Fel3000ft: TEDx Detroit 2016 Artist in Residence {360 Photos Inside}

10.05.2016 | 3 min read

“Everybody has their beginnings somewhere.”

The thing about beginnings is that they’re often quiet and go unnoticed. Sure, much is made of the “big bangs” in life, but not everything starts with an explosion. Sometimes even the smallest of starts can yield big bang results. Just ask Fel3000ft, this year’s Artist in Residence for TEDx Detroit.

TEDx Detroit, now in its 8th year, is an independently organized TED event – a gathering of unique thinkers and doers in all sorts of fields and disciplines specifically focused on Detroit and the region.

Fel3000ft is one of Detroit’s most renowned graffiti artists. Born and raised in southwest Detroit, Fel (the moniker he adopted for his work) was introduced to art at a young age by his father. Sketches of horses gave way quickly to graffiti writing – a bold and energetic style of street art he discovered through pictures taken by his friends who had moved from the Bronx into his neighborhood.

Fel started graffiti writing in the early 80s, inspired by some of the masters out of New York, desperate to even find graffiti writing in Detroit. It wasn’t until the mid 90s that he started to discover other artists like himself. It was then that he and those other artists really began creating the types of pieces and murals that shifted the perception of graffiti as an art form.

In the years since, Fel3000ft has made a name for himself as one Detroit’s preeminent artists. His huge murals are scattered all over the city and often combine visual elements that are organic and machine-like in nature juxtaposed with one another. It’s no small coincidence that his work is a reflection of Detroit, its denizens and the pride Fel feels for the city.

Fel will be sharing that pride at TEDx Detroit 2016 where, as Artist in Residence, he will be painting a piece specifically for the event. According to Fel, the piece will reflect the spirit of the city and his hometown pride.

Much has been written about, and made of, Detroit’s resurgence of the last decade – the curses that drove things down, the causes that have lifted us up, and the work yet to be done. With this new beginning, it’s important that we recognize the arts, including the vibrant work of Fel3000ft and his peers, as part of the cultural underpinnings of this resurgence.

“Art can do wonderful things. It’s certainly done that here.”

Take a 360 degree at some of Fel3000ft’s work: