SaveArtSpace is pleased to present “Detroit 2020” a cross-media gallery and public art exhibition curated by Bre’Ann White & Tashif "Sheefy McFly" Turner. The selected artists are Waleed Johnson, Aaron Romine, Margaret Roleke, Escada Gordon, Nikka C. Green, Bria Erby, Sanders Bryant, Alfield Reeves, DDIDDYDOTMPEG, Armageddon Beachparty, Rachel Elise Thomas, and Asia Hamilton.

The selected artists will be exhibited on ad space along with Bre’Ann White & Tashif "Sheefy McFly" Turner.

During the week of July 6, SaveArtSpace launched public art installations for each selected work on billboard ad spaces throughout Detroit. These spaces will be on view for at least one month.

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

This public art exhibition is made possible in part by Tashif "Sheefy McFly" Turner, & 1xRUN!

Curators

Since 2010, Bre’Ann White has curated stunning photographs and branding materials for organizations worldwide. The Detroit-bred fashion and portrait photographer is known for creating and cultivating striking images that draw you into the subject’s world. Throughout White’s work portfolio, there is a consistent layer of authenticity and imagination. 

With confidence in her work and her vision, Bre’Ann’s career has allowed her to showcase her work and explore exhibition opportunities to connect to a broader audience. Her work has been shot around the world including New York, Los Angeles, Africa, Southern France, Italy, and Australia. Bre’Ann White has exhibited work in The African American Museum of Phil, Arabic National Museum, Playground Detroit, UICA of Grand Rapids, N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Norwest Gallery, and SaveArtSpace and has been featured in national publications such as Teen Vogue, Hour Magazine, Essence, Netflix and Harper Bazaar. 

Connect with Bre’Ann on Instagram at @breannwhite.

Detroit Painter, Muralist, DJ, Rapper, Music Producer, & College for Creative Studies Alumni Tashif "Sheefy McFly" Turner has made a huge impact in the Art World in his own unique fashion. After a decade of self curated Exhibitions and Concerts Sheefy has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, going from Coast to Coast creating a cult following. For the past 5 years Sheefy has evolved from the canvas to large scale walls and public places. He has became one of Detroit’s most notable and recognizable Muralist. The lines of Graffiti and Fine Art blends perfectly within Sheefy’s work creating vivid subconscious characters and surreal landscapes that exist within their own realm. 

Connect with Sheefy on Instagram at @sheefymcfly.

Selected Artists

Location: Rosa Parks Blvd & Waverly St

Waleed Johnson is a 2015 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Dual Degree program. Waleed graduated with a BS in Computer Engineering, a BA in Studio Art and was selected as a 2015 Reilly Scholar, which is a special honor given to exemplary dual degree students at Notre Dame. Waleed's concentration for his BA was painting. At Notre Dame Waleed received the 2015 Barbara H. Roche Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Painting as well as the Mabel L. Mountain Painting Prize. Waleed grew up in Detroit and is passionate about his city. After graduation Waleed returned to Detroit, which is where he lives and creates. Waleed’s work has been published in the International Review of African American Art, and has been shown at various places including The Saginaw Art Museum, Gallery Guichard in Chicago and Galerie Camille in Detroit.

The focus of my work is bringing to light things often ignored by society: people of color and their emotions. Whether it’s marginalization, pain, or mental health issues, creating a space for dialogue and healing is my aim. My own experiences along with what I see in the communities in which I am a part of inspire me to create.

Connect with Waleed on Instagram at @waleed_the_artist.

Location: East 8 Mile Rd & Redmond St

Aaron Romine (b. 1971, Columbus, Ohio) lives and works in La Faute sur Mer, France and Detroit, Michigan. He received his BFA from the University of Southern California in 1993 and his MFA from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1998. Romine’s figurative paintings are simultaneously intimate and archetypal - playing with dualities of high and low, sacred and profane. Drawing an unbroken line from baroque alter pieces to the airbrushed fantasy landscapes of 1970’s custom vans, Romine’s work embeds culturally loaded signals within the formal language of painting, interpreting canonical ideas through his own contemporary lens. He uses the tropes of art history and classical painting to suggest an unknown or collective significance to our own immediate experience. His paintings celebrate human imperfection and difference, offering the viewer a glimpse of the heroic in the mundane, the beauty in the everyday. Romine has had solo exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles and participated in a number of group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. In 2018, his work was included in “The American Dream, American Realism from 1945 - 2017” at the Kunsthalle Emden, Germany. Romine’s work has been represented by the Kravets/Wehby Gallery, New York since 1999.

Growing up in Detroit, community, family, and friends shaped not only my aesthetic development but my social and cultural awareness as well. As I witness events unfolding across the United States and now around the world I realize that it is time to step up and do my part, contribute as I can, and engage with the community that I owe so much. My hope in participating in this project is to serve as an ally, to use my voice as an artist to expose and condemn racism and oppression in all its forms, to express my solidarity with all those fighting for justice and equality, and to offer a vision of compassion, unity, and strength.

Connect with Aaron on his website aaronromine.com.

Location: Cass Ave & Bagley St

Margaret Roleke is committed to gun control and donates a percentage of all sold work to this cause. She is mainly a sculptor and recent pieces have been created out of spent shotgun shells which help to start a dialogue on this subject. The current political situation has further pushed her into being an activist artist and this has led to greater involvement with creating work that speaks to the injustice in society. In Roleke’s studio practice she has been exploring creating fences and cages which reference the current situation at the border. Besides sculpture and installation she also creates prints. Roleke rarely creates an edition and usually makes one of a kind pieces combining collage, painting, silkscreen, monoprinting and relief print. Roleke has just begun to create cyanotypes and uses the same images and vocabulary that are referenced in the silkscreens and her sculptural practice.

Roleke has lived and worked in New York and Connecticut for most of her life. Her work has been exhibited often in a variety of venues including recent exhibits at Art Space New Haven, Victori +Mo, NYC, Pen +Brush, NYC and Spring Break Art Fair, NYC. In 2019 Roleke was awarded a residency through QAI (Queens Artist Intervention) and created a sculpture at Elmhurst Sculpture Park. In 2020 Roleke received an artist fellowship award from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Roleke has been reviewed in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Artnet News, The Guardian, and additional publications.

Connect with Margaret on Instagram at @margaretroleke.

Location: Gratiot Ave & I-75 Service Dr

Hi, how are you? I’m Escada Gordon aka "DARKLORD ESCADA" the wizard himself. Imma local born and raised Detroit, animator, designer, cartoonist over all artist professionally established in Detroit since 2013 till present day seeking fulfillment through my art and connecting with the world through my visual experience.

Connect with Escada on Instagram at @darklord_escada.

Location: Weaver St & Plymouth Rd

The Detroit native, Nikka C. Green is a visual artist and designer. Green started an early path into an art driven career path, attending Detroit School of Art. Green’s paintings combine her ideologies with her distinct style of figurative work while addressing the roles society places on specific races and genders. Nikka C. Green graduated with a BFA in Painting and minoring in Fashion Design at Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta). Green maintains an active exhibition record within the Atlanta area.

My work combines my ideologies with my distinct style of figurative work while seeking to address the roles society places on specific genders and races. I began by focusing on the roles placed on women, specifically women being viewed as only sexual objects or their only role of significance is being a wife. Then I started focusing on the roles society places on specific races, specifically African American’s and the stereotypes placed upon them. Within my subject matter, my work seeks to deconstruct and present stereotypes in a provocative way that forces my viewers to be intoxicated with the imagery. The human figure is the tool of which I use to convey my subject matter. Art is my way of expressing, to the outside world, how I feel about the world internally. I rely on humans’ desires for beauty to draw my audience in. I take the common perceptions of beauty (color, softness, the human figure, aesthetically pleasing materials) and place them within the ugly truth of the society we live in.

Connect with Nikka on Instagram at @theartistpresentlyknownaslove.

Location: Hayes St & Spring Garden St

Bria Erby (b. 1995) is a Saginaw native, currently residing in Detroit, MI. In 2018, Erby received a BFA in Drawing from Eastern Michigan University. Her work stems from daily interactions and the individual personalities of close relationships. Erby focuses on the visibility of black individuals by illustrating portraits into colorful, collage-like pieces on black canvas. She acknowledges black culture through themes of police brutality, music, relationships, art history, and self-identity. Erby aspires to bring relevance to what it means to be black in America in a world that often overlooks this significance. Her work has been shown in exhibitions all over the United States including Lansing, MI, Chicago, IL, San Francisco, CA, and New York, NY.

Connect with Bria on Instagram at @artbybriaerby.

Location: Joy Rd & Holmur St

Sanders “Skip” Bryant aka PIKS grew up in Detroit, MI which has influenced an urban style that reflects in his work.  PIKS (his nickname "Skip" spelled backwards) is what he became known as from his earlier years as a "Kingpin" airbrush artist.  Kingpin Airbrushing in Detroit developed a reputation nationwide for having exceptional artistic abilities and his innovative concepts were years ahead of the time. With Kingpin he created murals and photo backgrounds that led the industry and became a standard at concerts, festivals and clubs across the country.

With no formal art education he was accepted at age 25 into Detroit's Center for Creative Studies Industrial Design program, one of the most prestigious and challenging design curriculums in the world.  Recruited to the design studio with only raw talent he studied interior design, product design and transportation design, trained among classmates that are now some of today's top automotive designers.

Now Skip Bryant is an EMMY Award winning TV producer who has extensive production and design experience with a vast list of artistic projects nationwide. As a designer he has created visual designs for Coca-Cola, Comcast, Michael Jackson, Tyler Perry, Sean Combs, LL Cool J, racing legend Roger Penske, Detroit billionaire Don Barden, Filmmaker David E. Talbert, NBA Hall of Famer Dave Bing, NFL Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis, NBA All-Star Derrick Coleman and many other professionals and entrepreneurs.

Literally helping to shape the urban theater industry in the United States, Sanders Bryant’s accomplishments include over 20 years designing national touring stage designs, scenic art, logos and graphic packages for productions such as Sean "Diddy" Combs (Super Bowl XL Diddy's House), LL Cool J (10 Tour), Jaime Foxx (Unforgettable Tour), Mary J. Blige (MJB Tour), Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Marquis Houston, Katt Williams (2015 Conspiracy Theory Tour) as well as theatrical productions with playwrights such as Tyler Perry & TD Jakes (Woman Thou Art Loosed), Ron Milner (Inner City Miracles: Judge Greg Mathis Story), Motown Producer Mickey Stevenson (Sing Sista Sing), Morris Chestnut (Love in the Nick of Tyme) and multiple productions with David E. Talbert, Angela Barrow-Dunlap, Je'Caryous Johnson, Shelly Garrett, Michael Baisden, Laterras Whitfield to name some of his most recognized clientele.

To date Sanders “Skip” Bryant has received 8 EMMY Award nominations, in 2015 he won a regional EMMY Award in Michigan as a producer for the City of Detroit Channel 10.

Connect with Sanders on Instagram at @sandersbryant4piks.

Location: East McNichols Rd & Eureka St

Alfield Reeves is a self-taught published photographer residing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is from Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. He picked up photography during his sophomore year at Western Michigan University. He specializes in editorial, wedding, event and portrait photography. He’s known for my fashion editorial and black & white work. His work is featured in online platforms and magazines like Vogue Italia, Burlington, NowThis, Blavity, and CRWN Magazine. 

Our world is filled with a barrage of distractions that can provide escapes and facades to hide our true selves. Many people show how they want others to view them, few people show who they really are. We are intricate beings. My work not only captures our complexities, but aims to inspire people to look beyond the surface and find their authentic selves. My work also explores themes of black and brown people empowerment, self-confidence, self-reflection, faith and collaboration. Caution: Black Girl Magic is from a photo series I did back in 2017 entitled #MelaninatedNaturals, which focused on highlighting black women and their natural hair. It was part of a larger project entitled "No GMO's" in collaboration with creative Keyon Lovett. 

Connect with Alfield on Instagram at @alfieldreevesphotography.

Location: Conner St & East Forest Avenue

DDIDDYDOTMPEG Artist and Creative Consultant. Born in Detroit MI, he was exposed to skateboarding culture and comics at a young age which later served as his introduction into art and culture. While in the process of creating his skateboard company Inner-City Skateboards he noticed the unique relationship between skateboarding and art. Beginning as a self taught artist he continues to educate himself by taking various online courses on MOMA via Coursera and other educational literature to help expand his artistic knowledge and artistry.

Influenced over the years by artists like Emory Douglas, Charles White, Ed Ruscha and NECK FACE (to name a few) he was able to channel and find his own artistic style. Using multiple forms of pop culture it allows him to manifest his visions to create Pop Art, humanize his characters in the art, and make them relatable to the viewer by also providing different perspectives. Other mediums that are used to help enhance his bold and eclectic visions are the use of video MPEG’s, silkscreening, wheatpasting, and the use of Polaroid photography in his work. Over the years by continuing to explore and perfect his craft he has been able to create profound pieces that empowers aducances.

Connect with DDIDDYDOTMPEG on Instagram at @DDIDDYDOTMPEG.

Location: Van Dyke Ave & Merkel Ave

Armageddon Beachparty is the fluid collaboration of the married, Detroit native Artist duo Kozma & Motu. Creating Contemporary Pop Surrealist Art together since 2013, their work often explores ancient cultural & spiritual beliefs from around the world as well as the realms of the subconscious, life & love. They've created a conceptual ever-evolving narrative for the ethos for their Art, often exploring both abstract & character-driven concepts through a wide range of paintings, murals, sculptures & art installations utilizing acrylics, inks & various found materials. Their Art has been exhibited Nationally at both Galleries & Festivals around the country and is part of numerous private collections in addition to a brick & mortar gallery - The Armageddon Beachparty Lounge - dedicated to their Art in Detroit.  

Connect with Armageddon Beachparty on Instagram at @armageddonbeachparty.

Location: Joy Rd & Kentucky St

The combination of being a documentary photographer and collage artist has given Rachel the ability to uniquely illustrate and personalize the stories that she tells. Similar to a puzzle, she pieces components together to create a whole that may be unorthodox or specific to her subject matter. She gathers inspiration from the past, archival imagery, an array of advertisements, photographs, etc. Having a background in fine art has allowed her imagination to reach those depths. Her work centers around identity, womanism and prevalent issues that have affected Black Americans for several years. She is known for not only her work, but for also facilitating and inspiring others within the art and photography community in Detroit. Rachel Elise Thomas (b. 1988) is a Detroit based artist who obtained her BFA in Photography at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. Rachel recently completed an Art Residency at The Siren Hotel in Detroit, MI.

Beach Baddie is from the series of collages named Vintage Decadence (2018). My main objectives were to focus on vintage images of Black women combined with a variety of vintage advertisements. This series simultaneously celebrates Black womanhood while also highlighting the major movements and struggles that have been prevalent in American culture for many years. Such as: overindulgence, greed, vanity, social acceptance, women’s rights, and colorism within the Black community. In this series, each collage has a distinct theme and name. This evokes an array of responses. With these blatant messages I encourage the viewer to recognize this work as both tongue-in-cheek and my approach to dissecting issues that still plague our society to this very day.

Connect with Rachel on Instagram at @implied_wisdom.

Location: John R St & E Grand Blvd

In her 20-year career as a photographer, Asia Hamilton has cultivated a talent for capturing moments the way they are -- those rare, raw and precious glimpses of life that exist in between poses and pretense. She specializes in portraits, landscapes, textures, and nudes and is drawn to existing, untouched composition, which she says, is a reflection of her own authenticity. Asia’s work has taken her around the country and the globe. She has photographed celebrities, worked as a photojournalist for several publications and produced special projects for major corporations, including Ford Motor Co, Toyota, Instyle Magazine and more. In 2018 Asia opened Norwest Gallery of Art a community based contemporary art museum that focuses on art from the African Diaspora. As founder and director Asia chose to locate the Norwest Gallery of Art in the Grandmont Rosedale neighborhood of Detroit because the community had been overlooked in the recent revitalization efforts that focused primarily on the downtown area. Asia also lives and grew up where the Gallery is, and so understands as a resident as well as a business owner the importance of having a viable, vibrant, walkable business community to advance the people. The Gallery has turned the neighborhood into an international hub for contemporary art with plans to expand its efforts as a staple for creative arts and culture in the community. Asia is also the owner of Photo Sensei photography tours and workshops, has participated in many community arts projects, and a 2018 Knight Arts Challenge winner.

A lot of people who do digital art pull photographs from online sources. I actually take the photographs and create the textures that surround my images. I call this piece “Generations”. From our elders we were created. Looking back on my elders who have passed on I feel blessed to have known them. I called on Edith for my outings. She was always sassy and dripping in bougie African attire. She was my grandmother. I didn’t like her as a child. But as an adult I can appreciate her. Looking back on my grandparents lives makes me wonder, how much of me is really them?

Connect with Asia on Instagram at @photo.sensei.

Location: Harper Ave & May St

Since 2010, Bre’Ann White has curated stunning photographs and branding materials for organizations worldwide. The Detroit-bred fashion and portrait photographer is known for creating and cultivating striking images that draw you into the subject’s world. Throughout White’s work portfolio, there is a consistent layer of authenticity and imagination. 

With confidence in her work and her vision, Bre’Ann’s career has allowed her to showcase her work and explore exhibition opportunities to connect to a broader audience. Her work has been shot around the world including New York, Los Angeles, Africa, Southern France, Italy, and Australia. Bre’Ann White has exhibited work in The African American Museum of Phil, Arabic National Museum, Playground Detroit, UICA of Grand Rapids, N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Norwest Gallery, and SaveArtSpace and has been featured in national publications such as Teen Vogue, Hour Magazine, Essence, Netflix and Harper Bazaar. 

Connect with Bre’Ann on Instagram at @breannwhite.

Location: W Warren Ave & 28th St

Detroit Painter, Muralist, DJ, Rapper, Music Producer, & College for Creative Studies Alumni Tashif "Sheefy McFly" Turner has made a huge impact in the Art World in his own unique fashion. After a decade of self curated Exhibitions and Concerts Sheefy has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, going from Coast to Coast creating a cult following. For the past 5 years Sheefy has evolved from the canvas to large scale walls and public places. He has became one of Detroit’s most notable and recognizable Muralist. The lines of Graffiti and Fine Art blends perfectly within Sheefy’s work creating vivid subconscious characters and surreal landscapes that exist within their own realm. 

Connect with Sheefy on Instagram at @sheefymcfly.