See Detroit Through the Eyes of Sal Rodriguez

Self Portrait by Sal Rodriguez 

A few week's ago 30 new murals were revealed in The Eastern Market.  This massive overflow of visual stimulation was the work of 1xRUN and Inner State Gallery. They brought national and local artists together to paint a new face on The Market.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive and there is a buzz in the air about street art.  It's clear that Detroit is becoming a contender in the street art game so I decide it was time for me to dig a little deeper.

I called local photographer Sal Rodriguez and spent two hours on the phone to get an abbreviated version of the history of The Detroit street art scene. I don't know about you but I don't usually spend two hours on the phone with someone. Surprisingly, in this case I could have easily kept chatting.  

 Mr. Rodriguez is a self made man.  A talented photographer with one hell of an eye that has established himself as one the Detroit's best.  He has had his work featured in Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, The Detroit News, The Free Press, and InkAddict.com.  He currently works for Local 4 Detroit, ClickOnDetorit.com, The Library Street Collective, Red Bull House of Art, The Inner State Gallery, Sugar House, General Motors and Wright and Company.  Basically, he's an all around bad ass with credentials to back it up.

More importantly, he is THE authority on local art, especially local street art. The best part is that he is incredibly passionate about what he does.  He loves the culture of street art and he travels to locations around the world to connect with new artists.  He is always there behind the scenes watching and shooting. Essentially, he is single handily documenting a new Detroit phenomenon.  Sal has exclusive access to these artists and he knows what to do with it.  The most interesting thing I learned during our conversation was that each artist has different ticks or behaviors when they work,  from the way that they shake to the can to the way that they stand he has learned how to capture what makes each artist special. Street art is a whole new world for me but Sal and his art are at the very center of it.

If you want to keep up with the ever changing face of the Detroit art scene you need to follow Sal.  I wish you could all call him and have a personal two our chat because you would be able to hear the passion he has for what he does in his voice. But, you can also see his passion in his photos, so do yourself a favor, add him on twitter or Instagram today and get hip to a whole new side of Detroit.

~S