Clothes Pit Since You're Gone, Andy T.Andy T's Urban Vision, 2001-2024 is the first mid-career retrospective of Detroit-based sculptor and installation artist Andrew W. Thompson.
Covering over two decades of artistic production, this comprehensive exhibition delves into the underpinnings of Andrew W. Thompson's creative process rooted in the study and the reuse of everyday commonplace materials. As a sculptor, Thompson creates installation art from discarded items such as tires, plastic grocery bags, and mailing envelopes, and there is value to be found in that. Thompson, specifically concentrating on the urban environments of Kansas City and Detroit, gains an understanding of the world by meticulously observing and investigating the origins, uses, and distribution of everyday objects within shared places. Public space not only directs behavior, but it can also mirror and reinforce skewed societal hierarchies and power structures. Motivated by his belief in “art as a life-organizing principle,” the artist makes art in direct response to his immediate urban surroundings. Moreover, the installations made from waste are shaped by the physical design of the exhibition spaces that they are displayed in. Blending personal experience, research, and the analysis of social, economic, political, and cultural systems, artistic process turns into a unique journey of learning.
Andy T's Urban Vision, 2001-2024 ties Thompson’s research-oriented approach to artmaking to correlating disciplines such as art history, geography, urban studies, discard studies, ecology, and economics. A sustainable utilization of found objects in artmaking addresses issues of sustainable living, emphasizing the upkeep, preservation, and equitable distribution of resources and infrastructure within local communities. Thompson also uncovers how power dynamics among social groups play a pivotal role in shaping a sense of identity tied to place and location.
The exhibition is divided into four areas—Mapping Space, Social Networks, On the Move, and Activating Built Space—each showcasing Thompson's exploration of topics such as cartography, social mobility, urban renewal, food sourcing, waste recycling, fashion, information management, and the art industry.
The Mapping Space section showcases how the artist employs the three-dimensional reality of architectural space to convert abstract statistical data into tangible knowledge on places and people. Social Networks features collaborative and inclusive artworks, allowing others to partake in the creation of art. On the Move orchestrates the tire as an icon of mobility, a health hazard, a playful conversation partner, and an unconventional clothing material. The mixed media installations in Activating Built Space shift our perception of physical space from a given immutable entity to a delicate, evolving construct. In doing so, the artworks foster unforeseen associations, memories, and feelings.
Everyone Says Hi, Andy T.On display at the Stamelos Gallery Center are close to one hundred photographs, five videos, and selected sculptures documenting Thompson's installation work since 2001. The exhibition includes re-creations of three artworks—the envelope installation Everyone Says Hi (2015) and two untitled plastic waste sculptures from 2012 and 2017. In addition, two new site-specific installations directly respond to Dearborn's political districting and the architecture of the exhibition site.
Andrew W. Thompson earned his B.F.A. in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2003 and his M.F.A. from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006. A 2021 Kresge Artist Fellowship recipient, Thompson has been actively creating in Southeast Michigan since 2004. He has participated in numerous local group exhibitions, curated shows as an Exhibition Committee member of the Detroit Artists Market and the Ann Arbor Art Center, and he served on the Board of Directors for Hatch Art in Hamtramck from 2016-2018. Thompson shares a studio with 14 other artists in Southwest Detroit and resides in the Hubbard Farms neighborhood in Southwest Detroit.
Curated by Nadja Rottner, an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, this exhibition is part of the Arth 402: Museums and Art in the Community capstone seminar for art history. The exhibition was made possible by the UM-Dearborn CASL Humanities Support Fund.
The Longest Line, Andy T.
Untitled Kerrytown Concert House, Andy T.
Opening Reception
Thursday, January 25, 2024, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Artist Andrew W. Thompson will speak at 6:00 p.m.
Reception is free to the public. Complimentary beverages and hors d'oeuvres provided.
Exhibition Event
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.,
Mardigian Library, University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Help complete the collaborative flag Home of the Brave! Bring in a small personal item of choice that shows how participating in a local community brings you strength.
The Stamelos Gallery Center is located on the first floor of the Mardigian Library at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. For more information, see below for contact information. Anyone requiring accommodations under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact lacotton@umich.edu.
Taketori Tale,
Kyohei Fujita (b. 1921),
n.d.,
Mold blown glass with gold and silver foil inclusions
Gift of Richard and Louise Abrahams,
Collection of UM-Dearborn (Adp39),
Photograph by Kip Kriigel
World renowned artist Kyohei Fujita was born in Japan in 1921. He is known as the father of Japanese studio glass. Many of his works, including this one, were inspired by early Japanese boxes that were richly decorated with lacquerwork and mother-of-pearl inlays, and traditionally used to store Buddhist writings, jewelry, inkstones and brushes. Fujita's celebrated ornamental glass boxes revive conventional Japanese aesthetics in a contemporary form. This breathtaking piece was mold blown with gold and silver foil inclusions. Whenever asked by collectors what to keep in the boxes, the artist usually stated "You should put your dreams in them."
---Laura Cotton, Art Curator and Gallery Manager
