Internationally famous graffiti artist, Banksy was in Detroit recently and he did what graffiti artists do. He graffitied. One of his pieces ended up on a small fragment of a wall in the now derelict Packard plant. The image of a small boy with a paint can remembering “when all this was trees” is irony layered on irony with a thick coating of melancholy. It’s simultaneously hopeless and hopeful, acknowledging that change isn’t synonymous with death.
… or rather, it was.
After being tipped off on May 8, the folks at 555 Gallery assembled a recovery team and over a two-day period, they removed the piece and transported it to their gallery. They claim the effort was about preservation and in their defense, any building in this state of decay is likely to be destroyed at any moment. On the other hand, the critics point out that that may well have been Banksy’s intention.
Either way, a public art piece by an important, internationally recognized painter has been removed from the public eye (without permission) and no one quite knows what to do about it.
Local artist Matt Eaton (brother of another internationally renown graffiti artist, Tristan Eaton) summed it up this way on his Facebook posting about the incident:
“… and THAT is why you can’t have nice things, Detroit.”
Fittingly, Detroit’s motto is Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus… or for those whose Latin isn’t quite up to par: “We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes.”
We have a long and well-known history of troubled times, but despite that near-constant hardship, we endure, largely due to the efforts of people like John Hantz, whose Hantz Farm Project is taking steps to repurpose some long-neglected Motown real estate as farmland.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you dirt, make lemons.
As we button up the office for the long Thanksgiving weekend, we’d like to take a moment to wish all of our clients (and the entire Volusion community at large) a safe and happy holiday! 2009 has been a fantastic year for Brand Labs and we owe a great deal of our success to our customers and supporters. The rest of our success comes to us through the tireless efforts and boundless creativity of our staff, for whom we are thankful each and every day.
… and remember, there’s more than one parade going on tomorrow. In the morning, for the 83rd time, thousands of volunteers will don embarrassing costumes and march straight down the center of Detroit on Woodward Avenue in America’s Thanksgiving Parade. Be sure to watch!
… and thanks again!
UPDATE: We failed to mention that our own Courtney Boehm was part of a long-standing Detroit Thanksgiving tradition: watching the Lions get pummeled on national television. Courtney had one of the best seats in the house, for the halftime show, at least. She can (barely) be seen here dancing on the 50 yard line as Vita Chambers sings “Heat Wave” as part of the show’s Motown tribute. While you can’t make out her face, at least she can rest well in the knowledge that she scored almost as many points that day as the Lions did.
There was a time, ’round these parts, that Faygo was, quite simply, summer in a bottle. There wasn’t a picnic anywhere in Detroit that wasn’t well-stocked with Redpop and Rock and Rye. The (more expensive) Coke and Pepsi were for the grownups, but we didn’t care. Why would we want some dull, brown pop (not“soda” here in the mitten state) when we could pull the tab on a fizzy, sugar-saturated tin can of bright red liquid magic? We cherished every bit of the sticky syrup as its sugar coursed through our veins and it stained our lips, hands and clothes, marking us as pink-hued warriors, battling against maturity as the impending school year loomed over the horizon like a hideous beast whose sole purpose was to remind us of the fleeting nature of childhood.
With Labor Day on its way and Summer waning quickly, we offer this love letter to the season of childhood and freedom. Enjoy.
Fittingly, Detroit’s motto is Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus… or for those whose Latin isn’t quite up to par: “We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes.”
As we button up the office for the long Thanksgiving weekend, we’d like to take a moment to wish all of our clients (and the entire Volusion community at large) a safe and happy holiday! 2009 has been a fantastic year for Brand Labs and we owe a great deal of our success to our customers and supporters. The rest of our success comes to us through the tireless efforts and boundless creativity of our staff, for whom we are thankful each and every day.
