Nov 18, 2022 - News

Detroit artist's "The Eye of Horus" exhibition debuts at Cranbrook

A spider-like sculpture with metal arms has pieces of paintings attached to each arm.

A sculpture pictured at the opening reception for "The Eye of Horus." Photo courtesy of Sarah Blanchette/Cranbrook Art Museum

Detroit-based Bakpak Durden, an artist whose work can be seen on murals across the city, debuted their first solo museum exhibition.

Driving the news: "The Eye of Horus" runs now through March 19 at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills.

  • It features painting and sculpture work and is the first exhibition of a new emerging Detroit artist series called "Fresh Paint."
  • Local artists Scott Hocking and James Benjamin Franklin also have exhibitions on display there this fall and winter.

Details: Durden's show is titled after an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and explores "the physiological and psychological functions relating to vision and the mind," according to the museum.

The intrigue: The exhibit is in the last space of Cranbrook's exhibition hall, but "steals the show in both presentation and concept," Metro Times writes.

Of note: Durden's work was featured this summer in a first-of-its-kind Pride Month exhibition, "Mighty Real/Queer Detroit," that spanned 17 galleries in and around the city.

What's next: They will paint a mural on a recently constructed building housing LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness under the nonprofit Ruth Ellis Center, according to Cranbrook.

A painting of a person turned around facing a refrigerator.
"The Refrigerator" by Bakpak Durden. Photo courtesy of Playground Detroit, Samantha Bankle Schefman and Cranbrook
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