Wright Hotel
January 9, 2017
To live in Detroit, to immerse yourself in the city, to fall in love with it... it would be flippant to describe it as a "unique experience", because it is nothing short of an affair. The city is complex, giving home to a great diversity of communities. From Van Dyke to Boston Edison, from Linwood to the historic Indian Village, from Midtown to Brightmoore... there is a variety of life, background, and structure to this place that creates the depth of life, culture, and experiences.
Stephen Magsig has given time, energy, and a huge part of his painting career to capturing and documenting the Detroit landscape. Some of his pieces are crafted alla prima (meaning "first attempt" in Italian), some en plein air (meaning "open (in full) air" in French), and others are very tightly rendered, showing hours of focus and layers of paint put down within a studio space. Not only did he deeply explore the application of the paint, but he also explored throughout the city painting such well known spots such as Belle Isle to more unknown nooks and alleys.
In Magsig's piece, Wright Hotel, a painted brick façade is depicted in early morning or early afternoon sunlight creating contrast all over the landscape. A white car is parked by the hotel as you look at the building from the back, seeing it in the greater Detroit landscape. You can notice the paint chipping off of the brick walls of the hotel, as the painted name is also fading.
Text by Emily Lane Borden