New Exhibit Shows Off the Visual Art of Detroit Musicians like Niagara, Chris Turner

Mark Arminski

For many in Detroit’s creative community, visual and musical art are the same. Creativity is expression — no matter what the medium.

In a new group art show curated by photographer Jeff Cancelosi at the Detroit Artist Market called “I’m With the Band: Detroit’s Musicians Show Their Visual Side,” musicians like the late Rob Tyner from the MC5 and longtime drummer Johnny Bee Badanjek show off their artwork. It also features young musicians and visual artists like Sheefy McFly, representing an interesting multi-generational array of local talent.

“It’s kind of cool to see this work by these musicians that either made art for themselves or made art because they needed to say something,” says Cancelosi.

In the audio feature above, you can hear the CultureShift interview with Cancelosi about the idea behind “I’m With the Band” as well as clips of songs from Detroit multi-talented artists-slash-musicians like Chris Turner, who drums in the band Dark Red, and Niagara, who fronted the influential 1970s punk band Destroy All Monsters and whose artwork is featured above.

Click on the player above to hear CultureShift dive into the local art-music scene with “I’m With the Band.”