I went searching for street art in Southwest Detroit

I needed to stretch my legs after being on Steemit all weekend, so I went out into the neighborhood to get some exercise and share some of its sights with you. I'm not sure who the artists are- none of this work is my own, except for the photography.

Man harvesting corn

This is the first mural I rode past, and one that I enjoy. To me, it's a nice reminder in the midst of the urban sprawl that our food comes from the earth.

Black tribal house

Continuing up the main road, I rode by the biggest park in the neighborhood and this black house with colorful symbols painted on it. I'm not sure what's going on there, but it's probably got something to do with art.

Guitar-neck Footbridge

If you ask me, this footbridge looks kind of like a guitar neck. In the background left center of the page, you can also see the Ambassador Bridge to Canada. This is the only privately owned international border crossing in the world. Owned by Matty Moroun, who used his money to lobby against building another bridge to Canada to alleviate the congested traffic. You can often see freight trucks backed up for miles to cross this bridge.

Michigan Central Station

This used to be the bustling center of commerce in Michigan at one time, when trains were more popular. The upper levels of the train station was envisioned to be a shopping center, but that never manifested itself. This property is also owned by Matty Maroun, and he's finally making good on his promise to put new windows in it. Up along the train tracks in the center of the picture is the location that @roadscape, @lovejoy, and myself were shook down by the Federales and Railroad police while shooting for the Bitshares P2P road trip. Apparently we were trespassing.  They fined us all and I was the only one that was able to get the $200 citation waived, because those guys couldn't come to Detroit just to make a court date. I contended that the signage to warn us was not posted in a place that was visible.

TSR X-Men orange tag

I hung a left before the viaduct in the train station photo and stumbled upon this tag. I was impressed by how sharp the line work was, and also the width of the piece. 

Larry the Cheetah

Here are some other tags from the same street. Dangerously cheesy.

Oy Veins + Tentacular Skull

This spot was a trove of interesting pieces. I wonder how long they've stood the test of time, and how long until the next wave of painters repurposes the wall with new expressions? 

Let Them Know

What's that? A dark passage? Let's ride through it!

A Wild Urban Explorer Appears

He's probably playing that new pokemon game or something.

Patriotic Octopus

Hmmm... apparently tentacles are becoming a common theme here.

Moonlit Desert

Another hidden gem that I haven't seen before. There was also some flowers on the opposing wall.

You are being watched and recorded on 3 outside cameras

This was across the street from the desert above. I thought the painted messages on the store were an amusing tactic to deter thieves.

Kids

This was on the side of a store front. It was much wider but there were a lot of cars in the parking lot so it was hard to capture the whole thing without interference.

Dance school for kids

This mural is my favorite of the bunch. I talked to a lady named Reya painting out front of this building and she told me it was done by a man from South America. We chatted for a while, and eventually I showed her  steemit.com and told her about how I wanted to share a picture of this piece with you all. She said she'd introduce her artist friends to it, so maybe we'll see them around! The building is a BBoy dance studio that does free lessons for children in the neighborhood.

Thanks for checking out the first post in my Detroit series. I'll share more of my city with you in future posts.

#photography #graffiti #art