The Brooklyn Rail

Skilled Labor: Black Realism in Detroit is nestled in the Upper Galleries of Michigan’s renowned Cranbrook Art Museum. This landmark exhibition introduces twenty contemporary artists who have worked in Detroit—and who have thoughtfully, through carefully honed practices, explored the representation of Black personae in their drawings and paintings. The exhibition rejects the monolithic concept of Black, and instead showcases the range, depth, and nuances of Black life. From joy and closeness to danger and tension, the artistic lens is wide.

So where does the concept of “skilled labor” come in? Broadly, the term refers to the people who have learned to complete technically difficult mental or physical tasks. On the surface, one might argue, it refers to the variety of techniques displayed by these Detroit artists, all of whom have shown mastery of their medium. But there is one common denominator to all this: they are the product of generations of Black labor workers who have contributed to the city’s legacy of innovation that underscores the history of skilled labor in Detroit.

Consider the works of Sabrina Nelson (b. 1967), who was born in the wake of the 1967 Detroit Riot. Inspired by the Yoruba religion Isese as well as Eastern and African philosophies, her paintings convey spirit, motion, and intimacy. In Skilled Labor, the artist has contributed three works of acrylic paint, marker, and Prismacolor pencil on paper, each one depicting a subject in solitude. Mario, My Sun Rising (2023) shows a young Black man with hands clasped in front of him as he makes careful eye contact with the viewer, his expression level, approachable. Dressed in soft blues, white, and red, he stands in front of an off-white backdrop, seemingly posing, while two stools covered in objects occupy the foreground.

Denise, My First Love (2023) shows a young woman in a yogic inversion, balancing on her forearms, with her legs suspended in the air. The attitude is meditative yet merely a moment in time. Wearing denim shorts and black top, with her long hair masking her face, she reveals the hint of a tattoo snaking onto her midsection. Holding her balance practically upside down on a cerulean blue rug that gleams like a swimming pool, she is at home and comfortable in her world. Sudani, My Lily in the Valley (2023) shows a younger Black woman, an adolescent perhaps, in a vibrant print dress that matches the pink ends of her hair. Hands on her hips, the subject gazes off to the side. Nelson has a knack for inviting the public into her subjects’ lives—into some of their most intimate moments. The result is an overarching sense of calm.

Unlike Nelson, Gregory Johnson (b. 1954) depicts Black bodies in crowded settings, painting captivating watercolors on paper where he toes the line between stress and release. Party Over Here (2023) shows twenty-something subjects dancing indoors, dressed for a night out, connecting. The feeling is loose and lively—joyful—and founded in Black people enjoying each other’s company. Stimulus Check (2017) also focuses on community yet takes a more serious tone: a police officer stands in front of a clear partition, hands clasped behind his back, as a crowd gathers behind him, observing the scene. Nearly all of these subjects’ heads are tilted to the left, forcing the viewer to contemplate what’s taking place just outside the composition.

The late LeRoy Foster (1925-1993), known as “the Michelangelo of Detroit,” proved to be uncompromising in his artistic vision. His large-scale Renaissance City mural (1978/1985) shows the rise of Detroit after the 1967 rebellion. It features a dozen or so subjects standing in the city: Black men and women, white bodies in the foreground, with winged creatures and even dogs adding suggestions of movement and sound to the scene. The mural exudes religious undertones in the way the light falls from the sky, as if signaling a rebirth. Black Madonna and Child (1980) is no less evocative. The work showcases a mother gazing at her infant son, who stares intently at the viewer. Foster had a flair for figure drawing and for the entire duration of his career highlighted the physical and emotional strength of the Black.

Oil painter Richard Lewis (b. 1966) tackles power and pleasure head-on. In Fighters and Dreamers (2013–2023), a crowd observes a boxing match as two Black men take the ring in a clean fight. Their observers simply exist—delighting in a world of carefree innocence with no expectations, or racial implications, imputed to them. Skilled Labor: Black Realism in Detroit, co-curated by celebrated Detroit artist Mario Moore and Laura Mott, works to reshape the historical and cultural representation of Black people. This, one might argue, is a form of skilled labor in itself.