It’s a late Saturday afternoon in Detroit’s Palmer Woods. The reflection of the pool bounces off the framed art and sculptural pieces scattered throughout a private collector’s yard for an exclusive art exhibition. Guests gather around the pool, glasses of wine in hand, as artist Javier González is in conversation with Katie A. Pfohl, associate curator of Contemporary Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, as he talks about his process of color, texture, and movement that seems to vibrate against the wall.
“I’m overwhelmed by all the love that people have shown me today,” González says, smiling as he looks around the room. “I really feel loved, and people like the artwork too. One thing I really like is that people tell me my artwork is different, because that’s my goal, not to do what everyone else is doing, but to do my own thing.”
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, González grew up surrounded by craftsmanship, the handiwork of his grandmothers, who sewed and quilted, and the artisanship that runs through his family history. After moving to Detroit, he found himself inspired by the city’s raw industrial energy and the depth of African American culture here. He began experimenting with a process he calls “piping,” a technique inspired by cake decorating. Using bags filled with paint, he creates raised looms on his canvases and weaves in beads, threads, and found objects to produce high-relief surfaces that practically leap from the wall.
This inventive process, which he honed over years of trial and error, gave González the depth he was seeking, literally and emotionally. By transforming paint into a three-dimensional, textile-like material, he found
a way to bring his stories of ancestry, survival, and resistance into the physical world.
“When I came to Detroit, it was intentional,” he recalls. “I didn’t know it was going to be like this, I didn’t know I was going to find so much love, so much support. At that point, I didn’t even know I wanted to be an artist.” González laughs, remembering how an ex-partner encouraged him to start making art.
“I was always creative, decorating homes, making things for friends and people would say, ‘Aren’t you an artist?’ It wasn’t until years later that I started really seeing it as a career.” That career has now taken a leap forward thanks to this very show, which González describes as a turning point.
He credits a longtime supporter and private collector, Dr. Lorna Thomas, for helping him refine his presentation and reach a wider audience.
“At that point, I felt like my issue was that I was not looking good on paper,” González admits. “I’ve always trusted my work. I’ve always thought it was high quality. But I just didn’t have the extra polish. She looked at me and said, ‘You’re my project.’ And when she said, ‘We’re going to do
a show here,’ I was ready. I already knew what I wanted to do.”
The result is a body of work that pushed him artistically and personally. “It wasn’t just creating the pieces,” he says. “The pieces really helped me do a lot of inner work on myself, but also a lot of organizing, emailing, running errands, and working with my team. This show took everything I had.”
The complexity is evident in the work itself, which bursts with color, high relief, and painstaking detail.
“I think that piece (Infinitely Grateful) is the most complex I’ve made so far,” González says of one of the centerpieces. “It was a lot of work, but I love the colors, I love the texture, I love all the details.”
For González, this exhibi- tion has also been a moment of transformation. “To be completely honest, now that I look good on paper, the sky is the limit,” he says with a grin.
“This show has given me confidence and trust, trust in myself, and trust that everything is going to work out. Because it always does.”
This article and photos were made possible thanks to a generous grant to EL CENTRAL Hispanic News by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at www.pressforward.news.
