Preview: Gasm and Elmer at Fourteen Eighty Gallery, Detroit

Tonight, Friday May 25th, is the grand opening bash at the new Fourteen Eighty Gallery and performance space in Detroit, featuring art by local writers Gasm and Elmer, and music by Gardens, Illy Mack, and Japanther.

12ozProphet has been following the proliferation of graffiti in Detroit for the past few years, so when we were offered preview photos of the first exhibition by Elmer and Gasm we were excited to see what they had up their sleeves. These two writers have paid their dues and made their mark in Detroit. For this show, they drove around to find old signs, construction blocks, window frames and other beautiful detritus to paint on, successfully bringing what they do as graffiti writers into the gallery setting.

Best friends, GASM and ELMER are two of Detroit’s most prolific graffiti artists.  The hardworking duo calls Detroit “The Graffiti Discovery Zone” and says that “We can do what we want, paint what we want, whenever we want to. We make this city ours, because everyone else left it. This is what we make of it.” 

Gallerist Miles Michaels says, “Love it or hate it, their work is hard to avoid and represents an underground community of Detroit artists. They paint exclusively on abandoned structures, and when you think about how many times you come across a Gasm or Elmer on a wall, it really brings home the amount of neglect and decay in this city.” (Quote from Metrotimes)

Andrew H. Shirley, head of The Superior Bugout who produced the event, said about the artists: “You can’t drive a block in Detroit without seeing the words Gasm and Elmer. They have it locked. We rolled around the city in a discrete pick up truck collecting hand painted signs off buildings for a couple days. The two artists then stamped them out with their familiar words. The result is an interesting assemblage of decay from the expansive fields and lots of the city and the words from the artists who still inhabit the city.” 

For pictures of the space check out the gallery’s Facebook page. For more details and press release, visit the Facebook event page. Cover is $4, Doors at 7 p.m. at 1480 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; Free parking in the back lot. Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Text: Daniel Feral
Photo: Amanda Wong