TCF Center Expands Public Art Collection with Unveiling of Stunning New Mural, “Inbound/Outbound Detroit” by Renowned Artist Lowell Boileau
DETROIT – March 9, 2020 – TCF Center’s public art collection has expanded with a stunning new mural by renowned artist Lowell Boileau, titled “Inbound/Outbound Detroit.” The mural was commissioned by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) Art Foundation and Boileau’s work will join the public art collection at TCF Center that includes work by internationally respected artists such as Hubert Massey, Robert Sestok, Tyree Guyton, and Gilda Snowden, among others. Images are available here.
“We are thrilled to have Lowell Boileau join the remarkable artists and works we have in our public art collection at TCF Center,” said Lisa Canada, DRCFA Art Foundation Chair and DRCFA Vice Chair of the Board. “Lowell’s work captures the essence of our city and is a beautiful piece that will add to the cultural experience for our guests.”
“The goal of ‘Inbound/Outbound Detroit’ was to create an image filled with optimistic energy and motion and enlivened with bright color and dynamic lines of traffic above and below framing an idyllic Detroit-like landscape,” said Detroit-based artist Lowell Boileau.
Located on the Roof Level of TCF Center in Elevator 1 Lobby above the People Mover Station, “Inbound/Outbound Detroit” features vehicles roaring in and out on rain-glistened roadways toward and from a distant Detroit skyline reflecting the purpose of the space—ingress and egress from elevators to visitors’ cars.
“Inbound/Outbound Detroit” is part of a public art initiative launched by the DRCFA and the DRCFA Art Foundation. Through Art at TCF Center, Detroit joins major convention centers throughout the country featuring public art including cities such as Chicago, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. In September 2019, the DRCFA Art Foundation unveiled a 30’ x 30’ permanent fresco, “Detroit: Crossroad of Innovation,” by renowned artist Hubert Massey, which is located outside of the Grand Riverview Ballroom at TCF Center. TCF Center’s curator is Maureen Devine.
Michigan native Boileau is a three-time Michigan Creative Artist Grant recipient, awarded the Arts Midwest NEA Grant for painting and the Arts America Grant. He has been profiled and reviewed in WIRED, New York Times, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Detroit Metro Times, Stuttgarter Zeitung and Stuttgarter Nachtrichten. He was a co-subject of the 1983 Urban Communications of Detroit documentary Waterworks on his co-created MicroPointillist painting technique and a feature figure in the 2008 BBC Documentary “Requiem for Detroit” 2010.
His paintings have been displayed in exhibitions in the United States and Europe. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Burg Giebichenstein - University of Art and Design in Halle, Germany, Wayne State University, and Youngstown State University. He was a guest artist at the international art colony of Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.
Boileau earned BA in Political Science from Taylor University in 1967 after which he served two years teaching at Salesian High School in Manzini, Swaziland as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. He engaged in post-graduate studies at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University in intellectual history and political theory before deciding in 1972 to pursue a career as a fine artist. His travels as a painter have taken him throughout Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
Located downtown on the beautiful Detroit Riverfront, TCF Center is one of the largest convention centers in the nation and hosts nearly 1.3 million visitors annually. TCF Center will host 209 events in 2020, including the North American International Auto Show in June.
About TCF Center
With 723,000 square feet of exhibit space, TCF Center, formerly Cobo Center, boasts one of the largest contiguous exhibit floor spaces in North America and is the 17th largest convention center in the country. Visit online at www.tcfcenterdetroit.com.
About the DRCFA
On 9/15/09, operational control of TCF Center transferred to the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority, under a collaborative agreement by the Michigan State Legislature, the City of Detroit, and Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Each of these entities has an appointed member on the DRCFA Board. Larry Alexander is the appointee of the Governor of the State of Michigan and serves as Chairman of the Board. For more information visit: http://www.drcfa.org/.
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