Ever since the first time I volunteered at the storytime at UMMA and read the kids the story of Tyree Guyton and his Heidelberg Project, I have been longing to see this neighborhood in person. However, two years passed and I went to Detroit several times, and never got a chance to see this project. Sometimes it was because I went with a class field trip; sometimes it was because I had to catch the train before it got too late. There were just always excuses and schedule changes. Finally this past weekend, I went to DIA with my friends and managed to see this neighborhood afterward.
As most of you probably already know, the Heidelberg Project was started by Tyree Guyton. Encouraged by his grandfather, the artist began to paint and decorate the neighborhood where he had grown up. With the help of other residents in the area, Guyton revived this neighborhood by painting lively and colorful dots on the houses and on the roads, decorating the street with dolls and shoes, and putting his paintings and artworks in the front yards. Most materials he used were collected from the streets and many toys were thrown away by their previous owners. That’s where the book I read to the kids during storytime got its title: Magic Trash—Guyton recycled these discarded objects and drew his inspirations from them.
When I actually saw the dotted house, the first impression I got was, delight. I was surprised to see how the simplest geometric form, the dots, could energize the house when the artist have painted them all over in different colors. There are dots on the surface of the road, too, and walking on it was a pleasant experience. As aforementioned, the artist has also decorated the front yards with found dolls and shoes. To me, they created an eccentric atmosphere because some dolls were broken or defaced, and the shoes hanging on the trees seemed quirky. There was a setting of TV station, where the artist put two dolls in the bathtub in the middle of a frame. They appeared to be an old couple, but the head of the old men was deformed. Thus, putting yourself within the frame and taking pictures seemed to be a somewhat creepy experience, but I did it anyway.
Other common seen motifs were clocks, wheels, and faces. I wonder if there are any symbolic meanings behind these recurring themes. For the faces, I once heard that they are the faces of the god. The mouths often appear to be smiling whereas tears come out from the eyes, as shown in the painting we have at UMMA. I attempted to find such faces in the neighborhood but, to my surprise, I actually did not find one—most faces appeared to be smiling instead of having a mixed expression. Maybe the artist changed his style? Anyone knows?
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