Cedric Tai's Project: Artists Recommending Artists

The first blogs that documented Detroit's local art, such as theDetroiter.com, became a kind of grassroots infrastructure that grew in the absence of an 'art market' and 'art critics'. Personal websites were not easy to make in order to fit the varied work that people were creating and some of the only documentation of artists' early shows wound up on these sites anyway. When Detroiter.com creator Nick Sousanis left the city to do graduate school in New York in 2009 there was an opportunity to volunteer to keep the spirit alive. (The original website is currently down, but viewable through the wayback machine.)

'Self-Portrait, at Work' acrylic on canvas, 16'' x 20'' - by Bryant Tillman

One of many side projects I tried out before the site officially came down was to try to create a service that could keep the site relevant, that was within my own limited means, but also part of the same good will that I associated with being an artist in the city. There were many artists in Detroit's local art scene that did not have an online presence for whatever reason but who had friends/fans who believed they deserved one. This process initiated a chain of under-the-radar artists recommending artists who were perhaps more obscure (or at least more reluctant to get a website) than them. Artists would warn their friends that I was on their way to visit their studio, and I would document as much as I could of their work and gave them the images to use however they would like.

I limited the number of images of their work that would be online to entice them to fully commit to their own website, but the best feature was at the bottom, a kind of video reference that humanized the project, showing one artist after the next espousing their love and appreciation for their peers. Before I went to graduate school myself I had created 17 pages in total (even though there are still 2 recommendations I have yet to follow up on.) Some artists were able to use the photos for successful applications such as the Kresge Fellowship, while others were contacted out of the blue by curators who had just seen the work.