On a college campus peppered with analogous brick buildings, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum stands alone.
The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts launched its new series, Coming Home at the end of October. The five exhibitions feature works by emerging and established Michigan artists. One of the shows, Macabre, which features works by more than 20 artists, incorporates themes and imagery from both Halloween and Día de los Muertos.
Ah, yes, the glory days. Life as a high-school teen was all about cliques, young love, pimple-ridden faces and the drive to fit in with the snide popular kids at any cost. Sounds abysmal, doesn’t it? Film director Michael Lehmann dramatized this confused chunk of life in the black-comedy tale of Heathers.
Showcasing emerging contemporary artists from Grand Rapids and beyond, as well as the work of experienced professionals, Glitter Milk Gallery combines low and highbrow art. The gallery is filled with styles ranging from illustration and pop surrealism, to sculpture and graphic design. On Oct. 24 Glitter Milk debuts its Samhain exhibit, a witch-themed display of work.
Since its genesis in 1980, the Actors’ Theatre in Grand Rapids has not only spotlighted local talent, it’s also used its productions to highlight timely, crucial topics. Past Actors’ Theatre productions include: The Stories of Gay Christians, Angels in America, Corpus Christi and Intimate Apparel — each show is selected in hopes of raising dialogues in the community.
West Michigan-based artists Bunny Terwee and Margaret Farrell are both set for this year’s ArtPrize. Terwee’s “ALL ABOUT THE LINES” and Farrell’s “Jeison” will be featured at One Trick Pony (136 Fulton St. E, Grand Rapids) during the competition.
In a Midtown studio apartment adorned with paintings on every inch of its walls, Joseph DeCommer, 35, figuratively lives and breathes art. He sleeps in the same room he creates, merging pop culture and realism with critically-endangered species and apocalyptic scenarios. He’s been at it for five years and has been steadily exhibiting his work throughout Michigan and beyond — even as far out as New York City.
The new book Re-Entry: The Orbit Magazine Anthology begins with a quote from magazine founder and publisher Jerry Vile: “I really, really enjoy making people upset. I think that is my art.” By that benchmark, Vile’s entry in this year’s edition of ArtPrize may well be his masterpiece.
Jason Quigno, who specializes in large and small scale stone sculptures, prefers a lasting approach to art. “Part of my mission as an Anishinaabe artist is to tell the stories of my people through stone – to keep them alive, so several thousands of years from now the stories of the Anishinaabe people will still be here in stone,” said Quigno, a Grand Rapids-based artist.
Ryan Brady is an artistic chameleon, capable of creating both comic book-style illustrations and fine-art oil paintings. Born and raised in Portage, Brady moved to Grand Rapids to get his Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration from Kendall College of Art and Design. Since then he’s displayed work at venues across West Michigan, including at Glitter Milk Gallery, Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts, UICA and the Meanwhile Bar, among others. With an upcoming show in November at Have Company (136 S. Division Ave, Grand Rapids), Brady, 28, chatted with Revue about what it takes to be a diverse artist and why the unknown inspires him.
