Umoja Fine Arts Gallery in Southfield features internationally acclaimed artists
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - The largest publisher and distributor of Black art can be found right here in Metro Detroit.
Umoja Fine Arts Gallery is located in Southfield, and the gallery is celebrating the spring season with its Blooming in Color III art show.
"Art is in everything. Everything around you is art," LaShun Beal said.
Art is something the internationally acclaimed artist knows firsthand.
"I didn't stumble into it at all. No. It's a gift," Beal said.
Beal is an impressionist painter who first profited from his gift in the fifth grade.
"I would sell to the staff, I would sell to the parents. I would sell to anyone I could in the community," he said.
Beal's paintings sold for $5 back then. Now a piece can easily cost you upwards of $20,000. Beal jokingly attributes the price increase to inflation.
His work will be on display at the gallery's spring art show alongside local talent Alga Washington and Lamarr Sanders.
"Right now, Black art is the market, and Detroit is the place for that," Lamarr Sanders, expressionist artist, said.
"Detroit is a really awesome place for creative people, you'll get a fraction of that [at the show]," he continued.
The gallery prides itself on celebrating the artistic achievements of local and internationally acclaimed artists. Ian Grant, CEO and curator of Umoja, says the gallery's mission really matters.
"It's [very] important as a people that we see ourselves as positive images, that's what this reflects for us," Grant said.
The spring art show kicks off Friday, April 28, with an opening reception at 5 p.m. The show runs until June 30.