When I'm not working on a specific piece I'm researching future themes. At the moment I have 92 possible concepts in various stages of research and they range from party lines to conversion therapy to crappy American food. One of those topics was Motown. Being a Detroit native, this was a piece that was going to come out of me at some point. When I saw an open call with the theme "Soul of a City" I knew it was time to make it.

I wasn't sure what the dark angle was going to be on this one. Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, was a pretty straightforward decent guy so the story wasn't going to be how a music mogul made it at the expense of his protégés. Motown acts started touring in the South in the early 60s (pre-Civil Rights Act) so segregation and racial oppression were commonplace and it wasn't long before I learned how it affected the music business.

Now that I've got the angle to my topic there are many more decisions to make when putting it together.

Here is a selection of spokesmodel runner-ups and you might notice one of The Supremes among the contenders.

Each lady gives a different vibe so you can see how they can completely change the tone. I also tested other radio faces as I decided the scale of the piece. This radio didn't make it into the final version.

The horizon between the sky and the ground has evolved into a skyline over the last few pieces. The Detroit Riverfront isn't necessarily iconic so I included a few landmarks that would most likely be known only by locals or Motown history buffs.

A building that I frequented numerous times on family outings when I was a kid, the Detroit Institute of Arts, ended up getting hidden behind the radio. My parents kept walking us through the completely boring Egyptian exhibit but I kept coming back to Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry Murals. I wonder if I was drawn by the massive scale and depth of the work, the detailed labyrinthian factory line process that seemed to go on and on, or was it the colors he used? The assembly line process that created automobiles is the same concept Berry Gordy applied to groom the Motown talent that came out of Detroit.

Here's an interesting audio clip from the BBC about the mural's history and you can follow along and zoom in on high-definition pictures of the murals here.

One of the visible buildings on my horizon is the Lincoln assembly plant where Berry Gordy worked before starting Tamla Records, the precursor to Motown Records.

Almost every Detroit family had some exposure to the automotive industry. My father worked for many years as a foreman at one of the Chrysler assembly plants. I now wonder how my father felt about the mural and whether it made him proud to be part of the industry or if he felt oppressed by it, being a cog in a wheel.

Also tucked into the horizon are the Brewster-Douglass housing projects where The Supremes spent their adolescence before being discovered. You can also find the blind pig on 12th Street. The police raided this bar and it sparked the 1967 race riots in Detroit.

I had to sneak in a photo from Greektown, a gritty ethnic part of downtown that had an actual Greek mafia and some of the most delicious food I'd ever eaten. My seven-year-old foodie palate loved eating marinated octopus, fried saganaki and sneaking sips of ouzo from my mom.

Although most of my pieces feature a fair amount of dark content when you finally dig into the collage, I relegated the racist hatred of radio segregation in my "Motown" piece to just a small corner. It's the basis of my story and that was all the space I was willing to give it. The smiling faces of Motown acts, beautifully dressed and dancing in unison, exuded so much joy it was contagious. During some of Motown's performances, the segregated auditorium audiences of the South were mixing and mingling to the point where the officers couldn't keep them apart. The joy of Motown music. That is what I hope viewers are left with.

You can see my Motown piece here.

The Soul of a City

Duo (Lipa) Exhibition

Two New Shows and a True Blast From the Past