on the Woodward side
Back in the mid-1990′s, I ended up taking over Detroit’s Hudson’s Building. For a few years, it was my “outdoor art studio.” I’d just go down there to work.
It was a different time then. I never got any permission and I never got arrested.
It started when a group project, the “Detroit Heroes Murals” was painted over with no warning. I don’t even have a photo of my completed (painted) murals for Detroit musicians Tommy Flanagan and Little Willie John. I thought that this was an insult to the artists who worked hard, for no pay.
So I started drawing on it in chalk, in protest. I ended up spending much of my time there. It was a lot of hard work.
I ended up interacting with the homeless people who were living in the building. It was constant “street theatre” and a real adventure.
I got involved with the people who were trying to save the building (and met many of those who wanted it to go).
I was inspired by Tyree Guyton, Sam Mackey and the Heidelberg Project. Also, I’d seen Keith Haring’s subway chalk drawings. That was similar, in that it was line drawings on a black background, like a chalk board.
Then, I was used to using chalk as I’d done a large series of sidewalk drawings, most of which I’d photographed.
In late 2008, it was destroyed aka “imploded.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._Hudson_Department_Store_and_Addition
http://michpics.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/the-demolition-of-the-jl-hudson-building-in-detroit/
http://www.controlled-demolition.com/jl-hudson-department-store
Since its destruction, there’ve been several “tribute exhibits” including photos of my work. I was included in a short documentary film on the building. I also did a radio essay for our local NPR station WDET on what it was like drawing on the building. I wrote a poem about the experience which was included in the anthology Abandon Automobile.
A lot of people had taken photos of my drawings on the Hudsons. If you have any, I’d like to see them sometime.
Within the next few months, I’ll have a section on this at my University of Detroit Mercy site. When it appears, I’ll post a link to it here.
