THE VIEW FROM DETROIT

Bankrupt Detroit reveals the darkest side of American capitalism. And in the middle of the city is ground zero of urban decay, the “sprawling corpse” of the Packard plant. Abandoned since 1956, it’s 3.5 million square feet have contained every possible activity including urban explorers, scrap thieves, arsonists and the homeless.

In 2010, Banksy tagged a wall but unlike all the other graffiti covering every surface, his wall was quickly cut out and saved by the local 555 Gallery.  This past Christmas Eve, Photographers exploring the plant found a dead body frozen to the ground. It turned out to be a murdered young black man, Marko Davis.

I explored the plant last fall (in the daylight and not alone) and was amazed by the space.  Not only is it fascinating for the crumbling architecture of the auto industry, but for the layers and layers of graffiti. Some of it is fast and crude but other walls are well designed and took a great deal of time. You can feel the flow of humanity that has passed through the space and marked it in some way. Seeing bits of furniture here and there, you can imagine people camping out in some of the spaces.  I saw a graffiti-covered couch and was inspired to paint this study in markings.

But things are about to change. Where others see 40 acres of devastation, Fernando Palazuelo of Lima, Peru, apparently sees charisma, architectural challenge — and a bargain. He paid $405,000 in a tax- foreclosure sale to obtain the industrial wreck by 2014. He plans to make it a vibrant hub of automotive suppliers, offices, shops, lofts and maybe even a go-kart track. Can it happen?

SCAJAQUADA BABY

Now at the Buffalo History Museum is an exhibit of photos of Scajaquada Creek. This once pristine stream, meandering through Cheektowaga and Buffalo, has been diverted, damned, fought over and polluted, but is gaining new respect. The exhibit at the History Museum was organized by the Grant-Amherst Business Association from their Black Rock Historic Photo Collection. 

  

The Buffalo/Niagara Riverkeepers have organized community cleanups each year, pulling out shopping carts, tires, plastics and other typical debris. I volunteered for one Riverkeepers cleanup and was presented with a doll dragged out of the murky waters. “Scajaquada Baby” became the centerpiece for this assemblage. In the background is my photo of the creek as seen under an ancient bridge along the bike path. A map of the creek is painted on the left inside wall of the box. The outside panel is painted with miniature graffiti based on the walls of a nearby abandoned factory. Altogether, it’s a “neighborhood in a box” and my little bit of Scajaquada history. 

The exhibit at the History Museum continues through March 23.

THE DOLLHOUSE GOES DOWN!

I found a large dollhouse tossed out on the street, in fairly good shape except for its collapsed tower. In a perverse twist, rather than repair it, I took it down through the stages of so many abandoned properties I drive by on Fillmore Avenue.  Step one was breaking out most of the windows. Step two was boarding up the lower windows with ‘chipboard’ and marking it with city codes like “gas off.” Step three was painting miniature graffiti and then attempting to cover some of it with mismatched color blocks.  Step four was setting the second story on fire. This led to a big pile of burned trash on one side of the house. By now, ‘509’ was looking really bad and also very familiar. Not even my little collection of superheroes can save it now! Time for the toy wrecking ball and dump truck? Wow, that was fun!

If you visit my studio at the TriMain Center, you can play too!

REMEMBERING THE ORPHANS OF DODGE STREET

On Dodge Street in Buffalo, sat the decaying remains of the German Roman Catholic Orphanage. Founded in 1874 by the sisters of St. Francis, the orphanage first housed 47 children.  During the 82 years of its existence, it survived fire, grew into a large complex of dormitories and classrooms and cared for more than 15,000 children.  When I first came upon it, the orphanage had been closed for 56 years. Although in deplorable shape, the architecture of the buildings was still impressive. And inside the chapel stood an organ, too heavy to move when the place was shuttered.

But over the pass few years, this particular ruin has been saved. Thanks to major grants to the Community Action Organization of Erie County, it has been rehabilitated into ‘St. Martin Village’, providing 60 units of affordable housing for low-income families.  A mix of renovation and new construction honors the history of the children who passed through these walls while giving a chance for new life.

In this ‘discarded ancestor’ collage, I’ve combined a found photograph of a young boy with my photo of the chapel plus the graffiti and debris in the area. It’s my attempt to capture a layer of time.

‘ADOPT AN ANCESTOR’ – AT 464 GALLERY

I found photo albums thrown out to the curb in front of a demolished house. There was apparently no one left to care for all these mementos and no way of finding out who these discarded ancestors were. The photos were so precious that I wanted to preserve them in some form. To me, they represented all the millions of people who have passed through this city. Each picture is unique and yet so universal that it could be from almost anyone’s family. They look like my ancestors and perhaps like some of yours as well. I took a group of the photos out of the albums and surrounded them with bits and pieces of abandoned Buffalo – graffiti, empty houses and decaying landscapes. They are framed in recycled wood with its own story to tell. It is my attempt to put the past and present together and to honor these unknown people. I hope their spirits are happy being part of this art and not just discarded as trash.

A selection of these collages is available at 464 Gallery on Amherst Street in Buffalo. Don’t miss the opening of “GIFTED” this Friday, December 6 from 6-11 PM. Owner, Marcus Wise, is putting together Buffalo’s most exciting holiday art market.

‘OUT OF THE RUSTBELT’ at the LARKIN AT EXCHANGE

Rising out of Buffalo’s post-industrial Eastside, is the hugely successful Larkin at Exchange Complex. With its 2,200 gleaming windows, well-designed spaces and countless amenities, it is a stunning example of adaptive reuse of a city’s existing building stock. Best of all, it is a model of how a restoration done right can become the cornerstone for rebuilding an entire neighborhood. 

During the past two years, I have done a lot of exploration in the outskirts around the Larkin. On the streets and in the abandoned houses and factories, I have found discarded photos, old wood, trashed toys and more. What some people see as urban decay, I see as the raw materials telling us stories about our past and our future. All that is needed is the desire to seek out these fascinating layers of time. I have recycled and repurposed these treasures into paintings, collages and assemblages. A selection of these works is now on display in the First Floor Gallery at Larkin at Exchange. They will be on view until the end of November. Also, I’ll be there for a “Meet & Greet” from Noon until 2 pm on Friday, November 8.  Stop by, see the show, try a ‘rustbelt’ cookie and enjoy the energy of this amazing building!

Larkin at Exchange is at 726 Exchange Street, just a few minutes from Downtown Buffalo.

ART & ARCHITECTURE AT THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FONTANA BOATHOUSE

Last night was stormy on the waterfront, with winds so strong they could blow you right off the balcony of the Boathouse. But inside this stunning space, everyone was warm and enjoying the Second Annual Art Show. This juried show is a collaboration of the Boathouse leadership and the Buffalo Society of Artists and it offers a chance to bid on and purchase work for the benefit of  Wright's Fontana Boathouse.  I was honored to receive the second place award for “Best Friends,” (one of my 'Discarded Ancestors' collages).

You can still see the exhibit and bid, up until 4:00 pm Sunday, October 27. It is also your chance to tour the space and appreciate the vision of Frank Lloyd Wright.