Reyes Projects is pleased to present new work by James Benjamin Franklin on the upper level, and Joe Roberts on the lower level of the gallery. The two solo exhibitions will open on Saturday, September 9th, 2017.

Central to the new work James Benjamin Franklin, a resident of Detroit, has produced are sculptural paintings that explore seductively colored shapes.  His pop art style paintings use white backgrounds to accentuate unusual drip patterns, overlapping color fields, and hidden objects painted into the three-dimensional frames.

Joe Roberts is a mixed-media artist, and he will be showing dynamic, crowded paintings alongside past collage works. His work is influenced primarily by the Comic books he read as a child. Drawing in crayons and relying heavily on personal symbols and imagery, his work is laced with nostalgia.

Seen together, Franklin and Roberts present an intimate reflection on the quiet gestures that pervade much of modern daily life.

James Benjamin Franklin Born in Tacoma, WA, James Benjamin Franklin graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1999. In 2017, he graduated from Cranbrook Academy of Art this spring (2017) from the painting department. Franklin currently lives and works in Detroit, and his artistic influences include Woody Allen, Richard Diebenkorn, Bonnard, and Steve Martin.

Joe Roberts grew up in in Madison, Wisconsin. Joe attended San Francisco Art Institute. Roberts currently lives and works in San Francisco, California.

Reyes Projects was established by Terese Reyes in 2017, Reyes Projects is a contemporary art gallery in  Birmingham, Michigan. The gallery occupies a 4,600 square foot space in the newly-renovated landmark Wachler Jewelry building on Old Woodward Avenue. Reyes Projects will reveal five exhibitions a year dedicated to emerging and mid-career artists. It is with such presentations that the gallery seeks to reveal a profile both internationally renowned and regional in dialogue. Collaborating with local patrons and institutions alike, the gallery hopes to continue to diversify and strengthen Detroit’s burgeoning arts community.

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