HOUR DETROIT’s Culture Calendar features Rashaun Rucker

Ryan Patrick Hooper - February 24, 2021

Rashaun Rucker’s Latest Work in Ferndale

Rashaun Rucker might be the most captivating artist working in metro Detroit today, and that’s just the visual side of things. Rucker’s medium is original enough on its own — you don’t see many artists pulling off solo shows around drawings. His subjects add yet another layer of appeal — striking portraits done with clarity, purpose, and feeling. And now for the art within the art: In his 2019 show American Ornithology at M Contemporary Art in Ferndale, Rucker drew apt connections to the slavery roots of this country, the struggles of Black men, and the rock pigeon — a marginalized person and a marginalized animal, Rucker says — in a way that made heads buzz with new insight. His latest body of work, Up from the Red Clay, also at M Contemporary Art, will expand on themes of race but will offer a much more personal window into the artist and his upbringing in the South. Family photos inform the linocut relief prints he’s created for this show, which will be a must-see. With Rucker’s work, it always is. Rashaun Rucker’s Up from the Red Clay runs March 26-May 1 at MContemporary Art gallery in Ferndale. Visit mcontemporaryart.com for hours and additional details.

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