Cass Corridor Artists

Fourteen artists from the Cass Corridor held a highly successful exhibit ol their singular works between September 4 and 13 in the Somerset Mall in Troy. One could hardly conceive of a stranger setting than the cavernous, soulless, ultra modern expanses of the Mall, surrounded by vast stretches of barrackslike condominiums and widely-spaced "contemporary" office buildings made out of one-way glass. Against this background, the Cass Corridor artists threw their rough, funky, gritty concoctions brilliantly crafted from materials readily at hand on the streets of the Motor City - plywood, peach crates, sections of iron girders, cloth tape, and whatever else was cheap and accessible.

Of special genius were John Piet's floor-level metal sculptures, particularly one drolly titled "Detroit Street Creeper"; Michael Luchs' "Rabbit," formed from an old black leather jacket and coat hanger wire; Doug James' oil, "The Beautiful Dress," with its rusty, dirty colors and rough metal strip frame; and Jim Chatelain's "Stick Up Painting," a whimsical oil. In an appropriate cultural note, Chatelain's rugged wood slab, titled "Wedge," was accompanied by a sign stating "Please Do Not Step On Work Of Art."

Also worth noting were a large diamond-shaped piece of plywood attacked with a circular saw and painted by Gordon Newton; a still lite photograph by Newton incorporating such elements as wrenches and a Rolling Rock bottle; and Doug James' funky metal sculpture, "Hot Píate."

Bob Sestok negotiated several intricate sculptures out of balsa wood, cardboard, and various scraps, and Steve Foust had a number of nteresting constructions of cloth tape.

The imagination and skill shown by the Cass Corridor artists in creating stunning works of art from such materials impressed one as a vivid testimonial to the unconquered spirit of Detroit's inner city artists, forging beáutiful things from the flotsam and jetsam of the streets. That their work appealed to the Somerset Mall crowd, which bought most of the pieces on sale, is perhaps equally encouraging. For ten days, at least, the Mall used part of its premium space to offer its exurbian passers-by a measure of contact with the. other side of urban reality. 

- Derek VanPelt