Several of Stephen Magsig’s trademark stylistic features contribute to a succinct yet expressive image: juncture viewpoint, strong juxtaposition of light and shadow, spacious monochrome patches. Themes also recur — apparently abandoned industrial buildings, empty streets in broad daylight — the principal subject always being the city of Detroit, and its decline. Various compositional echoes (the [...]
In this romantically titled piece the artist depicts what appears like a single industrial complex. The viewers finally get to witness an active plant — as opposed to the abandoned warehouses and buildings that populate many other Detroit locations Stephen Magsig chooses to portray. Darkness blurs the edges of this massive heap of metal and [...]
This Detroit industrial area depicts a warehouse dissected by a bridge, and suggests economic symbolism: an infrastructure of production, storage and distribution. As in the artist’s urban scenes, the location appears deserted and neglected. It’s somewhat difficult to determine whether the building itself is populated — the yellow and orange in the windows, at first [...]
Stephen Magsig’s many urban scenes share one common feature: despite the realism, they possess an eerie, foreboding atmosphere. Depicted locations appear to have just been abandoned, as if evacuated due to an impending catastrophe. During this unseen turmoil, the artist locks the procession, and documents what has been left behind. Perhaps this mood is characteristic [...]
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