due to the cold weather.

**Richard** · February-17-11, 04:42 AM

There you go that would be considered a nice project. You got the owners permission and it was done tastefully.

You cannot justify that the door was already tagged so it was okay for you to apply your own style of tagging all you were doing was to lower yourself down to the level of the original tagger.

If you use your talents on projects such as the wall you will gain much more respect and draw much more positive attention then the shock and awe and methods as you did earlier.

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 04:47 AM

Originally Posted by Richard

There you go that would be considered a nice project. You got the owners permission and it was done tastefully.

You cannot justify that the door was already tagged so it was okay for you to apply your own style of tagging all you were doing was to lower yourself down to the level of the original tagger.

If you use your talents on projects such as the wall you will gain much more respect and draw much more positive attention then the shock and awe and methods as you did earlier.

thank you. im not justifying the door. im just stating the facts...

**Richard** · February-17-11, 05:05 AM

But you are still not understanding what everybody is upset about,the facts are somebody else applied paint on property that did not belong to them and they did not have the right to do that.

Then you did the exact same thing.Two wrongs do not make a right .

Would you be happy if somebody dumped a can of paint on your car? It would not matter if it was a rusted out piece of junk that nobody wanted.The fact is that car is your property and nobody else would have the right to do anything with it.

It is called respect.

**Downtown Lady** · February-17-11, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by johnkuhnphoto

im not admitting anything. i just showing

What? Your posts here and your website are one giant admission -- too late to backtrack now. Maybe you should have contemplated the legal consequences before you began your vandalism.

**detr0itkid** · February-17-11, 01:14 PM

Seriously, you are terrible, who goes around vandalizing the city for shits and giggles? Right… some rich kid from the suburbs who went to Country Day then CCS on his parents’ dime, and was then so bored that he started destroying himself and the city as a hobby/career. You shoot ruin porn, but unlike most people, you don’t just study the decay that is happening, you destroy it further. I don’t doubt you rent a space in the city, but I doubt you will ever be a property owner here, you will never raise you kids here, your just here to play and it’s horrible. Please get out of my city.

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by detr0itkid

Seriously, you are terrible, who goes around vandalizing the city for shits and giggles? Right… some rich kid from the suburbs who went to Country Day then CCS on his parents’ dime, and was then so bored that he started destroying himself and the city as a hobby/career. You shoot ruin porn, but unlike most people, you don’t just study the decay that is happening, you destroy it further. I don’t doubt you rent a space in the city, but I doubt you will ever be a property owner here, you will never raise you kids here, your just here to play and it’s horrible. Please get out of my city.

last time i checked i don't shoot ruin porn. and im not doing this project for shits and giggles. and yes im looking at getting a property in the city, but i do currently rent. if you feel that strongly about nothing happening to the numerous abandoned buildings, they why don't you go and do something about it instead of sitting on the internet and just complaining?

DetroitPole · February-17-11, 03:48 PM

You have no more right to throw paint all over public spaces and private property in Detroit than I would in your rich Oakland County suburb.

You know what I did with a vacant structure in Detroit? I bought it. I live in it. I pay my taxes. What a fucking concept, right? That is doing something about it. Too bad you didn't get to throw your paint all over my house and ruin it before someone with some work ethic and respect for others got to move in and fix it up like a decent person, right?
You're a child who has no respect for anyone elses' property. Typical for rich children like you - you've been handed everything in life so you don't know the value of anything and you're bored stupid, and just plain stupid to boot, and this is what the world gets as a result. Some of us didn't have it so easy that we went to Country Day and CCS and got to fuck around and make other people miserable all the time.

I am an art lover and a photographer myself. What you do is artistic, but you have no right to be doing it to what is not yours, and subjecting other people to it.

Buy one of these spaces in Detroit and do whatever you want to it. Then you can call it art, and it is rightfully yours. If you were really talented you could get a grant - there are substantial ones out there - but alas, that would require real work, not just vandalism justified in the name of art.

You make me sick, and I know who you are. You would be extremely wise to watch your back. It is dangerous out there. And the lawlessness doesn't apply simply to throwing paint around. With the slow police response times sometimes us tax-paying residents have to resort to vigilante justice.

You go around vandalizing one of the world's most dangerous cities and you're on facebook...and everyone can see who your girlfriend is...and what you look like...for all that fancy education, you are still as dumb as shit, you know that?

**East Detroit** · February-17-11, 04:48 PM

Who forgot to instill decent values? Joellyn?

**East Detroit** · February-17-11, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

You make me sick, and I know who you are. You would be extremely wise to watch your back. It is dangerous out there. And the lawlessness doesn't apply simply to throwing paint around. With the slow police response times sometimes us tax-paying residents have to resort to vigilante justice.

I heard that Turdl already has an APB on him.

**southen** · February-17-11, 05:18 PM

as someone who has explored a lot of these places with a camera i would suggest just sticking to the photography. when i first entered the broderick tower in 2006 i saw rooms in that building that had paint splattered all over them. it wasnt art, it was a vandal who had taken wyland's left over paint and thrown it across the room and all over everything. thats the first thing i was reminded of when viewing your project. i found the painted truck interesting, but everything else is stuff ive seen by countless artists and vandals. there is nothing new here.

i can appreciate wanting to create or depict beauty in a place that many consider to be ugly or desolate. as i photographer i challenge you to do that with your lens, not by adding paint to make a statement.

as for bringing attention to these places for others, i think you are a little late to that party. detroit's ruins have been well documented and have gotten more than enough attention. i started exploring back in 2005 before things exploded when it was a small community of people who knew how to enter these places. our motto was always 'take only pictures, leave only footprints' and im proud to say that we never broke into these places and certainly werent destructive. by 2008 exploring had become so popular that i lost interest in it altogether. when suburban soccer moms are starting to get into places thats the time to get out...

oh and if you want to see how to take an abandoned factory and make it a place for art, look to the fisher body plant and the pyramid of wood blocks that were laid out. now thats creating something without being destructive, to me that was creativity at its best.

**socks_mahoney** · February-17-11, 05:27 PM

Richard,

You left this city for Tampa. What gives you any say in what happens to it and everything you left behind?

Finders keepers.

**Gistok** · February-17-11, 05:29 PM

Southen, always glad to take you away from your busy schedule to have you back from time to time to add your perspective [[pun intended ;-)... I'm always in awe of your photography skills, and have sent many folks to your Flickr site...

...although I still get Vertigo even thinking about the image of your feet dangling from the edge of the Broderick Tower...

**Richard** · February-17-11, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by socks_mahoney

Richard,

You left this city for Tampa. What gives you any say in what happens to it and everything you left behind?

Finders keepers.

Ummm no I am leaving Tampa for Detroit , and I will have a say and that finders keepers crap would not play ball in my park.

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

You have no more right to throw paint all over public spaces and private property in Detroit than I would in your rich Oakland County suburb.

You know what I did with a vacant structure in Detroit? I bought it. I live in it. I pay my taxes. What a fucking concept, right? That is doing something about it. Too bad you didn't get to throw your paint all over my house and ruin it before someone with some work ethic and respect for others got to move in and fix it up like a decent person, right?
You're a child who has no respect for anyone elses' property. Typical for rich children like you - you've been handed everything in life so you don't know the value of anything and you're bored stupid, and just plain stupid to boot, and this is what the world gets as a result. Some of us didn't have it so easy that we went to Country Day and CCS and got to fuck around and make other people miserable all the time.

I am an art lover and a photographer myself. What you do is artistic, but you have no right to be doing it to what is not yours, and subjecting other people to it.

Buy one of these spaces in Detroit and do whatever you want to it. Then you can call it art, and it is rightfully yours. If you were really talented you could get a grant - there are substantial ones out there - but alas, that would require real work, not just vandalism justified in the name of art.

You make me sick, and I know who you are. You would be extremely wise to watch your back. It is dangerous out there. And the lawlessness doesn't apply simply to throwing paint around. With the slow police response times sometimes us tax-paying residents have to resort to vigilante justice.

You go around vandalizing one of the world's most dangerous cities and you're on facebook...and everyone can see who your girlfriend is...and what you look like...for all that fancy education, you are still as dumb as shit, you know that?

cuz im the one who acts as if they are still in high school? trying to scare people? i will buy a space in detroit and if i dont, its still art...

i dont live in oakland county anyways. so yes, do what you want, its your choice

and yes, im going through the grant process right now.

so it makes you a better person because you didnt go to the schools that i did?

what building did you buy?

before they fix it up? really? most the ways to save pretty much every building is to tear it down and rebuild it. they are not structurally safe... the people who were around when they went abandoned had the chance to save them or preserve them and they didnt do anything. just saying.

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

Who forgot to instill decent values? Joellyn?

whos that?

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

I heard that Turdl already has an APB on him.

sounds like you agree with what he is doing.

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by southen

as someone who has explored a lot of these places with a camera i would suggest just sticking to the photography. when i first entered the broderick tower in 2006 i saw rooms in that building that had paint splattered all over them. it wasnt art, it was a vandal who had taken wyland's left over paint and thrown it across the room and all over everything. thats the first thing i was reminded of when viewing your project. i found the painted truck interesting, but everything else is stuff ive seen by countless artists and vandals. there is nothing new here.

i can appreciate wanting to create or depict beauty in a place that many consider to be ugly or desolate. as i photographer i challenge you to do that with your lens, not by adding paint to make a statement.

as for bringing attention to these places for others, i think you are a little late to that party. detroit's ruins have been well documented and have gotten more than enough attention. i started exploring back in 2005 before things exploded when it was a small community of people who knew how to enter these places. our motto was always 'take only pictures, leave only footprints' and im proud to say that we never broke into these places and certainly werent destructive. by 2008 exploring had become so popular that i lost interest in it altogether. when suburban soccer moms are starting to get into places thats the time to get out...

oh and if you want to see how to take an abandoned factory and make it a place for art, look to the fisher body plant and the pyramid of wood blocks that were laid out. now thats creating something without being destructive, to me that was creativity at its best.

still everything you just said is illegal. plain and simple. taking pictures of abandoned buildings is extremely overdone. thats why its not exactly what im donig.

**johnkuhnphoto** · February-17-11, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by detr0itkid

Seriously, you are terrible, who goes around vandalizing the city for shits and giggles? Right… some rich kid from the suburbs who went to Country Day then CCS on his parents’ dime, and was then so bored that he started destroying himself and the city as a hobby/career. You shoot ruin porn, but unlike most people, you don’t just study the decay that is happening, you destroy it further. I don’t doubt you rent a space in the city, but I doubt you will ever be a property owner here, you will never raise you kids here, your just here to play and it’s horrible. Please get out of my city.

what made it your city? just wondering. i didnt realize there was a vote.