“MAMA,” by Melodee Strong. (Provided)
As Minneapolis residents mourned Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two community members killed by federal agents, a Northeast arts organization quietly continued its commitment to remember a life lost to police brutality six years ago.
NE Sculpture | Gallery Factory recently debuted two new billboards over George Floyd Square at the corner of 38th and Chicago Avenue South, where Floyd was murdered by police in 2020.
The billboards — by Minneapolis artists Melodee Strong and Peyton Scott Russell — were installed on the roof of the former Cup Foods (now Unity Foods) as part of NE Sculpture’s Social Justice Billboard Project, which has presented the work of 36 artists on commercial billboards over the past six years to call attention to racial disparities and elevate artwork by people of color. These billboards will be up for four months, with two more to follow through July.
But this could be the last year for that project, said John Hock, executive/artistic director of NE Sculpture, pointing to rising rental charges from billboard owner Clear Channel.
While physically centered at the South Minneapolis site, the billboards’ images resonate more broadly around issues of violence and abuse of power. Floyd’s and other urban street memorials have risen out of anger, sadness and the need for a shared place to gather, grieve and protest.
“Per Aspera (Through Hardship),” by Peyton Scott Russell. (Provided)
Strong’s billboard displays “MAMA,” a painting recalling the moment when George Floyd called out for his mother while taking his last breaths. Strong, who has a studio in Northeast, is a teacher at Franklin Middle School and has worked on murals with her 8th graders. Believing that “All of us, when we are in trouble, will call out to our mothers,” Strong created the work as a “tribute to all mothers suffering at the hands of violence against our children. We need to do better.”
Russell, a graffiti artist who graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and more recently founded the Minneapolis arts group Sprayfinger, inspired the Billboard Project with his acclaimed mural portrait of Floyd, “Icon of a Revolution,” made at Casket Arts in Northeast and now a centerpiece at George Floyd Square. His new work, “Per Aspera (Through Hardship),” pairs Latin-rooted words including “claustration” (shutting up or enclosing) and “candent” (red-hot, burning) in a grid acknowledging injury and response.
Clear Channel prints and ships the artwork from Chicago.
“Installation goes quickly,” says Hock. “It’s like a big rubber band around the edges. They hook it up and tighten the strings. It’s not the old days where they put it up with wallpaper paste.”
The project, originally on three billboards, is down to two, with an initial monthly rental fee of $500 per board. But a changing of the guard at Clear Channel may triple the price, which Hock says might kill the project. Asked if he’d relaunch, he said, “It’s always about money.”
Hock, the scrappy and pragmatic founder of NE Sculpture, launched the Billboard Project with a GoFundMe campaign. He then tapped personal contacts for ongoing support from the National Academy of Design in New York City and the Woodbury Foundation in San Antonio, Texas.
George Floyd Square offered a public space and a chance to bring an overarching visual presence to the memorial. Prominent local and national artists who have contributed billboards include Julie Buffalohead, Jim Denomie, Luis Fitch, William Ransom, Maria Cristina Tavera, Seitu Ken Jones and Xavier Tavera.
“I have done three billboards and believe that art can help stop the polarization,” Xavier Tavera commented. “I don’t create art for the sake of provoking a reaction, more to spark dialogue. It’s an enormous privilege to put up art in a place that’s so relevant to Minnesotans as George Floyd Square.
“We are going through another wave of violence in Minneapolis. When is this going to stop? This time, people are showing that they care and are worried about each other — regardless of race. Wouldn’t it be beautiful to sustain this?”
The billboards at George Floyd Squareat the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue South. (John Hock)
Tavera praised NE Sculpture for its “enormous service to the community — specifically to Northeast, but beyond as well. We have a lack of democratic space that can give opportunity to both high-end artists and others just starting.”
NE Sculpture, which opened in 2019 behind the Casket Arts building, has gained a following for its exhibitions, public art and artist programs.
“Northeast is a power place,” said Hock. “I want to fit in and make our space vibrant, safe and exciting. We want that open, community feel. Most exhibitions also have a bonfire and music outside.”
Although “sculpture” is in its title, Hock says the gallery encompasses “painting, video, printmaking — we’re open to anything. Sometimes people approach me with a new idea, which is exciting.”
Hock was honored with a Vision Award by the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District for his work bringing and retaining talent, generating art and sculpture commissions for new buildings and establishing a fellowship program with diverse artists from all over North America and England.
“The gallery is part of my lifeblood now,” Hock mused. “I want to keep it going. I believe in social good; supporting artists and helping them move up in the world. Art provides a way for people to have a voice.
“With Art-a-Whirl® coming up, I know we’ll do something. But there’s no billboard space near us. If we mounted the art on the walls up close, they just look like dots.”