Detroit Art Scene Explosion - Another Big Bang

[Lowell]

The explosion of the the Detroit art scene in the past 5 or so year is nothing short of astonishing to long-time participants like me. Now comes yet another. Detroit had long been and still is about gritty pop-up galleries and quality co-ops like the legendary Willis and Michigan galleries. But these slick big-bucks-backed arrivals are new level. Some old-timers grumble but I say 'bring it on!'

“Moran Bondaroff gallery opens its inaugural exhibition Thursday in a 50,000-square-foot abandoned cathedral along a gritty stretch of the city's near west side on Webb Avenue at Rosa Parks Boulevard. Johnson, the New Yorker, bought the former Woods Cathedral, built in 1925 as the Visitation Catholic Church, for $6,700 at public auction in 2014. He has poured $250,000 into renovations.

There has been an explosion of artistic activity in Detroit in recent years as artists and young creatives, attracted by cheap studio space, the promise of endless opportunity and the percolating energy of the city, have moved here in droves. Suburban Detroit gallery owners such as David Klein and Gary Wasserman have opened new spaces in the city, national art and design conferences keep landing here, the street art scene is burgeoning, and the Galapagos Art Space, a commercial entity formerly of Brooklyn, N.Y., is in the process of relocating to Detroit.

The project reaffirms that the art world's infatuation with Detroit shows no sign of waning. It also offers another example of the way artists and galleries are often urban pioneers, planting roots in neighborhoods where population, businesses and amenities are sparse but real estate is plentiful and inexpensive."
-Mark Stryker Freep.com http://www.freep.com/story/entertain...lery/84996282/”

He could also throw in Red Bull, N’namdi, 333 Midland and Inner State.