Red Bull Arts Detroit is hosting an opening exhibition party on Friday, August 3rd from 7p – 10p featuring the latest group of visiting artists including Debra Manville, Nathan Smith & Jason Pulgarin, that will exhibit new bodies of work for the first time at the art gallery and residency program at 1551 Winder, located in the city’s Eastern Market neighborhood.

This will be the last “House of Art” residency after nearly five years of supporting both local Detroit artists and emerging national artists alike. The exhibition will be on view each Saturday from 10a – 4p through September 2nd.

Debra Manville, Nathan Smith, & Jason Pulgarin pose for a portrait outside Red Bull House Of Art, Residency 8 in Detroit, Michigan, USA on 27 April, 2018.

Jason Pulgarin

Born in 1990 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and currently based in Los Angeles, Jason Pulgarin is known for his brightly colored and highly stylized figurative works on paper but is also deeply rooted in the graffiti and mural subculture. Drawing inspiration from cartoons, fashion, graffiti, and street culture, Pulgarin’s work demonstrates the ever more porous boundaries between the traditional art world and these other disciplines and influences. Pulgarin’s current work focuses on an intricate series of water-color paintings designed to evoke a curious combination of melancholy, erotica, and the juxtaposition of strong feminist empowerment battling a troubled and fragile masculine ego. The combination of thoughtful conceptual backing with “street” style is a signature of Pulgarin’s oeuvre.

Debbie Manville

For thirty years, Debbie Manville has honed her artistic language through painting, abstract digital art, and photography. Using a palette of bright colors, gradients, and odd shapes, her work addresses semiotics, and both the history of and possibilities for, visual language. On a quest to define what she refers to as “silent art,” she uses shapes and graphics as hieroglyphics to translate the silence through the form. She currently resides in New Jersey and is the curator of the @1milliondiamonds Instagram page.

Nathan Smith

Los Angeles-based painter Nathan Smith was first drawn to the arts through the calligraphy and cryptic letterforms of the city’s vibrant graffiti culture. As his creative expression evolved to incorporate more traditional mediums, techniques, and platforms, his initial inspiration still lies at the base of his practice. Smith’s current works are self-portraits that focus on anonymity, and the truth that can be expressed through the loss of physical identity. Anonymity plays a crucial role in the successful career of an illegal graffiti artist. Smith uses shapes and textures as a binary code creating clouds of hieroglyphic texts that float through his pieces. The masked figures and aggressive strokes in the backgrounds of his portraits further capture the aggressiveness of the graffiti subculture that he has been submerged in for the past 15 years. Utilizing and adapting different mediums and applications has become central to his recent work, demonstrating the fluidity with which this artist can move between the street and the studio.

Previously known as Red Bull House of Art, HOA a live-in residency experience in Detroit, dedicated to providing visual artists the freedom and space to create.

Now, Red Bull Arts Detroit has joined Red Bull Arts New York in the Red Bull Arts Network, focusing on creating new opportunities for artists and fostering public engagement in the arts. The program aims to extend the boundaries of exhibition making; support the production of new work by emerging and established artists; participate in and respond to the needs of local arts communities; and contribute to ongoing dialogue around contemporary issues and thought. Red Bull Arts Detroit will now facilitate an artist residency, visiting curator and writer fellowship, micro-grant program, and experimental, non-commercial exhibition space.

About Redbull Detroit

Since 2011, the organization has ensured a sustained commitment to the cultivation and advancement of the arts in Detroit and beyond. In 2018, Red Bull Arts Detroit joined Red Bull Arts New York as the second pillar of the Red Bull Arts platform. Located in Eastern Market’s historic E&B Brewery, the organization (formerly known as Red Bull House of Art) has hosted over 100 resident artists, and served countless community members through exhibitions, studio assistantships, and inclusion in a variety of programs.

VISITING WRITER FELLOWSHIP The Visiting Writer Fellowship allows a writer to travel to Detroit twice to develop a piece of writing and a public program, such as a talk or a workshop. The writer will be introduced to cultural figures throughout the city, and be in dialogue with the Red Bull Artists in Residence. Travel, accommodations, and a $2,000 stipend are provided. Deadline: August 24, 2018

MICRO-GRANT PROGRAM (LOCAL) The hyperlocal, need-based Micro-Grant Program provides numerous $1,000 grants enabling Detroit local artists to continue their practices. These grants are given on a rolling basis, and are combined with career counseling by Red Bull Arts Detroit staff and advisors. Taken together, these grants represent Red Bull Arts Detroit’s dedication to the local community, and the arts at large. Open for applications on December 1, 2018 with rolling grants awarded starting January of 2019.

Facebook event here. The event is free and open to the public of all ages.

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