Artist Sam Durant looks at moments of 'Iconoclasm' throughout history in Library Street Collective exhibition

Staff Pick

Oct 30, 2019 at 10:39 am
click to enlarge “Budapest 1956” by Sam Durant. - Courtesy of Library Street Collective
Courtesy of Library Street Collective
“Budapest 1956” by Sam Durant.

There is perhaps no more of a visually dramatic marker of the clash of cultures and the end of eras than the destruction of monuments — from the toppling of the Column Vendôme in Paris in 1871 in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, to the U.S. troops toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Iraq, to the destruction of non-Muslim works under the Islamic State. Moments like these are depicted in the large-scale graphite drawings of the Berlin-via-Boston artist Sam Durant, which make up Library Street Collective’s latest exhibition. In the spirit of the public monuments depicted in the show, LSC has hung selected drawings in and around Detroit, and an exhibition will be held at East Village’s former Annunciation Church. A short film inspired by Durant’s work scored by Arcade Fire will also be screened.

Opens to the public from noon-6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31 at 1265 Parkview St., Detroit; lscgallery.com. Show runs through Nov. 23.

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