Silverpoint artist Mario Moore – featured in Detroit Performs’ season eight premiere – is heading back to Detroit after a pit stop in New Jersey. Detroit Performs caught up with Moore to learn more.
Detroit Performs: Where are you currently creating?
Mario Moore: I am currently creating work in Princeton, New Jersey as part of my Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University. (The Hodder Fellowship is given to artists and writers of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at Princeton University during the academic year.)
DP: What are you currently creating?
MM: I am working on multiple projects in my studio, the one that I can talk about is the project that I am working on for my Fellowship, creating large scale portraits of Black men that work in and around Princeton with blue collar jobs. I often think of these jobs that serve and keep things running yet the people who work these jobs are often ignored.
DP: What has been people’s take on your exhibition Recovery?
MM: I do know that it had a big impact on the people who saw the exhibition and how they consider rest.
DP: When do you make your move back to Detroit and why?
MM: The plan is definitely to move back to Detroit. I miss home and my family. I plan on moving back to Detroit by the end of 2019. My main reason to move back to Detroit is family and a sense of community. Space is another big issue as an artist, I tend to make really large work and I need the appropriate space to accommodate that, something I can afford.
DP: What inspires you about the changing Detroit landscape?
MM: I am inspired by the long overdue recognition of the artists that have stayed in Detroit and have never left. I am inspired by the museums acknowledging artists in Detroit who have been making groundbreaking work since the 70s. That’s what inspires me and I hope that the spotlight continues to shine on them and not the glamour of the new and the sheen that can be temporary.
DP: Anything else you want people to know about your current artistic work?
MM: I just hope that viewers have something to take away from my work. That through whatever I make it gives new insight or a challenging perspective.
