DEARBORN, MICH.- Andy T’s Urban Vision, 2001-2024 is the first mid-career retrospective of Detroit-based sculptor and installation artist Andrew W. Thompson.

Covering over two decades of artistic production, this comprehensive exhibition delves into the underpinnings of Thompson’s creative process rooted in the study and the reuse of everyday commonplace materials. Thompson utilizes items that have been discarded, including old tires, used clothes, plastic bottles, bags from supermarkets, and junk mail to assemble three-dimensional artworks. These works of art are directly influenced by the physical design of the exhibition spaces they are displayed in. Moreover, motivated by his belief in “art as a life-organizing principle,” the artist, having resided on Kansas City and Detroit, makes art in direct response to his immediate urban surroundings. He examines the use and spatial circulation of everyday objects in public spaces, comprehending how they serve as conduits for worldviews, traditions, and interactions among social groups. Blending personal experience, research, and the analysis of social, economic, political, and cultural systems, artistic process turns into a unique journey of learning.

The exhibition is divided into four areas— Mapping Space, Social Networks, On the Move, and Activating Built Space— each showcasing Thompson’s exploration of topics such as cartography, social mobility, urban renewal, food sourcing, waste recycling, fashion, information management, and the art industry. Andy T’s Urban Vision, 2001-2024 ties Thompson’s research-oriented approach to artmaking to correlating disciplines such as art history, geography, urban studies, discard studies, ecology, and economics. A sustainable utilization of found objects in artmaking addresses issues of sustainable living, emphasizing the upkeep, preservation, and equitable distribution of resources and infrastructure within local communities. Thompson also uncovers how power dynamics among social groups play a pivotal role in shaping a sense of identity tied to place and location.

On display at the Stamelos Gallery Center are close to one hundred photographs, five videos, and selected sculptures documenting Thompson’s installation work since 2001. The exhibition includes re-creations of three artworks—the envelope installation Everyone Says Hi (2015) and two untitled plastic waste sculptures from 2012 and 2017. In addition, two new site-specific installations directly respond to Dearborn’s political districting and the architecture of the exhibition site.

Andrew W. Thompson earned his B.F.A. in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2003 and his M.F.A. from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006. A 2021 Kresge Artist Fellowship recipient, Thompson has been actively creating in Southeast Michigan since 2004. He has participated in numerous local group exhibitions, curated shows as an Exhibition Committee member of the Detroit Artists Market and the Ann Arbor Art Center, and he served on the Board of Directors for Hatch Art in Hamtramck from 2016 -2018. Thompson shares a studio with 14 other artists in Southwest Detroit and resides in the Hubbard Farms neighborhood in Southwest Detroit.

Curated by Nadja Rottner, an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, this exhibition is part of the Arth 402: Museums and Art in the Community capstone seminar for art history. The exhibition was made possible by the UM-Dearborn CASL Humanities Support Fund.

Stamelos Gallery Center
Andy T's Urban Vision 2001-2024.
January 25th, 2024 - April 21st, 2024
Curator: Laura Cotton