7 New Local Artists Bring Grit, Glamour to Latest Showcase of Talent
Red Bull House of Art will celebrate three years in Detroit with its most significant gallery opening yet on Friday, April 24. Hosted at 1551 Winder in Eastern Market, the gallery is set to unveil the exclusive works of seven local artists including Elmer, Parisa Ghaderi, Brent Forrest, SHEEFY, Niki Urban, K. Guillory & James ‘Jimbo’ Braddock. This marks the first time these works have been open to the public.
Elmer is a Detroit street artist using his time at Red Bull House of Art experimenting with laser-cut wood assemblage and retro-futuristic styling for the first time. Parisa Ghaderi is a multidisciplinary new media artist exploring the concept of nostalgia through her Iranian heritage. Brent Forrest is borrowing from the world of animation to create custom light boxes with digitally painted cells depicting a blend of sci-fi-soaked landscapes. Using music as a guiding force, SHEEFY has crafted a vivid body of work all its own. Niki Urban’s obsessively detailed charcoal and pen drawings depict nightmarish fantasy scenes influence from a young spent in Poland. K. Guillory’s work explores how women are viewed in today’s Internet-saturated society. James ‘Jimbo’ Braddock has turned a young of growing up on Saturday morning cartoons into a style all his own.
Since 2013, Red Bull House of Art has called the E&B Brewery Lofts in Eastern Market home. In three years, over 80 local artists have held residencies there. With an average attendance of 2,500+ per opening, there are few galleries around the country that rival the influence and presence of this Detroit arts incubator.
Following the April 24 opening, the gallery is open each Saturday and hosts a variety of events in between cycles. For up-to-date information about Red Bull House of Art, visit redbullhouseofart.com or find the gallery on Facebook.
The public gallery opening will be Friday, April 24 from 7-11pm. It is free & open to the public (all ages).
Artist Bios:
James ‘Jimbo’ Braddock
Copic Markers on Paper & Acrylic Paint on Canvas
Looking at his art, it’s hard to imagine that James ‘Jimbo’ Braddock has been honing his craft as a painter for less than two years. Influenced heavily by the colors and sharp contrast of Saturday morning cartoons, Braddock’s body of work for Red Bull House of Art is a mix of the vivid illustrations and animations he grew up in and manifested via the diverse colors, shapes and sizes of birds. “There’s a freedom and a fluidity there that my art can speak through,” says Braddock, a 22-year-old Detroit native with a background in graphic design. Braddock’s opportunity at Red Bull House of Art is one he sees as a springboard into the city’s bustling art community. Says Braddock, “It’s the best feeling in the world to be able tell my story to a crowd of people who don’t know me.”
- Guillory
Acrylics & Ink on Canvas
In K. Guillory’s artwork for Red Bull House of Art, you’re given a glimpse of how society views the modern female through the wide yet shallow lens of the world wide web. “It’s a reflection on women, the Internet and how relationships have changed,” says Guillory, a 32-year-old artist with roots in Houston and Detroit. “I’m hoping the audience thinks about how women interact with the Internet and it’s ability to promote feminism and a positive self-image of black women to empower themselves.” Guillory is a writer, graphic artist and founder of the Ashur Collective, an all-female comic company based in the Grand River Creative Corridor.
Niki Urban
Charcoal & Micron Pen Drawings
Looking at Niki Urban’s pen work, one might consider it obsessive. To the artist, that attention to detail is a proud calling card. “One of my teachers [in college] called it obsessive and I thought it made so much sense,” says Urban. “Maybe it’s a reflection of my personality in a way.” Urban’s body of work for Red Bull House of Art takes the audience through the back alleys of a dark dream steeped in fantasy; a part of your imagination you don’t normally explore, says Urban. An artist of Polish descent, Urban says she was heavily influenced by the Polish Gothic architecture of her youth. A staple at Tangent Gallery in Detroit, this is Urban’s largest gallery showing to date.
Brent Forrest
Digital Media
Raised in the Irish Hills of Michigan, Brent Forrest set out to combine familiar elements of his youth with his passion for the sci-fi into his very first public showing of art. By borrowing from the world of animation, Forrest layered digitally painted cells into custom light boxes where the placement of light creates an additive or reductive quality to each piece. The result is something organic, of this earth and yet alien all at once. Each tells a story uniquely blended in a sterile, regimented world surrounded by the beauty of nature.
SHEEFY
Acrylic, Oil Paint, Soft Pastel, Pencil & Marker
For as long as he can remember, SHEEFY has been creating art. More often than not, the world of music and art have collided within it. When he paints, he wants you to not only see his work but hear it loud and clear, too. “I try to make my paintings have sound through loud colors and rhythmic line work,” explains the 25-year-old Detroit artist. “It’s a like subconscious abstract jazz.” For Red Bull House of Art, SHEEFY created a vividly high stakes collection of work that he hopes captures a certain sense of chaos. “I want to be more experimental and dangerous with my work,” says SHEEFY. SHEEFY founded The Air Up There & SURREALITY, two events showcasing up-and-coming performers and painters in Detroit.
Parisa Ghaderi
Photo Collage & Mixed Media
No medium is safe from Parisa Ghaderi’s artistic scope. Often tapping into the tools of new media in her work, for Red Bull House of Art, Ghaderi decided to focus on the idea of nostalgia through archival photos. “I’m always trying to find different types of media to get my message across,” says Ghaderi. A native of Iran living in metro Detroit for the past six years, Ghaderi says the concept of nostalgia has become very bold for her. “I’m looking at the past lives of people in my country, and trying to understand the similarities and differences between them and the person I am today.” By adding mundane household objects to the photos and rephotographing them, Ghaderi hopes to juxtapose sense of alienation and contradictions into each piece.
Elmer
Assembled Laser Cut Wood & Mixed Media
Stepping out of the streets of Detroit and into the gallery, Elmer is breaking new ground in his artistic career with his collection at Red Bull House of Art. Through the lens of Elmer’s myriad modern street art influences, Elmer’s retro-futuristic laser cut wood pieces are like nothing the gallery has seen before. “I don’t want to be on the same page that I am on in the streets,” says Elmer. “To me, graffiti doesn’t apply to a gallery wall. You have to take it, move it and channel
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