Publication select ▼
DETROIT — A significant local gay artist is being introduced to a new generation of artists and art aficionados as part of a sweeping series of art exhibitions throughout the metro area.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Detroit Pride in June, Mighty Real/Queer Detroit has partnered with the city of Detroit Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship to present more than 700 works of art by more than 150 LGBTQ+ artists and allies in 17 venues through June 30, including the Anton Art Center in Mount Clemens, David Klein Gallery in Birmingham, Affirmations in Ferndale and the Scarab Club and College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Multiple artworks by Carl Demeulenaere, of Grosse Pointe City, are now on display at the Detroit Artists Market as part of the exhibition, “Poets, Mystics and Gods.”
Covering 77 years of LGBTQ+ art in Detroit at the different venues, this is the nation’s largest exhibition of works by LGBTQ+ artists, said event organizer Patrick Burton, of Detroit, the creative director and curator for MR/QD. All the artists featured are current or former Detroiters, he said. The exhibition showcases work by current and emerging artists, as well as established names and some late artists.
“We’ve been working on this for three years,” Burton said of the exhibition, which originally was supposed to open in 2020 but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burton has known Demeulenaere since the early 1990s, when Demeulenaere — a former model and actor — was in some of Burton’s performance art pieces at 1515 Broadway in Detroit.
“His work is amazing,” Burton said. “I think young people today need to know who he is. In some ways, I don’t think he receives the recognition he deserves.”
Demeulenaere’s work in Mighty Real/Queer Detroit’s exhibition includes multiple pieces on loan from collectors and covers several decades’ worth of work from his career.
Long before same-sex marriage was legalized and major corporations hopped on the Pride Month bandwagon, Demeulenaere was creating classically inspired works depicting marriages between men and interracial relationships.
“I wanted to create a bridge and show how the same blood courses through our veins,” said Demeulenaere, who grew up in a diverse neighborhood on Detroit’s east side.
Demeulenaere was a vocal activist for change during the peak of the AIDS epidemic circa the 1980s and 1990s.
“We were a marginalized community,” Demeulenaere recalled of that era. “We fought the prejudice that was directed against us and being targeted for who we were.”
Burton said Demeulenaere’s work — created before there were medications available to treat HIV and AIDS — tackled the stigma of the disease, and the government’s response — or lack thereof.
“His work really confronted a lot of issues that were relevant,” Burton said. “It was very brave. He was really a pioneer.”
Although there is now greater societal acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community, Demeulenaere said that outside major metropolitan areas, not much has changed. LGBTQ+ issues have become politically divisive as well.
“There are still places where you can’t buy a house, where you can’t be a teacher,” Demeulenaere said.
A middle child in a close-knit family, Demeulenaere’s older sister worked as a court reporter and his younger brother was a public safety officer. Although he didn’t come out to friends until he was about 27 and didn’t tell his parents about his sexual orientation until shortly before his mother’s death from cancer in 1990, Demeulenaere said his family was always supportive of him.
“Their response was, ‘We only want you to be happy. We want you to have peace and to be happy,’” Demeulenaere said of coming out to his late parents, Cyril and Virginia.
In need of medical insurance and a steady paycheck, Demeulenaere took a job in retail in 2020. Long, exhausting hours have meant that he hasn’t been creating art as actively as he would like, but Demeulenaere hopes to find time to focus on his craft again.
Demeulenaere, whose work is in collections around the country and who has been featured at the Detroit Institute of Arts, has won multiple awards over the years and has had several solo exhibitions. He received an honorarium from Kresge Arts in Detroit for participating in this show, but admits it took more than a little convincing from Burton before he agreed to do it. Demeulenaere, now 65, is happy he did, and said he’s grateful to Burton.
“I’m very honored to be asked,” Demeulenaere said. “I’m glad to be a part of it. … Our time has come.”
The Mighty Real/Queer Detroit shows also include works by other artists who are familiar names in the Grosse Pointes. Among them are Julie Sabit, of Harper Woods, an award-winning artist known for her compelling paintings of people in everyday situations, and the late Jack O. Summers, of Detroit, a retired Grosse Pointe South High School art teacher who won numerous awards for his work in collage and photography.
Detroit Artists Market is located at 4719 Woodward Ave. in Detroit and can be reached by calling (313) 832-8540 or visiting www.detroitartistsmarket.org. For a complete list of participating venues and artists, visit www.mrqd.org or their Facebook page, MRQD2022.
