DETROIT, MICH.- Wasserman Projects is presenting to Have+Hold, the first exhibition in an ongoing series of curatorial collaborations with Michigan-based Butter Projects. The partnership supports both entities’ efforts to bring to the light the tremendous creative diversity and ingenuity of artists living in and near Detroit and to foster the exchange of ideas and dialogues between locally and internationallybased artists. The endeavor is being driven by curator Alison Wong, who co-founded Butter Projects in 2009 and has also served as Wasserman Projects’ Director since 2015. By uniting in a series of exhibitions and supporting public programs, both organizations aim to enhance resources for the local artistic community and to expand audiences for and engagement with the arts.

“I am delighted to incorporate Butter Projects’ curatorial vision and approach into the Wasserman Projects program. Butter Projects is engaged with a dynamic array of artists and has established interesting and engaging lines of dialogue across the region. I am very much looking forward to working together to provide new opportunities for an even wider spectrum of artists, community leaders, and the public, and to build on the spirit of collaboration and creativity that distinguishes Detroit from other cities,” said Gary Wasserman, founder of Wasserman Projects.

Have+Hold is curated by Wong and artist John Charnota—with whom Wong runs Butter Projects—and is being presented in the main galleries at Wasserman Projects through August 26, 2017. The group exhibition includes Detroit-based artists Sophie Eisner, Margaret Hull, Kasper Ray O’Brien, and Margo Wolowiec, Michigan-based artist Shane Darwent, and New York-based artists Loren Erdrich and Ellie Krakow. Through a wide range of media and approaches the featured artists examine the physical environments and objects as well as the interpersonal relationships that shape our day-to-day lives and experiences.

“At its core, Have+Hold is about connections. The works, which range from photography and painting to mixed-media installation to video pieces, examine the way we hold on to spaces, objects, images, and people to feel connected to a time and place, as well as to our sense of self. These relationships, whether to others or to things, shape our reality,” said Wong. “At the same time, the visual richness of the exhibition actively invites viewers to engage with the work and artists, adding another layer of connection and experience. This broad exploration of relationships seemed the perfect way in which to launch the collaboration between Wasserman Projects and Butter Projects, setting the tone for our mutual visions to continue to build a network of individuals and communities.”

Shane Darwent is an interdisciplinary artist, whose photographs, paintings, and sculptures examine the often-overlooked elements of our everyday surroundings. By sharpening the focus on the materiality and formal qualities of these objects, Darwent aims to inspire a deeper contemplation of the constructs of daily existence.

Over the last ten years, Sophie Eisner has lived in seventeen homes in eleven cities and towns, visited fourteen countries, and slept in twenty-three states. Her mixed-media installations examine the qualities and materiality of the home, emphasizing in particular the ways in which our memories of these places and objects morph and shift with time and experience.

Loren Erdrich’s drawings and paintings explore the constant change and fluidity of life, and the overwhelming quality of being in a state of perpetual flux. Her works in particular highlight the ongoing personal and interpersonal mutation that occurs as one deals with the shifting world around them.

Margaret Hull works across fiber, performance, and video. Her practice explores costuming, and focuses in particular on the way the form and function of her hand-sewn garments serve their purpose. The characters in her performances often work together to build and create new conditions for the viewer to contemplate, moving from the practical to the ridiculous.

Interdisciplinary artist Ellie Krakow’s most recent works explore museum armature—the various supports that hold and position precious objects for optimal viewing. Krakow uses ceramics, photography, and installation to displace and reframe these ubiquitous but little-noticed objects within a broader social dialogue, altering their original forms to mimic hands that reference both physical and emotional supports.

Kasper Ray O’Brien’s installations, which feature plaster cast body parts, sometimes positioned alone and in other instances alongside domestic objects, examine gender, sexuality, and identity, focusing in particular on the aspects of the self that are often performed and accentuated for specific effect.

Margo Wolowiec’s woven panels and video works explore the ways in which the personal and private have become entangled with the political and corporate through the rise of the Internet, and in particular the use of social media. Her works combine the visual language of cyberspace with the handcrafting techniques of the traditional floor loom.